Hannah and Her Sisters
Directed by Woody Allen
- comedy
- drama
The story
Between two Thanksgivings, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.
What it’s like
Warm, autumnal New York light fills the apartments and restaurants of this film, with Sven Nykvist's cinematography giving interiors a honeyed glow and daylight a clean, crisp edge. Scenes unfold in long, unhurried takes, often two or three people talking across a table or a kitchen while the camera settles and lets conversation breathe, and the city appears in soft pans over brownstones and bare Thanksgiving-season streets. The score leans on classical and opera recordings that drift in and out of rooms, so the soundtrack feels like part of the domestic world rather than laid over it. The mood is wry, bittersweet and conversational: a comedy of anxious, articulate people who talk too much about art, love and their own neuroses, with the humour arriving in small, dry exchanges rather than big set pieces. Its arcs follow a tangle of sisters and the men around them, each drifting toward a quieter kind of self-knowledge. Language is frank and some scenes touch on infidelity and sexual tension, but there is no violence and nothing graphic. Good for a cosy rainy afternoon, a comfort rewatch, or anyone who loves talky, character-driven films about family.
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