HotToastyRag This Woody Allen drama combines many of his frequently used elements, bringing a fresh combination to the themes he often visits. Infidelity, marital difficulties, therapy, and mortality are all discussed ad nauseum in the film, but instead of a linear storyline, he films it as a pseudo-documentary. The four main characters are separately interviewed to discuss their thoughts and feelings, interspersed with the plot of the destruction of the two marriages, which is sometimes narrated by the interviewer.Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis announce to their closest friends Woody Allen and Mia Farrow that they're ending their marriage. As they explore the single life, Woody and Mia look at the problems in their own marriage. Mia's tempted by Liam Neeson, a co-worker, and Woody is drawn to the hero-worship of one of his students, Juliette Lewis.I didn't really like this movie, because besides Mia Farrow, none of the characters were remotely likable. Mia's given the least impetus in the plot, so for most of the movie, I became increasingly more frustrated with everyone else. Yes, everyone has problems and relationships are incredibly difficult, but is it necessary to waste 104 minutes watching an uninteresting movie about it? If a movie's going to depress me, it'd better have a reason. Plus, knowing that the twelve-year relationship between Mia and Woody went down in scandalous flames during this film makes it difficult to enjoy watching them argue on screen. This was the last of their thirteen movies together, and I can't help but think that was part of the reason audiences flocked to the theaters to see this one.DLM warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie is not your friend. Pretty much the entire movie uses a hand-held cameras, and it will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

lasttimeisaw Released in the hype of Allen and Farrow's breakup in the wake of his infamous Soon-Yi scandal, HUSBANDS AND WIVES archly and topically plumbs into the marital conundrums of two couples, Gabe (Allen) and Judy (Farrow, bookends her collaboration with Allen to the tune of 13), and their best friends Jack (Pollack) and Sally (Davis). For one thing, the film adopts a jittery cinematographic style (aided by hand-held cameras and Steadi-cams) which certainly is not Allen's modus operandi, and lets rip the neurotic, taxing, unrelieved relationship squabbles to full throttle, inflamed by Jack and Sally's abrupt declaration of their separation after being married for over 15 years. Two different reactions ensure, Gabe retains his sangfroid facing a bolt from the blue but Judy apparently loses it, thinking that her closest friend has been keeping her marriage snags to herself, that seems to be a big blow to their time- honoured friendship, but on a more intuitive level (as later Sally astutely dissects), there is something deeply self-serving in Judy's reaction. Gabe and Judy are jolted to scrutinize their own 10-year-young matrimony, where crevices start to crack open, here, Allen deploys another gimmick, a faux-documentary with character revealing their inner feelings in the form of an interview, Gabe confesses he is a sucker for "kamikaze women" (with trying smugness) until he meets Judy, whom he deciphers is a mastermind of passive-aggressive manipulation, aka. she always gets what she wants in the end. That is what happens, Allen, a professor in literary, becomes increasingly attracted by one of his student Rain (Lewis) while being self-aware of the clichéd professor-student entanglement. Meanwhile, Judy, lends a helping hand by introducing her newly single colleague Michael (Neeson, a disarmingly pleasurable presence) to Sally, who is fumed when she finds out Jack has moved in with his new lover Sam (Anthony), a young aerobics trainer, merely three weeks after their separation. But, what complicates the situation is, subconsciously, Judy carries a torch for the gentlemanlike Michael, so in the end of the day, a paradigm shift is bound to shatter the status quo. Allen's script, as rapier-like as always in laying bare the intricate verities of gender politics and monogamous dilemma, eventually, plumps for a morally ego-boosting windup for Gabe (Allen's alter-ego) who has savored the tempting kiss from a young hottie he craves for, and then rebuffs her advance with all the dignity in the world to remain morally uncorrupted (which blows up in audience's face when juxtaposed with its sardonic divergence from reality), whereas for Judy, her seemingly happy ending betrays Gabe's own complacent shrewdness of knowing her too well, for my money, that's where this otherwise rather piquant and honest-to-goodness modern marriage assessment leaves an unsavory aftertaste, which actually has been lurking behind a majority of Allen's oeuvre. But what makes HUSBANDS AND WIVIES head and shoulders over his lesser works is the cynosure of the cast, namely, the divine Judy Davis, an ever-so entrancing showstopper, revels in emitting of Sally's often self-contradictory but ultimately revealing emotional states with sheer intensity, veracity without forfeiting the salutary outpourings of humor and wits (her post-coital "hedgehogs and foxes" rumination is a gas!), Marisa Tomei, as excellent as she is in MY COUSY VINNY (1992), should hand over her Oscar to Mr. Davis, a blatant robbery in the Academy history. Whilst no one can steal the limelight from her, one must admit Sydney Pollack is quite a trouper in the other side of the camera as well, his outstanding two-hander with a feisty Lysette Anthony alone can effortlessly bust a gut, which only leaves, the story-line concerns Gabe and Judy pales in comparison with its pseudo-cerebral self-deception and self-doubt, no wonder Jack and Sally would not open up to them, they are much messier.

