I can't believe I've never seen Woody Allen's
Another Woman (1988). It's not that often that a film moves me...I mean, *really* gets under my skin (in a good way). I really enjoy films that make me think and fill me with ideas, and give me insight into the human mind. This is definitely one of those films. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy all different genres of film, but I am
particularly drawn to those that are dark, or depressing or melancholy,
ones that are truthful and really make me think. Ezra Pound once said, "Artists are the antennae of the race." I believe this to be true with filmmaking.
The main character, Marion (played by one of my all time favorite actresses, Gena Rowlands) is facing a midlife crisis. She is a writer and an accomplished college professor who has taken sabbatical to work on her novel. In order to get some peace and quiet and be in an environment that is more conducive to writing, she rents an apartment in the West Village. She discovers that her apartment is next door to a psychiatrist’s office, and she can clearly hear every patient session. She is particularly drawn to a woman, aptly named "Hope", who is played by Mia Farrow. Through Hope's therapy sessions and Marion's flashbacks we slowly come to see that Marion has deceived herself for too long. It is through other peoples' descriptions and perceptions of her that we find out who Marion really is. Marion once overheard her stepdaughter describe her as "judgmental" and "stands above everyone else." After accidentally running into Hope and spending the day with her, Hope describes Marion (and Marion just happens to overhear) to her psychiatrist as, "...she can't allow herself to feel, so the result is she's lead this cold, cerebral life and it's alienated everyone around her...she's pretended so long that everything is fine...and you can see how lost she is.", and, "she's very bright and accomplished...but you can tell emotions embarrassed her, passions and intensity frighten her." Hope only spent a few hours with Marion and she has her completely pegged.
We gain insight about people by what they read and what they watch (Thank you Flaubert). Marion's favorite poet is Rainer Maria Rilke, who was also her mother's favorite poet. Marion's favorite poem, one that she wrote a paper on in college is "
The Panther."
His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars, and behind the bars, no world.
As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a center
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.
Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly. An image enters in,
rushes down through the tense, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone. (Rilke, 1907, found online)
Her mother's favorite poem was "
Archaic Torso of Apollo", and the last line of the poem is, "for here there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life."
And, luckily, Marion recognizes who she has become and does begin to make changes in her life. This is definitely a great film. Go rent it.