Filled with angst and written seriously, I had to put aside my anticipation that at some point a Woody Allen moment would move in. This is an homage to Bergman. The characters are serious in their presences. They are consumed by guilt as they watch their parents move on with their lives. When we see Geraldine Page, suffering, we know why things are as they are. The girls have tried to make their lives go and have run into the depth of despair. At times it seems so maudlin and I can muster no sympathy for their pathetic beings. Throw in the flamboyant Jean Stapleton who adds color to this dirge and by contrast everyone is lost. E. G. Marshall is to be complimented for getting out of this black hole. Still, there is some growth. This sort of set the stage for future "serious" movies, but it is drained of charm, as Allen would use these themes later in better movies. I personally believe had this not been made by Wood Allen, it would have been treated with much less respect by the critics as pretty ordinary and overly artsy.
