Woody Allen

Mia Farrow

Judy Davis

Sydney Pollack

Juliette Lewis

Liam Neeson

Lysette Anthony

Cristi Conaway

Ron Rifkin

Blythe Danner

Brian McConnachie

Timothy Jerome

Rebecca Glenn

Caroline Aaron

Galaxy Craze

Fred Melamed

Nick Metropolis

Jeffrey Kurland

Bruce Jay Friedman

John Doumanian

Gordon Rigsby

Ilene Blackman

Ron August

John Bucher

Matthew Flint

Philip Levy

Connie Picard

Steven Randazzo

Tony Turco

Adelaide Mestre

Jessica Frankston

Merv Bloch

Robert Greenhut

Juliet Taylor

Charles H. Joffe

Jack Rollins

Carlo Di Palma

Susan E. Morse

Thomas W. Yeager

Helen Robin

Thomas A. Reilly

Dana Robin

Laura Rosenthal

Bill Christians

Kent Blocher

Brian Hamill

Michael Green

Ronald Burke

Jim Manzione

Cosmo Sorice

Louis Sabat

Lauren Gibson

Gina Alfano

Joseph Hartwick

Dave Weinman

John Fortunato

Antoine Douaihy

Justin Moritt

Kay Chapin

Glenn Lloyd

Drew Dillard

Peter Tavis

William Kruzykowski

Ron Petagna Sr.

Lois Nalepka

Michael Caracciolo

Dick Mingalone

James Mazzola

Robert Ward

Ray Quinlan

Carl Turnquest

Tom Foligno

Ilyse A. Reutlinger

Liz Dubelman

Vincent Guarriello

Richard Patrick

Joseph A. Alfieri Jr.

James Sorice

Patricia Eiben

Harold 'Whitey' McEvoy

Eric Mendelsohn

Megan Monaghan

Todd M. Thaler

Santo Loquasto

Fern Buchner

Lee Dichter

Robert Hein

Susan Bode Tyson

Speed Hopkins

James Sabat

Romaine Greene

Frank Graziadei

Comedy

Drama

Romance

Husbands and Wives

TriStar Pictures

Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions

United States of America

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 handheld 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.

One of Woody's best, subordinate pretty much only to Hannah and Her Sisters. I'm never taken by 'great performances' - always been more of a writing/direction guy. But the acting here floors me every time, so much so that I can't pay much attention to 'the filmmaking' as I normally do. Just straight entranced from the first scene. There's this line, towards the middle, where Gabe is narrating a bit from one of his novels:

"Was the notion of ever-deepening romance a myth along with simultaneous orgasm? The only time Rifkin and his wife experienced simultaneous orgasm was when they were granted their divorce"

All time favorite, this one

English

Husbands and Wives (1992) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]