Interiors [1978]

The Swedish Master Bergman’s influence on the quirky American genius Woody Allen was formalized when he attempted this audacious homage, long before he remade the masterful Scenes from a Marriage into the equally brilliant Husbands and Wives. Interiors, an austere chamber piece portraying the simmering undertones within a dysfunctional upper class family, and an intense and disconcerting examination on relationships and mortality, could easily be qualified by the epithet ‘Bergmanesque’. The film concerned with the dynamics between the three sisters, viz. Renata (Diane Keaton), an accomplished poet-writer, Joey (Marybeth Hurt), a talented but moody lady, and Flyn (Kristin Griffith), a self-obsessed actress – interestingly Woody would go on to make another incredible film on three sisters, viz. Hannah and Her Sisters – and their complex relationships with their separated parents – the clinically depressed Eve (Geraldine Page), and the wealthy Arthur (E.G. Marshall) whose decision to remarry leaves the loosely bound family into a further state of disarray. Renata’s husband, a self-loathing writer, and Joey’s fiancé, a political activist, complete the ‘picture perfect’ family. Completely bereft of any music or the kind of bravado style and humour that are synchronous with Woody’s name, this astoundingly constructed (in terms of the semi-fragmented narrative), photographed (such as to give it a stark yet elegant look), scripted, and enacted (with standout performances from Keaton, Hurt and Page) film painted a rich and layered picture of alienation, malaise, emotional crisis, death, and one’s elusive search for contentedness.

Director: Woody Allen
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Family Drama
Language: English
Country: US