Review of Interiors (1978) by Joey D — 08 Jan 2010

Woody Allen's "Interiors" is a very different step for him in terms of the film's mood and style. However, he tackles much of the same material as is present in his other films and utilizes familiar motifs that have become some of his trademarks.

This film has long been hailed as Allen's homage to his idol, Ingmar Bergman, and there are definite similarities here ("Cries and Whispers" most readily comes to mind). He relies on carefully-executed cinematography that sometimes contains intimate closeups and other times has a "fly-on-the-wall" quality. The film is dark and laden, which provides a worthy complement to the heaviness of the material. The absence of a background score should also be noted. Each scene has only ambient noise which helps further enhance the mood of the film.

Allen perfectly achieves his objective with "Interiors" which I believe was to explore many different facets of human behavior and to create an exhibition of the dysfunction that many believe to be prevalent in American society. The script is very heavy, yet full of excellent character development and meaningful dialogue. Each character represents a different underlying theme and helps to personify each theme to help tell the story.

The performances are also very strong across the board. Maureen Stapleton's Pearl, the stepmother, is delightful and a breath of fresh air into the brooding and cynical lives of this family. Geraldine Page's Eve, the mother, is the ultimate obsessive-compulsive emotional trainwreck whose controlling nature has held her family down for years and her relentless execution of this behavior is most easily attributable to a sickening level of narcissism, which becomes ever more apparent as the film progresses.

Allen utilizes the common "three sisters" motif that has been used in varying degrees in several scripts and stories. I have always been fascinated by this when it is used. I believe that the relationship between sisters, as well as mothers and daughters, possesses a certain dynamic that I can't quite explain, but it is always extremely compelling and has a level of drama that makes for very interesting storytelling.

The sisters, played by Diane Keaton, Marybeth Hurt, and Kristin Griffith, all represent different personalities that add complexity to the story. There are many instances of the different sisters striving for approval from their parents, one getting it from the mother, and another getting it from the father, and each one wanting it from the opposite.

There is also the presence of the burden of those who are artistic, how they can have a constant feeling of inadequacy in regards to their work, and we see how it can affect them adversely. All of the powerful elements of each character are carried out perfectly by the actors in this film with every single one pulling his or her respective weight.

Fans of Allen will easily see that though "Interiors" is very different stylistically for him, he is still dealing with the same sort of material that he uses in all of his films. Some of the themes may be different, but the writer/directors perspective of his material is still very much the same. It is hard to explain to those that aren't familiar with his other works or without spoiling too much of the plot, but trust me, this is not foreign territory for him.

This film is as good as any Allen has ever made, but it stands out as being one that never really deviates from its intended purpose. It wants to be a stark, dramatic representation of the complexities of human behavior and perspective and to do so in the context of what could possibly be any family in America. I will say that it is triumphant in achieving those aims.