How sad is this?

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Woody Allen went the documentary (ish) route, again, with his 1992 film Husbands and WIves. The film follows a married couple's deterioration after their married friends decide to separate. By telling the story in documentary format with a hand-held camera with a lot of movement and close-up shots, the audience is completely immersed in the story, almost like voyeurs as we see a marriage crumble apart. Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis) break some tough news to their friends Gabe (Woody Allen) and Judy (Mia Farrow) that they will be separating. Judy and Sally are quite nonchalant while delivering the news but Gabe and Judy are devastated. Gabe remarks that theirs is a marriage benchmark as he only thinks of them as "Jack and Sally". Judy is completely devastated even retiring to her bedroom in a dither over hearing the news. Gabe and Judy console themselves and each other as Jack and Sally go on to see other people. The news changes them, as well, however. Gabe and Judy both begin to question aspects of their life and relationship and start to believe that they may not be as happy in their marriage as they've grown comfortable believing. Gabe starts succumbing to the admiration of one of his female students and Judy realizes she is attracted to another man. What began as a series of changes in the lives of Jack and Sally has delivered life- changing impact for Gabe and Judy.I love the documentary style Woody used for husbands and Wives. I've heard many criticize it, yet, I think it's perfect to convey the intimate emotions dealt with in the film. I especially enjoy how real Woody depicts human emotions in this film. Who hasn't recovered from a breakup when one moment you are whole, moving on, and living your life when all of a sudden you get a nagging thought in your head that you just can't shake and you become a mix of anger and desperation in an instant? That's exactly what Woody showed in the scene in which Sally was in the apartment of a man she was to go on a date with but she couldn't shake the news that Jack had moved someone in his home just three weeks after their separation. That scene, as gut-wrenching as it was, was my favorite because it was so real. That really is how emotions work, they are wild and unpredictable, quickly changing based on new information. Husbands and Wives was a truly human film with rich touches of Woody Allen (another Bergman reference and a comment from Woody about walking in Paris in the rain) definitely a stand out in the excellent filmography of Woody Allen.

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 hand-held 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.

Gabe (Woody Allen) and Judy Roth (Mia Farrow) are shocked when their couple friends Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis) announce that they're splitting up. Jack has a young girlfriend Sam (Lysette Anthony). Judy convinces Sally to go out with her colleague Michael Gates (Liam Neeson). Judy is actually attracted to him. Jack gets jealous of Michael and breaks up with Sam. Meanwhile Gabe develops a close relationship with one of his students Rain (Juliette Lewis). She's a free spirit and they are on the edge of something inappropriate.Woody Allen is doing this in shaky documentary style including an unseen filmmaker interviewing the characters. It adds something compelling to these stories. The characters jump out of the screen. It's a fascinating look at relationships and secret desires. Nothing is ever as good as these people want or pine for.

Along with Annie Hall, Crimes and Misdemeanours, Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters(probably some rather clichéd choices) Husbands and Wives is one of Woody Allen's best. Allen is not for all tastes but his films have always had some interest value and mostly they are very well written and acted. Husbands and Wives certainly has those. The hand-held camera work may put some people off, especially compared to visual beauties like Hannah and Her Sisters and Manhattan. Not for me it didn't, the use of it was quite clever and while extensive it wasn't overkill or seizure-inducing(and this is coming from somebody with epilepsy). Stylistically also it came across as intentional, to convey the character's thoughts and neuroses. Allen directs with no problem, and his performance in the film too has degrees of bitterness but also one of his most reserved and honest. In fact, apart from Juliette Lewis who is annoying(the only thing about the film that didn't quite work for me, but considering how outstanding everything else was she wasn't enough to completely rock the boat) the acting is superb, particularly from Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis. Mia Farrow gives a heartfelt performance too. Husbands and Wives is a superbly written film, it does have a fair bit of Allen's razor sharp wit and plenty of well- thought out observations conveyed bluntly. But few Allen films are this candid, and the documentary-style that the film adopts allows the candour to come through and resonate in a very rich and vigorous way. The themes and relationships explored in Husbands and Wives are ones that any married couple or pretty much anybody will relate to(the Pollack and Davis storyline is the most poignant and insightful). Some of what is shown is very unpleasant and the characters are not likable ones at all, but to be honest it's absolutely like that in real life, it just goes to show how much the truth can hurt. It really is one of Allen's most relatable films, Hannah and Her Sisters I also related to strongly but in a different way, being warmer in tone and slightly more multi-layered(that's not to knock Husbands and Wives at all in that regard as it certainly is that). Overall, some of what is shown is unpleasant but it is a remarkably candid film with superb writing and acting that a lot of people can relate to. 10/10 Bethany Cox