Too ponderous for me unfortunately. It struggled to grab my attention.

Opening with another perfect monologue, Interiors pulls no punches revealing that it is a dramatic film. the 1978 film by Woody Allen marks the first serious film devoid of comedy of the director's career. Showcasing the sudden upheaval of the lives of three sisters in the wake of their parent's unexpected divorce, Woody Allen proves his flare dramatic film as well as comedy. Able to bring focus to the lives of each character in his film, Woody Allen brings himself even closer to my heart than I ever thought possible.Renata (Diane Keaton), Joey (Mary Beth Hurt), and Flyn (Kristin Griffith) are three sisters in a dysfunctional family trying to navigate through the troubles of their own lives while also attempting to keep the peace in their parents' lives, as well. Their father has recently, and unexpectedly, sprung a divorce on their mother. Their mother is not dealing with her new status of divorcée very well and becoming increasingly emotionally despondent. Not only are the sisters struggling with their parents crumbling interiors, but their own as well. Each is experiencing problems in their personal, work, and emotional lives needing to be tended to that they are not well enough equipped to deal with. My favorite brand of director is a personal one. The injection of Woody ALlen's own obsessive fear of death into every film he makes is one that strikes all the right chords with me. Not only am I a bit of an existential nihilist loving to see that penchant in film, but I'll just always be on board for a director giving of themselves in their films. It's special to be able to take the art that you make and give it a touch that only you possess and I hope I never tire of discovering those personal touches in film as an artistic medium. Interiors was interesting because there were many pivotal scenes in which all the action was happening off-screen. The deliberate choice to showcase the film through a lens where the audience doesn't know all of what is going on was the perfect illustration of each sister not knowing fully what is going on with each other or with their parents. Interiors is emotionally raw in a beautiful way, and despite it not cracking my personal favorite of Allen's films, remains an important one in his body of work.

The story of a very dysfunctional family and what happens when the parents divorce. Eve (Geraldine Page) and Arthur (EG Marshall) are a 60-something couple, recently separated. They have three adult daughters - Renata (Diane Keaton), Joey (Mary Beth Hurt) and Flyn (Kristin Griffith). Renata is a poet and is married to Frederick (Richard Jordan). Joey is (reluctantly) in advertising and is married to Mike (Sam Waterston). Joey is a film and TV actress. Eve is an incredibly negative woman and this has had a toxic effect on her children. This results in stifling, unsupportive relationships and joyless lives.Woody Allen at his most introspective and negative. A very well made film, with Allen demonstrating his prowess behind the camera to full effect. Some great camera angles, fixed angle shots and lingering shots. Great performances too from all concerned. However, for the first 90% of the movie there is hardly a cheerful moment (this is clearly not one of the "funny ones"). Negativity is piled upon negativity. This is largely led by the mother, Eve, who is one of the most irritating, depressing characters in all of cinema. Equally depressing is how this has rubbed off on her children.The pain of watching the first 90% does pay off in the end, as the final few scenes tie the movie together and provide the closure and relief. The contrast is stark, like a release valve being opened, and make the movie worth watching.It is really a matter of gritting your teeth and getting through the first 90%...

Standing back from the time of the 70s as we all do now, Allen's 'Interiors' does appear to fill a void by an unexpected style of turning inwards upon American representation, a particularly European intellectual sense of reality and successfully inhabiting along side the usual forms of representation, a deep, alternative yet compatible contribution to the received images of America.The foreignness of the faux-style which was so criticised in it's day, it is fair to say, does resonate with the experience of loss and evocation which forms part of the language of the settled European immigrants who have made the landscape of New York, if not indeed the whole of America their own for generations.The piece, therefore, and it's European influence as well as it's 'weakness' of fauxness proves to be an utterly authentic representation of the Euro-descendant American condition. It is precisely through this authentic synthesis, the piece becomes elevated to something Great.Aside from the debate about the film's standing as a whole, It can be argued that the wedding dancing scene in the last third of the film is one of the greatest character portrayals of cinematic awkwardness ever produced. It is a mini but major triumph of agony, tragedy, and denouement and stands out as one of Allen's best from his Canon.I think this film will continue to receive the revisionism it needs in proportion to the degree to which it has been overlooked and in the end could well be judged as one of the greatest of Allen's films rather than the one that just got through.