Review of Another Woman

Sedate and as fleeting as a paperback novel (despite its penchant for high-toned literacy), Woody Allen's "Another Woman" is a seemingly deeply-felt sonata about a 50-ish female writer in New York City who comes to the realization her current state of upscale well-being is a sham. Allen excels in sequences of chatty couples interacting, with the dynamics of two sparking something unintended; he also loves delving into the romantic complications between teacher and student, usually with infidelity a key ingredient, and all of those aspects work their way into this story, which has a moral, grounded center despite the cheating adults (even a younger teen gets a guilty moment, having sex in a forbidden place, but of course she feels cheap afterward!). Allen loves a contradiction as well as any writer, but his main character (played stunningly by Gena Rowlands, who also narrates) is living in the subconscious, and is forced into continually being enlightened. This is handled quite well (with dreamy interludes and flashbacks to childhood), but this narrative actually should be more compelling; instead, it's gossamer drama, with Bergman or Chekov overtures. A last-act fling between Rowlands' husband and a friend is disappointing, with Woody falling back on the cliché (couldn't Rowlands leave her sexless marriage on the basis of boredom alone?). As a director, Woody is very careful and strict with his actors, and Gene Hackman as a novelist surprises the most (his harsh attempt at seducing Rowlands is straightforward and yet almost neurotic--and you can see the anguish and passion on his face); Martha Plimpton continues to be far too eager, but Rowlands, Ian Holm, Betty Buckley, Frances Conroy, and Sandy Dennis have some incredible moments. As the "other woman", whose life parallels Gena's, Mia Farrow has very little on-screen time but her plaintive voice and sensitive face are just right for this brief role. A fine drama about choices and regrets; I'm not sure just how deeply a man like Woody Allen can empathize with a lady in her 50s trying to stay afloat in a loveless life, but there are several scenes here that really dig below the placid surface. *** from ****