Mia Farrow

Barbara Hershey

Dianne Wiest

Woody Allen

Michael Caine

Lloyd Nolan

Maureen O'Sullivan

Carrie Fisher

Julie Kavner

Max von Sydow

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Sam Waterston

Tony Roberts

J. T. Walsh

Daniel Stern

John Turturro

Christian Clemenson

Lewis Black

Richard Jenkins

Joanna Gleason

Fred Melamed

Maria Chiara

Bobby Short

Paul Bates

Ken Costigan

Verna O. Hobson

Susan Gordon-Clark

John Doumanian

Daisy Previn

Moses Farrow

Fletcher Farrow Previn

Rusty Magee

Allen DeCheser

Artie DeCheser

Ira Wheeler

Tracy Kennedy

Stephen De Fluiter

Rob Scott

Beverly Peer

Leo Postrel

Carrotte

Mary Pappas

Bernie Leighton

William Sturgis

Daniel Haber

Helen Miller

Irwin J. Tenenbaum

Amy Greenhill

Dickson Shaw

Marje Sheridan

Ivan Kronenfeld

Soon-Yi Previn

Carlo Di Palma

Robert Greenhut

Charles H. Joffe

Jack Rollins

Susan E. Morse

Juliet Taylor

Stuart Wurtzel

Carol Joffe

Jeffrey Kurland

Gail Sicilia

Ezra Swerdlow

Thomas A. Reilly

Ken Ornstein

Helen Robin

Kay Chapin

Dave Weinman

James Mazzola

James Sorice

Dick Mingalone

Douglas C. Hart

Bob Paone

Brian Hamill

Les Lazarowitz

Linda Murphy

Tod A. Maitland

Lee Dichter

Robert Ward

Ronald Burke

Ray Quinlan

Vincent Delaney

Fern Buchner

Romaine Greene

Mark Burchard

Patricia Eiben

Timothy M. Bourne

Sandy Nelson

Dana Robin

Barbara Heller

Ora Ramat

Nicholas Bernstein

Amy Herman

Ellen Lewis

Todd M. Thaler

Harry J. Leavey

Carl Turnquest

Richard Nord

Suzanne Pillsbury

Jack Fitzstephens

Noreen Evans

Comedy

Drama

Hannah and Her Sisters

Orion Pictures

Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions

United States of America

CinemaSerf

“Hannah” (Mia Farrow) is ostensibly the luckier of the three daughters of an erstwhile actress who has a penchant for the bottle and deludes herself into thinking she is still a bit of a boy-magnet! It’s lucky for the family that she is there for her other sisters “Holly” (Dianne Wiest) and “Lee” (Barbara Hershey) don’t have their own problems to seek. The whole thing now plays out like a top-notch radio play with emotionally internecine personas played out to the full as the neuroses thrive, the stereotypes wrestle each other for prominence and poor old Michael Caine finds his “Elliot” - married to “Hannah” - character constantly scratching his head when he isn’t ducking it. Sister “Holly” is a bit of a loose cannon. An under-employed actress who thinks she would be better off catering instead. Just to make matters worse, she hooks up with “Mickey” (Woody Allen). Now here’s a fruit loop if ever you’ve seen one. He used to be married to “Hannah” but now lives day to day convinced that each one is going to be his last! Moreover, his (Jewish) faith has long since gone the way of the dodo, so what will happen to him afterwards? Meantime, “Lee” is sitting waiting to be discovered. A blank canvas of a woman who has no idea what she wants; whom she wants nor where she’s going and on whom “Elliot” is developing one hell of a crush. With all the ingredients of some intellectual slap-stick and a really quite striking cast, this manages to stay the right side of cringeworthy as it develops into an engagingly characterful and frequently quite witty maelstrom that borders, at times, on farce but that never quite takes that route. Caine is a good comedy actor and his laconic style works well as his relationships are put under a spotlight that extends to us questioning which, if any, of these folks could ever be lived with! Sure, there are certain identifiable threads that run through all of Allen’s works, and they are here too - but having assembled a cast that is able to deliver effortlessly and naturally like this allows this film to come across more distinctly than some of his other works. It’s also holding it’s value well. The story and it’s characters have lost little of their punch over the last forty years and this is proof positive that letting a story breathe can work wonders with a good cast. Now I have to go and watch “Jaws: The Revenge” which kept Caine away from the Oscars.

English

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]