Many families have that perfect one that the rest of the family balances around. Here, that is Hannah (Mia Farrow), the successful actress turned happy stay-at-home mom. When her husband, Elliot (Michael Caine) falls in love with her sister, Lee (Barbara Hershey), things begin to shift. The relationship between Elliot and Lee is awkward and must be kept hidden, neither one can stand the thought of hurting Hannah, who has been nothing but gracious. Then there is Mickey (Woody Allen), Hannah’s hypochondriac ex husband, who finds himself confronting some big fears after a medical scare. Eventually, he starts seeing Hannah’s other sister, Holly (Dianne Wiest), who is trying to become an actress or writer or whatever she decides to focus on at the moment. All these affairs, dramas and big thoughts rise and fall over two years between Thanksgivings.
The film is broken into chapters where one character narrates at times with their inner thoughts. We understand each character’s motivations and feelings more this way, since much of what they are thinking are things that cannot be said. With Elliot, we hear his love for Lee. With Lee, she wonders why Elliot flirts with her and if his marriage is alright. With Mickey, his philosophical wonders and worries on life and death.
Caine gives his first Oscar winning performance as Elliot. He portrays Elliot’s love for Lee somewhere too earnest to be considered simple lust. The way he can fun for blocks just to “accidentally” run into Lee is endearing. When his biggest move is to give her books and specific poems to read, it’s charming in an awkward way. Unfortunately, Caine decided not to attend the Academy Awards that year, afraid that he would just lose a fourth time. Also, those giant glasses and wavy hair of the mid eighties were not his best look.
Most interesting to me was Woody Allen’s character, Mickey, who does some of the most honest and entertaining soul searching I’ve ever seen on film. After his brain tumor scare, he begins to see things half empty and realizes that one day he will be in a emanate death situation. He begins seeking out different religious and philosophical ideas, even telling his Jewish parents that he’s considering converting to Catholicism. Through Mickey’s worrying and pondering of the unknown, we get a good little parable about simply enjoying life and letting yourself be part of the experience. Explaining these ideas during a Marx Brother’s film is a real stroke of genius.
The story is not set up like most films, but more like a novel exploring these people in little episodes of their lives as they intermingle. Though there are some great laughs, it is not a comedy. There is too much unsatisfied longing and heavy pondering about the uncertainties in life for that. Nonetheless, Hannah and Her Sisters is a satisfying film with passionate, fleshed out characters that we can relate to, hurt with and celebrate their little moments in life. When Elliot confesses his love for Lee, we are shocked alongside Lee, but feel proud of Elliot. How liberating it must be to just go for it, we become a little jealous of his unabashed bravery. With only one guaranteed go around in this life, might as well take some chances on happiness.
“For all my education, accomplishments and so-called wisdom, I can’t fathom my own heart.”
The Best Picture Project 
You’re spot on to note that the film plays like a novel. It’s Allen’s Great American Novel rendered in his best medium. I’m not sure if it’s his best effort, but I think it may be my favorite of his.
If I recall, Caine’s absence from the ceremony wasn’t just because he didn’t want to endure the possibility of playing the good sport loser from his seat, but he was also stuck on location filming, of all things, Jaws: The Revenge. Which meant that neither of the two biggest stars to win that night were anywhere near the ceremony since Paul Newman opted out as well.
Ah, thanks for clearing that up Dan. I swear, sometimes a film’s IMDB trivia page can have a few pieces of garbage in there.
I personally loved this film. It displayed a more mature and thoughtful Woody Allen that we would see in other films like “Crimes and Misdemeanors” and “Husbands and Wives.”
I feel bad for Woody Allen…he just can’t get his career back on track…
Anyway, hi! I’m Nathanael Hood from Forgotten Classics of Yesteryear!
You have an impressive blog and I support your mission! The Oscars were the inspiration for my obsession with the cinema. I would love to know what you think of my blog!
Nice to meet you Nathanael, I’ve been reading bits of your blog throughout the day. It’s really lovely, thanks for commenting!
I need to see this again. I really liked it at the time, but that was a couple of decades ago 🙂 . My favorite of his will always be Broadway Danny Rose (which is a comedy — if those categories mean a lot with his pictures which are frequently somewhere in between), but he’s made a lot of other good ones.
I need to see Manhattan again, too.
Of his more recent ones, I’ve really liked Match Point/Scoop, and VCB. (And not because I’m a huge Scarlett Johansson fan — I’ve never liked her except in his pictures). And there’s a ton I’ve never seen and I’m okay with that.
Anthony, I’ve still relatively new to Woody Allen films, but have a real respect for his work and want to see as many as I can. Thank you so much for hitting the “Like” button!
If/when you do watch Match Point and Scoop, let me know and I’ll direct you to a blog post I wrote about them. (I don’t want to give anything away before you see them.)
Having just finished the first two seasons of In Treatment, I’m looking forward to revisiting HAHS, just to see Diane Wiest in her younger days again.
I just had that experience with Vanessa Redgrave. I watched The Bostonians, where she was about two decades too old for the character she was playing, and then I watched Blow-Up again and thought, “If only she’d been that age in The Bostonians.”