Stardust Memories

In my opinion, Stardust Memories is Allen's greatest achievement. The film perceptively explores the relationships between art and reality, between the artist and his work, between the work and its consumers. Beyond its philosophic concerns though, this is also an incredibly funny film. There are more genuinely funny moments within this serious film than in many of Allen's earlier pure comedies. It skewers the movie industry, the movie-going public, Allen's own earlier work, Allen's present insecurities (surprise!), and a number of other targets. Intelligent, thought provoking, and at times hilarious, this film is an overlooked gem in the Allen canon.

I was very surprised to find out that Stardust Memories is dismissed by both critics (at least some of them) and viewers as absolutely unwatchable Allen's film, his most chaotic attempt to claim that he can not stand his fans. I found it insightful and witty satire that cleverly (as always; if anything, Woody is a very clever man) fuses the comic and the serious.

Sandy Bates (Allen, of course) - a comic director who does not want to make funny films anymore "because there is so much suffering in the world" (the scene reminds so much of Sturgis's "Sullivan's Travels"). Sandy is depressed because his new "serious" film is not well received by both critics and public and he is spending a weekend at Stardust Hotel during showing of his films. While there, he reflects upon his life, art, and relationships with three different women. Sounds familiar? Like 8 1/2, anyone? You are absolutely right. Woody meets Federico in the Stardust Hotel. The film is delight in gorgeous black and white. It is funny, touching, angry - all in the same time. The film was made twenty four years ago and I am very happy that Sandy - Woody had realized that to help the world IS to do what you do the best - funny movies. "The people survived because they laughed".

One more thing - Charlotte Rampling is breathtaking.

9.5/10

A self-indulgent yet enjoyable fantasy by Woody Allen, where he models his style after Fellini's "8 1/2". Allen plays a world famous film star/director not unlike his real self, who's now approached a mid-life crisis and has tired of making "funny movies". Though he's become embittered, he reluctantly agrees to be the guest of honor at a weekend celebration where the best of his films are going to be shown. While there he has to contend with sycophants, obnoxious autograph seekers, childhood flashbacks and different women on a surreal journey to self-realization. Woody received some hard knocks from fans and critics for making this type of highly personal movie, but I think it's very stylish and dream-like. Photographed in glorious black and white. *** out of ****

While this film doesn't get the praise and respect of, say, "Annie Hall" or "Manhattan," I think it is a brilliant look into the mind of a film director. How much of Woody Allen is Sandy Bates? Some, I'm sure, but I think it's more interesting to compare Sandy to Woody Allen's "persona"--that is, who the public thinks he is.

The structure of the film is also quite interesting to me. Allen had done a very non-linear story structure, mixed with occasional flights of fantasy, in "Annie Hall," but "Stardust Memories" does that and piles on a movie within a movie within a movie, and manages to both comment on all that, at the same time as he's telling the story of the brilliant, but self-absorbed Sandy Bates.

A great movie, that you probably should see more than once to appreciate.

Reading some of the comments listed here, I'm dismayed by some of the narrowness of the criticisms ("It's shot in black & white for no reason!" "The flashbacks are indistinguishable from the present day!")... as if these were somehow to be construed as mistakes. Jeez.

I love this film. It rambles a little here and there, and sometimes it's so personal I feel voyeuristic watching it. The montage of Charlotte Rampling towards the end is stunning in how it summarizes Allen's feelings about memory, nostalgia, and the ever-present reality that never seems to allow the past to make sense.

One cannot deny that Allen has a very keen understanding of who he is, as a person, comedian, and lover. This is not to say that he is infallible or somehow more evolved than anyone else, but rather - through the retrospective of his "earlier funny films" - it's clear that he understands his strengths, and - outside the theatre - the weaknesses of his emotional life.

A perfect film for a quiet Sunday.