The Three Acts:The initial tableaux: Marion turned 50, and all seems well with her. She's a philosophy professor and an author who is on sabbatical to write a new book. She's rented a flat to allow her to concentrate on the writing. Unfortunately, the sound of conversation drifts in through the air vent from the adjacent flat. The introspection starts. Delineation of conflicts: Marion thinks her marriage is just fine, but then she discovers hanging weaknesses. She believes her relationships with her family are OK, but then starts revisiting those relationships. She was convinced friends and family thought highly of her, but then gets a number of reappraisals.Resolution: Earnest discussions produce new discoveries; will these help Marion?

"I realize you have been hurt. If I've done anything wrong, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I accept your condemnation." "You are a member of Amnesty International and the ACLU. And the head of the philosophy department. Impossible!" These are two of my favorite quotes from the Woody Allen film, Another Woman. I like them each equally well but for different reasons. The first is such an outrageous statement by a phony pomposity of an ego so far gone as to defy augury and the other hits a little too close to home with the exception of being the head of the philosophy department. Woody Allen strikes gold here with his study of intellectual angst and mid life crisis. It would not be too much of an exaggeration to declare this film to be a mini-masterpiece.I ran across this neglected, forgotten and, probably one you never heard of mini-masterpiece while scrolling through HULU one night looking for something decent to watch. Oh, a film by Woody Allen! Let me check it out. Probably seen it before but what the heck? So I cued it up and started watching. Curiously enough I didn't remember anything about it and was soon captivated and mesmerized by the haunting voice-over by one of it's stars and the brilliant cinematography of one of the worlds foremost cinematographers.Another Woman was released in late 1988 and runs for 81 minutes. It was written and directed by Woody Allen. It stars Gena Rowlands as Marion Post, a middle aged philosophy teacher who is on sabbatical to write a book. It is her voice-over we hear as the movie begins. She is describing her life as accomplished and reasonably well settled.She rents an apartment downtown to work on her book without distraction and discovers that she is able to overhear the conversation between a patient (Mia Farrow) and her psychiatrist through the heating vents coming from the adjoining apartment. At first Marion blocks off the sound with pillows but later she starts to listen in. The patient is despondent, pregnant, and thinking of ending her life. Her name ironically is Hope.This conversation gets Marion to thinking about her own life and through series of coincidences, ruminations and, flashbacks, she encounters people from previous times in her life and she discovers she is not as happy as she thought she was.This is a film of introspection and marvelous performances. A central theme of the film is that people can transform their lives to become more fulfilled. To say the film was Bergmanesque is rather stating the obvious. It has long been known that Woody has been greatly influenced by the Swedish master, Ingmar Bergman. Some say that this film resembles Wild Strawberries but I think it is more Persona like, which was also photographed by Sven Nykvist, Bergman's favored cinematographer.This is a wonderful film which I highly recommend.

In every classroom, there is a genius, and chances are, that genius will be big on brains but low on social skills. You may dislike them greatly for their seemingly thesaurused vocabulary and cool diction, but they would never know it. They're caught up in themselves, more keen to boast their brightness when they should be showing their warmth. Marion Post (Gena Rowlands) is that kind of girl, except she's grown gracefully into middle-age, has been married for years, and has a job as a university administrator that satisfies her intellectual needs. She's content.Currently, she's writing a novel. Her apartment, however, is distracting, sometimes too noisy when she needs to be alone with her thoughts. She rents a small flat that fits her needs perfectly – or so it seems. After only a few minutes into her preparation, she discovers that a psychiatrist's office is next door, as she can hear every conversation through a noisy air vent in the middle of the living room. At first, she places pillows over the accidental speaker. But after accidentally overhearing a hysterical patient (Mia Farrow), Marion becomes fascinated. The exchange between the psychiatrist and his patient is interesting to say the least, but Marion finds it precariously relevant in her own life. As she begins eavesdropping on a regular basis, she finds herself reexamining every detail of her existence. It seems that her marriage, friendships, and familial ties are not as ideal as they seem.Woody Allen tries to plunge into the psychological depths of Bergman with Another Woman, but the film is frequently overwrought in its intellect, pretentious even. Allen has tried drama several times, more often than not with success. 1978's Interiors was stirring in its melancholy catharsis, and future endeavors, such as 2005's Match Point and 2014's Blue Jasmine, explored new territory with the same if not more accomplishment.Another Woman feels more like an experiment that could have been left as a novel or a short story. At only 81 minutes, it's somewhat abrupt. The ending lets us know that Marion is planning to change her life for the better, but how? Throughout the film, we see her cold shouldering nearly everyone on a regular basis – is she suddenly going to heat up her shoulder and hope for the best?It's a stupid question I pose, I know, but I think the real problem with the film is how controlled it feels. There is no danger. There is no looseness. It wants to be stark in its atmosphere, and it is, but if it's going to hold back emotional texture, there should be something to fill in for that gaping hole. Another Woman is like an exercise, not a film. It isn't bad in the traditional sense, but in comparison to Allen's other movies, it's a filler, a transition, if you will.There is plenty for the actors to do: Rowlands, who spent most of the '70s and '80s in her husband's (John Cassavetes) films, ties up her untamed hair and colorful wardrobe for a tight up-do and a bland turtleneck, giving one of her most affecting and impressive performances in the process. Hackman's longing desire is pungent, and Farrow is a force of gloominess in her few scenes. But even though Another Woman is well made and, at times, poignant, it doesn't have enough meat to make it any less than a forgettable exploration for one of cinema's greatest directors.

This is a serious drama by Woody Allen, not the usual neurotic romantic comedy genre that he is known of. I loved this movie, although after wards I felt it was familiar to another film I had seen recently. And that is My Dinner With Andre, where the music (Satie) and brown greenish colors create the same atmosphere. But both movies are great and make you think and evaluate life in a different way. This one is about a woman who has recently turned 50. She has rented a room to write a book, but when working, she suddenly overhears patients talking to a psychologist next door through an air vent. After listening to a particular patient played by Mia Farrow, she realizes she has alienated many people from here life because of her coldness. Many chances have passed by, e.g. a child, or real love. After meeting this woman in a restaurant, she overhears the character played by Mia Farrow talking to the psychologist about their meeting, later on. I loved this wonderfully voyeuristic and insightful twist,and this is just another winner of Woody Allen, not in the least since the story is clever, and the drama is acted wonderfully - he always knows how to pick first rate actors. A must see!