Interiors
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| Interiors | |
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| Directed by | Woody Allen |
| Produced by | Charles H. Joffe |
| Written by | Woody Allen |
| Starring | Kristin Griffith Mary Beth Hurt Richard Jordan Diane Keaton E.G. Marshall Geraldine Page Maureen Stapleton Sam Waterston |
| Cinematography | Gordon Willis |
| Editing by | Ralph Rosenblum |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | August 2, 1978[1] |
| Running time | 99 min.[2][3] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million[1] |
| Gross revenue | $10.43 million[1] |
| IMDb profile | |
Interiors is a 1978 Bergmanesque drama film written and directed by Woody Allen, his most serious film to date.[citation needed] Featured performers are Kristin Griffith, Mary Beth Hurt, Richard Jordan, Diane Keaton, E.G. Marshall, Geraldine Page, Maureen Stapleton and Sam Waterston.
Page received a BAFTA Film Award for "Best Supporting Actress" and was nominated for an Oscar for "Best Actress in a Leading Role". The film received four other Academy Award nominations, two for Allen's screenplay and direction, one for Stapleton as "Best Actress in a Supporting Role" and another for Mel Bourne and Daniel Robert for their art direction and set decoration. It is Allen's first film in the drama genre.
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[edit] Summary
The film's story concerns three sisters (Griffith, Hurt, Keaton), their suicidal mother (Page), their father (Marshall), their father's new wife (Stapleton), and the men in their lives (Jordan and Waterston).
The visual and verbal styles of the film are similar to that of Ingmar Bergman.[2] Critics have also noted[citation needed] the apparent borrowing of visual techniques used by other highly regarded European directors such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini and François Truffaut. In the 'European' style[citation needed], the film is subdued and features a considerable amount of dialogue. Allen explores his own symbology.[not specific enough to verify]
[edit] Reception
Allen's own fears about the film's reception are recounted in a biography of Allen by Eric Lax (2nd edition: ISBN 0306809850), where he quotes Ralph Rosenblum, the film's editor:[4]
- He [Allen] managed to rescue Interiors, much to his credit. He was against the wall. I think he was afraid. He was testy, he was slightly short-tempered. He was fearful. He thought he had a real bomb. But he managed to pull it out with his own work. The day the reviews came out, he said to me, 'Well, we pulled this one out by the short hairs, didn't we?'
Later, while watching the film with an acquaintance, Allen reportedly said "It's always been my fear. I think I'm writing Long Day's Journey Into Night and it turns into Edge of Night."[4]
Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film "beautiful" and complimented Gordon Willis on his "use of cool colors that suggest civilization's precarious control of natural forces", but noted:[2]
- My problem with Interiors is that although I admire the performances and isolated moments, as well as the techniques and the sheer, headlong courage of this great, comic, film-making philosopher, I haven't any real idea what the film is up to. It's almost as if Mr. Allen had set out to make someone else's movie, say a film in the manner of Mr. Bergman, without having any grasp of the material, or first-hand, gut feelings about the characters. They seem like other people's characters, known only through other people's art.
Richard Schickel of Time wrote that the film's "desperate sobriety ... robs it of energy and passion"; Allen's "style is Bergmanesque, but his material is Mankiewiczian, and the discontinuity is fatal. Doubtless this was a necessary movie for Allen, but it is both unnecessary and a minor embarrassment for his well-wishers."[5]
Nearly thirty years after the film was released, essayist David Rakoff commented on the film in an article for Nextbook's online magazine of Jewish culture. He called it pretentious, with a "narcotized affect ... as chilly as an Alex Katz painting, with a similar goyische naches[6], anti-Semitic-by-omission Easthampton Waspiness obtaining to it all."[7]
Interiors grossed $10.43 million in the United States[1]. The figure was considered a disappointment[who?], and was far less than the grosses of most of Allen's previous films.[citation needed]
[edit] Trivia
The film serves as the inspiration for Death Cab for Cutie's song, Death of an Interior Decorator.[citation needed]
Director John Waters has named Interiors as one of his favorite movies, and said that he would be perfectly happy if Woody Allen switched to drama permanently.[citation needed] Considered to be a homage to Ingmar Bergman's film, Cries and Whispers, which is also about three sisters. The cinematography in the film, especially in the opening scenes,is similar to Bergman's cinematography style.
[edit] References and footnotes
- ^ a b c d Interiors from Box Office Mojo
- ^ a b c August 1978 Review of Interiors by Vincent Canby for The New York Times
- ^ Box Office Mojo and Internet Movie Database list the length as 93 minutes, while the cover for the 2000 MGM Home Entertainment DVD release reports a running time of 92 minutes
- ^ a b Interiors from the Turner Classic Movies website
- ^ Darkest Woody, an August 1978 review by Richard Schickel for Time magazine
- ^ According to a glossary of Portnoy's Yiddish from an Occidental College website for a course entitled "Jewishness, Genders and Sexualities", "goyische naches" means a "non-Jewish source of pride and pleasure, especially military service and sports"
- ^ Interiors and Stardust Memories by David Rakoff from Nextbook
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