Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

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.

Director:

Woody Allen

Writer:

Woody Allen

Stars:

Barbara Hershey, Michael Caine, Mia Farrow

Won 3 Oscars. Another 26 wins & 20 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Barbara Hershey	...	Lee
Carrie Fisher	...	April
Michael Caine	...	Elliot
Mia Farrow	...	Hannah
Dianne Wiest	...	Holly
Maureen O'Sullivan	...	Norma
Lloyd Nolan	...	Evan
Max von Sydow	...	Frederick (as Max Von Sydow)
Woody Allen	...	Mickey
Lewis Black	...	Paul
Julia Louis-Dreyfus	...	Mary
Christian Clemenson	...	Larry
Julie Kavner	...	Gail
J.T. Walsh	...	Ed Smythe
John Turturro	...	Writer

Storyline

During a Thanksgiving Day party we make aquaintance with a numerous and problematic family. The leading characters are three sisters: Lee, the woman of Frederick, an old misanthrope painter; Holly, who dreams of becoming a writer, or an actress, or who knows who...; Hannah, famous actress, beautiful, intelligent, good mother, good wife, good sister, in short perfect, the pivot of the family. The balance begins to break up when Hannah's husband, Elliot, falls in love with Lee, who leaves Frederick. Holly goes through a deep crisis and meets Mickey, the former husband of Hannah, a hipocondriac TV producer. The affairs evolve and at the last Thanksgiving ...

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Plot Keywords:

thanksgiving | actress | painter | hypochondriac | writer | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 February 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hannah y sus hermanas

Filming Locations:

5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,400,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$40,084,041 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion Pictures Corporation, Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Brooke Shields was considered for the role of April, but she wasn't interested to play the part because she was attending at Princeton.

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Goofs

Dolly tracks are visible when the camera pulls back in the living room.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Elliot: God, she's beautiful. She's got the prettiest eyes. She looks so sexy in that sweater. I just want to be alone with her and hold her and kiss her and tell her how much I love her and take care of her. Stop it you idiot, she's your wife's sister. But I can't help it. I'm consumed by her. It's been months now. I dream about her, I - I - I think about her at the office. Oh Lee, what am I gonna do? I hear myself moaning over you and it's disgusting. Before, when she squeezed past me at...

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Connections

Referenced in Happiness (1998)

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Soundtracks

"The Way You Look Tonight"
by Jerome Kern & Dorothy Fields
Sung by Carrie Fisher (uncredited)
Piano: Bernie Leighton (uncredited)

User Reviews

perceptive comedy drama

Woody Allen's film about a family and their romances and interactions features himself (as the perpetual neurotic), with Mia Farrow playing his ex-wife, Michael Caine – one of his best performances - playing her cheating husband, Barbara Herschey playing Farrow's sister and Caine's mistress, Max von Sydow playing Herschey's partner, and Dianne Wiese playing Farrow and Herschey's wild sister.

The strongest scene in this film features the lovely poem by e e cummings entitled ‘somewhere i have never traveled', which Caine sends to Herschey as a token of his regard for her. Other goodies include the touching ending when two misfits learn to love and accept each other. This is my favourite Allen movie as it brings together all the strands of movie-making at which he excels, and perhaps, along with Crimes and Misdemeanors, his strongest cast.