Interiors (1978)

Director:

Woody Allen

Writer:

Woody Allen (written by)

Release Date:

2 August 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Three sisters find their lives spinning out of control in the wake of their parents' sudden, unexpected divorce.

Plot Keywords:

Family Gathering | Dysfunctional Family | Dysfunctional | Mental Illness | Family Tragedy

Awards:

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Kristin Griffith	...	Flyn
Mary Beth Hurt	...	Joey
Richard Jordan	...	Frederick
Diane Keaton	...	Renata
E.G. Marshall	...	Arthur
Geraldine Page	...	Eve
Maureen Stapleton	...	Pearl
Sam Waterston	...	Mike
Missy Hope	...	Young Joey
Kerry Duffy	...	Young Renata
Nancy Collins	...	Young Flyn
Penny Gaston	...	Young Eve
Roger Morden	...	Young Arthur
Henderson Forsythe	...	Judge Bartel

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:12 (re-rating) | Brazil:14 | Australia:M | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Sweden:15 | USA:PG (certificate #25289) | West Germany:12 | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:AA (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Rollins-Joffe Productions

Trivia:

Woody Allen was known for comedy, and wanted to break the mold by having no humor at all in this picture. At one point the family is gathered around the table laughing at a joke which Arthur has just told, but we never hear the joke.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the church, Eve knocks over a table of candles and broken glass is heard as they clatter to the floor. But as she leaves, there's not one candle on the ground.

Quotes:

Pearl: You'll live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Atomic Brain (#6.18)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Keepin' out of mischief now

Woody's first drama

This was Woody Allen's first attempt to break into straight drama after a string of successful comedies, culminating in his Best Picture winning Annie Hall the previous year. Interiors is a good film, owing a lot to Bergman. But, like many of his subsequent dramas, it doesn't feel so much like Bergman as Bergman-lite. Compare Interiors with Bergman's contemporaneous film, Autumn Sonata, and Allen's film barely holds up. Still, there is a lot of power to be found in Interiors. The story concerns three adult women whose parents have split up. It was their father's decision, and their mother feels utterly rejected. At first, I felt like the characters with whom Allen wanted me to sympathize were the least sympathetic, not to mention the most whiny. I found myself sympathizing with the characters whom I thought Allen was showing us in the most negative light, such as Flyn, the daughter who was now a shallow Hollywood actress, and Pearl, the straightforward woman whom the father was going to marry. Thankfully, Allen steers away from judging these characters too harshly, if only at the very end of the film. Allen is very talented at creating moods, and the emotional ambiguity of the final moments worked very well. He would grow more talented at this type of film as he moved on in his career, but Interiors is a very good start. 8/10.