jackasstrange I am a big fan of Woody Allen works, no surprise here. I even find some of his weakest efforts to be above average films. Husband and Wives is far from being one of his weakest efforts though, pretty like the opposite actually. It depiction of the people relationships is spot on here. Worth Noting that he clearly had a tendency to write about 'old man relationship with young girl' and relationships breaking up. Sounds like interesting subjects, being said I'm not a old man nor a young girl, but the dialogs and the characters make it feel so interesting, and above all, real, that's hard to not be interested at all. The separation thing is so true, and so surreal at same time…that is probably why it's so interesting. The metaphor is what is worthy, after all, so thumbs up.But anyway, Woody shows here a history about two couples: one of them going through a difficult time of separation, and the other pretending that are well, but very instable and weak, even weaker than the marriage of their friendly couple. And of course, there is always a lot of discussions (typical of Allen's films), comic reliefs, and there is also an apparently 'psychologist' talking to each character, inter called with their actions. What I like the most in Allen's films is the character development. Is so beautifully made, and so simple at the same time. He in fact has a unique way to do it. In my opinion, he is better than his biggest idol on cinema, Ingmar Bergman, which also was excellent. The editing also makes it looks like a found footage film, and the cinematography may be comparable to an actual sitcom, like The Office, for example(being said Husband and Wives was released ten years before the aforementioned TV-show), full of zoom-ins and shaky camera, looking like an amateurish thing. Interesting choice. And no, it not abuses at all of that so 'controversial' techniques.There are a few recognizable faces in the film, Woody Allen himself, Mia Farrow, Juliette Lewis, Liam Neeson…they all gave average to good performances, what is usual in Allen films(for some reason). If you are a Allen fan, you cannot skip that film. 8.5/10

ElMaruecan82 Gabe (Woody Allen) and Judy (Mia Farrow) live in couple for about 10 years and are friends with Jack (Sidney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis), married for twenty years with kids in college. The film opens with an announcement from the Jack-Sally couple, they're splitting up. Whether it's a trial or definitive separation doesn't matter, the news come as a big shock, especially to Judy who is so upset that she steals Jack and Sally's thunder. We're too busy wondering what's with Judy that we don't really listen to Jack and Sally's explanations.The opening scene is one of Allen's most inspired moments. What we have is a couple quietly handling the idea of a separation after 20 years of common life, making tremendous efforts to rationalize it and convincing the entourage that they're happy with that, and another couple, totally confused and distressed about it. The directing contributes to create a dizzying effect, the scene is shot with a hand-held camera going back and forth from a character to another, with so many jumps and cuts it conveys a deliberate feeling of real-life confusion. It's just as if the characters played by Allen and Farrow didn't expect the news, and the cameraman didn't know if he had to go on or stop filming. The chaos almost reaches the level of a Cassavetes' film, except that Cassavetes was a director of raw emotion, while Allen, more cerebral, uses the scene to raise the very questions to which the film will try to provide answers.Jack lived 20 years with a woman extremely cerebral and anguished, and not a detail at all, cold in bed. Rather than an alibi for Jack, it serves to show how sex can cement the harmony within a couple or totally destroy it. After leaving Sally, Jack dates a sexy, beautiful, aerobics instructor. He feels like living again as if he was wasting away with Sally. Of course, he would sooner realize that all the fantasies that filled his marital sex-less nights couldn't live up to the everyday realities. Any older man is capable to seduce the sexiest bimbo but then would he feel confident enough to introduce her to his friends? As for Sally, the life following the breakup oscillated between many attitudes. She's first devoured by jealousy when she learns that Jack sees another woman, positive that it's a colleague of him who's like a younger version of her. Judy is so full of herself that she can't imagine Jack going for a 'cheaper model', and it hurts her because she's a confident woman and her pride can't allow this. Yet at one point, she's not old anymore but experienced, not single but free. She changes her perceptions and it seems to work for a while, to a point even Judy is impressed by her self- confidence. But from Sally's new perspective, Judy is not just impressed; her reaction is closer to jealousy and gives some early hints about the reasons of her reaction in the opening scene. Indeed, Judy and Gabe is a more perplexing couple, they live independently to each other yet passion seems to lack in their relationship. In fact, they argue so frequently that the moments of tenderness are more unusual. It feels like they had no chance to live in harmony as soon as their friends separated, as if Jack and Sally were the third link of their relationship. The separation of an ideal couple could easily mean a threat to a more fragile couple. To give us more insights about the characters, Allen shoots the film in documentary style, punctuating the scenes with interviews from the different protagonists. Gabe had a lust for highly libidinous women or nut-cases, and married Judy because she would reconcile him with a more normal way of life. As for Judy, the separation hit a sensitive nerve, maybe she was wasting great opportunities with Gabe. But these interviews only illustrate what the scenes brilliantly show. In "Husbands and Wives", Woody Allen demonstrates again his incredible talent when it comes to human emotions' writing. Halfway through the movie, we're so familiar with the protagonists that we can immediately guess their true reactions regarding one or another's actions, and not only guess them, but also understand them. And it's this very capacity to inspire our empathy that gives all the credit to a wonderfully written screenplay. Indeed, the movie tackles the difficult subject or relationships within couples, and in a thought-provoking move, the script succeeds in making us wonder whether marital commitment drives or undermines one's quest for happiness. In other words, can this quest not be just personal? That's it, in "Husbands and Wives", we understand any of Gabe, Sally, Judy or Jack, no one is guilty or innocent because no one can actually be blamed of seeking harmony or self-contentment. Made in a difficult personal time for Woody Allen, hi film is thought provoking because it chronicles people's approaches to marital commitment. And while we're committed to live with the same person for the rest of our lives, it's impossible not to think about what our life would be, with another person, or if we were single. Being married for less than a year, the film didn't have the same effect on me as on the first viewing. I understood the characters, I can understand the lust a man can have on a younger, or a sexier, on a more or less sophisticated woman. The food in the neighbor's table always look more appetizing.Still, why do some people stay together even if they know they don't share the same dreams than their companion? Because although we'd feel guilty and weak not to fulfill our personal dreams, guilt and weakness are double-edged swords when they concern the person we loved for a long time. It's up to us to see on which side, those feelings would be more tolerable.