IT'S always struck me as paradoxical the amount of freedom Woody Allen gives his actors. If they screw up they're off the set, but the fact remains that his directorial method allows his players to improvise, and find their own path to a scene's set-down conclusion. The end result, at best, is stylised, neat, and dense with clinchingly funny one-liners. Somehow you expect him to be more proprietorial,
for his professionalism and stand-up comedy background to result in a more rigid text-respectful approach.
Perhaps his prolific and confident clarity allows this relaxation, because he ultimately calls the shots, his vision is as tough and impermeable as John Wayne in a shoot-out - though the focus of attention is the well-read towering wimp under the saloon-bar table. The artist-Allen knows that insecure agonising is the comic subject matter - never the directorial state. Talking of the famous custodial wrangling with his ex-love Mia Farrow, with its abuse claims and high-profile domestic warfare - on Radio 2's The Directors series this week - he made it clear that even in the midst of this nightmare there was no purgatorial chronic angst. He listed his output during this period: his claims of detachment - the lawyers were seeing to these things, his life continued normally - were insistent.
Like the novelist Philip Roth, who similarly dismisses the simplistic sleuthing which finds
autobiographical parallels everywhere, Allen's appalled response to the world's prurient interest in his private life, and its relish in spotting the non-fictional source, can appear disingenuous. While every writer used their personal history as copy - it is ultimately all he has - Allen's fictional self, played by himself, with his real-life partners in the cast, is so convincingly fleshed out, that it is hardly surprising the lines get blurred.
What matters, though, is his brilliant mocking focus on the self-obsessed search for personal identity - through relationships and therapy, Manhattan, Annie Hall, or surreally dipping into make-believe alternatives, Play It Again Sam, Purple Rose of Cairo, Woody Allen makes ludicrous our terrified grandiose search for happiness, but we are comforted by seeing him up there, screwing up on our behalf. We emphasise with the wimp who mostly cannot get love right, who gets older and stayed neurotic; he retains our deep interest.
One extract from a routine shows his life flashing before him, before imminent death.
With a terrible dawning realisation - as images of country childhood and visits to the general store to buy Emmy Lou a piece of gingham takes shape - it occurs to him that it's the wrong life he's watching. This ain't the New York Jewish boy's flashback, and the audience roars at the incongruity of the details - partly at the joyous absurdity of the sentimental cliche gone wrong and partly because of their felt knowledge of his past. The applause is for the man who has convinced them about precisely who he is, and no disclaimers will change that.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article