Annie Hall is a story told in between two jokes. The first joke is about living in this horrible society where nothing can be expected. The second joke is about not doing anything else just because the lack of courage to do it. What has Annie Hall given to modern the romantic comedy genre? It has given nothing at all! Annie Hall is a delicious disquisition about love and sentimental relationships in a World characterised by Chaos, selfishness and danger. I think an important element of the film is the meta concept: is a film about Woody Allen's life turned film. I think it is hard not to see the whole think as a joke mainly because the main protagonist is not serious about his relationship and at the same time he is constant denial of its importance for him. However, there are glimpses of reality in this: the painful reality of everyday relationships and sexual frustration. The main character is constantly moaning about his life and makes his partners loose patience with him. It is sad to see how a very attractive woman (Annie Hall) is sincerely in love with this guy. There are clues that Annie Hall is not at all the liberal, cosmopolitan woman she pretends to be and indeed, it is only through Singer that she becomes a singer, a cultivated woman who is finally emancipated from the insufferable person Singer is.
It is also painful to see Singer deny everything to himself, he has got everything Annie Hall is looking for except the courage to live happily with it. Instead, he cultivates his neurosis and projects an aura of chaos and selfishness which are their main protectors. So what is exactly Singer trying to avoid? I think he avoids looking at himself. He is paranoid and as such he feels he's been observed (perhaps a reference to Samuel Becket's Film?). By running away from him he is trying to find a safe haven, the final destination found in Annie Hall. Unfortunately for both of them in between the thousand horrible things surrounding Singer's life and his lack of courage, life goes on and on and becomes a permanent search for himself, out of the internal Chaos and fear, out of New York, but always back. Back because that is, ironically, the only safe port he knows as he is unable to sail together with the person who truly loves him. The romantic comedy genre is so unlike this film. Romantic comedies offer the opposite recipe: offer a world of certainties where despite differences, despite bitter encounters and horrible misunderstanding true love awaits at the end of the tunnel. Annie Hall gives us a bit of light, a respite from a self-contained chaotic life into a fresh look at how Annie sees the world. Unfortunately there is a tunnel at the end of the light and Alvy lacks the courage to change direction and go a different route, but why bother, all the roads take back to New York. I think an interesting element of the film is the changes in perspective, going from outside to Singer's inside world and vice versa. A particularly interesting bit is the narrative and the meta narrative that Annie Hall and Singer are having at the beginning when they just met, who is talking to whom? Why am I saying something else to what I wish? Is this control necessary in relationships? Aesthetically, Annie Hall offers interesting close ups to faces, gestures and situations which make the narrative more fun and interesting.
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