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

Robert Greenhut

Charles H. Joffe

Susan E. Morse

Jack Rollins

Carol Joffe

Stuart Wurtzel

Juliet Taylor

Jeffrey Kurland

Carlo Di Palma

Ronald Burke

Ezra Swerdlow

Dave Weinman

Lee Dichter

Robert Ward

Ray Quinlan

Linda Murphy

Helen Robin

James Mazzola

Dick Mingalone

Tod A. Maitland

Vincent Delaney

Fern Buchner

Dana Robin

Les Lazarowitz

Douglas C. Hart

Brian Hamill

Richard Nord

Ken Ornstein

Kay Chapin

Mark Burchard

Sandy Nelson

Thomas A. Reilly

James Sorice

Gail Sicilia

Carl Turnquest

Harry J. Leavey

Romaine Greene

Barbara Heller

Nicholas Bernstein

Todd M. Thaler

Noreen Evans

Amy Herman

Ellen Lewis

Jack Fitzstephens

Bob Paone

Ora Ramat

Timothy M. Bourne

Patricia Eiben

Suzanne Pillsbury

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]