YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER
UK, 2010, 98 minutes, Colour.
Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Freida Pinto, Lucy Punch, Naomi Watts, Pauline Collins, Anna Friel, Ewan Bremner, Celia Imrie.
Directed by Woody Allen.
The title is what fortune tellers often tell future-hungry clients who are prepared to believe anything. Most of the characters in this Woody Allen confection, filmed in London (a Woody Allen world of writers, artists, publishers and galleries), have created their own fantasies. One does go to a fortune teller. The others tend to poo-poo superstition but are so locked in their hopes and ambitions that they often refuse to see the truth before them. And for anyone wanting an open ending, for most of the characters, here it is. A number of interesting consequences will come home to roost after the final credits!
Many will complain that this is Woody Allen re-cycling stories and issues. Don’t we all!! But, this one is more interesting insofar as it has no real Allen substitute character talking like him (though many will observe Anthony Hopkins as the ageing man who takes up with a younger woman). It is amusing rather than funny, but that has been characteristic of Allen films in recent years.
There is a very strong international cast with performances worth watching. At the beginning and end is the unexpected character of the ageing Helena, who is really the central character. She is played cannily by British actress Gemma Jones, a mixture of angry rejected wife and eagerly superstitious devotee who is in the hands of Cristal (Shirley Valentine’s own Pauline Collins). Naomi Watts plays her generally level-headed daughter whose marriage is collapsing and who misreads the attentions of her boss (Antonio Banderas). Josh Brolin (after W, Milk and Wall Street 2) is her would-be successful novelist husband. But he has his eye on music student (Freida Pinto, Slumdog Millionaire) in a window across the street.
Anthony Hopkins plays the husband of 40 years who refuses to face age and his wife’s ageing and takes up with an escort (Lucy Punch who makes her an unselfconsciously dopey gold-digger).
There are plenty of secrets and lies, Woody Allen style.
1. Woody Allen after forty years of film direction? Perceptions of human nature, relationships, betrayal, eccentricity? Humour?
2. The London settings, recognisable or fantasy? The world of wealth, flats, the streets, galleries and gyms? Musical score, classical, contemporary?
3. The title, the catchphrase of psychics and fortune tellers? Mediums? The background of superstitions, frauds? Getting information, using shrewd insights? Knocks on tables at séances? Roy and his critique, using the title? Sally, supporting her mother, the bluntness of the ending? Believers? Helena and her being absolutely faithful? The information fulfilling her needs?
4. The narrator, the wry commentary, introduction to the characters and situations? The quote from Macbeth about sound and fury signifying nothing?
5. The introduction to Helena, an elderly lady, bewildered, finding Crystal? Crystal and her chummy tone? The sessions, Helena wanting a drink, Crystal and her information, the aura, quotations? Helena’s quest, always quoting Crystal, the ending – happy? The only one fulfilled?
6. Sally and her mother, alienation from her father? Roy as her husband, the flashback to the meeting with her sore foot? Their home life, Roy’s successful novel, taking ages to finish the second, his restlessness, submitting it, his failure? His roving eye and watching Dia? Crystal and Helena and the prophecy that Roy would fail? Roy and his going to meet Dia, Sally not knowing? Going out, flirting, talking? Sally at work, getting the job with Greg, meeting him, attracted? Jane and the plans for their own gallery? Her jobs, trying on the earrings for Greg? His taking her to the opera? Her reticence? Iris as her friend, her talent, Iris and the affair, with the earrings? Confronting Greg, not getting a satisfying answer? Separating from Roy? Exasperated with her mother? Roy and Sally meeting Alfie and Charmaine, Sally’s suspicions? Her wanting a child, desperate?
7. Alfie, forty years of marriage, getting old, exercising, Helena failing and becoming old and his rejecting her? His being isolated in his wealth? Hiring Charmaine as an escort, his behaviour, concern about transmitted diseases? Infatuation, going out, the gifts, meeting Sally and Roy, marrying Charmaine? Their life, going to the gym, buying her things? Her dumb attitudes, her choice of TV? Going to the gym, Ray and the other men, Ray’s decision to seduce Charmaine? Alfie and the taxi, seeing Charmaine, catching her out? The confrontation with Ray, the fight? Her pregnancy, her rationalisation as to the father? Alfie and his dinner with Helena, wanting her back – and her refusal?
8. Dia, the music student, talking with Roy, going out, the meals, flirting? Her engagement with Alan, the difficulties, taking Roy to see her father, the comments on the book? Calling off the wedding, the angers and confusion?
9. Greg, the job, the gallery, his shaky marriage, Sally and the earrings, taking her to the opera, her not responding? His seeing her as a colleague? Iris, her talent, the affair? Sally going to Greg, his inability to respond to her questions?
10. Crystal, her chumminess with Helena, always being quoted? Fake?
11. Strangler, the poker friends? The accident, the man in the coma, the dead man? Roy reading Strangler’s book, admiring it? Thinking that Strangler was in a coma?
12. Roy and his rejection, stealing Strangler’s manuscript, its being accepted, the build-up, the visit to Strangler in hospital – and the truth about his coming out of the coma?
13. Helena, as a clothes adviser, meeting Jonathan, sharing with him, his seeking his wife’s approval for company, going to the séance, her impatience? The reconciliation, the wife giving permission? The happy ending?
14. Human foibles, the film’s critique of superstition, people making their own decisions and accepting the consequences? The open ending?
