Getting into Stardust Memories, I think, in my not so humble opinion, Charlotte Rampling is the most hauntingly beautiful of all of Woody Allen's leading ladies.
She is quite a stunner, but there's one scene in the movie where she's just dressed in a nightgown or something, and she opens up a bottle of wine. She looks borderline anorexic in that scene. It freaked me out the first time I saw it, and on each subsequent viewing, too...
One of my favorite Woody jokes EVER in a film is in this one. It's a "clip" from one of "Sandy's" movies that's shown over the weekend at the film festival. Woody: I've never been able to fall in love. I've never been able to find the perfect woman. There's always something wrong. And then I met Doris. A wonderful woman, great personality. But, for some reason, I'm just not turned on sexually by her. Don't ask me why. And then I met Rita. An animal. Nasty, mean, trouble. And I love going to bed with her. Though afterward I always wished that I was back with Doris. Then I thought to myself, if only I could put Doris' brain in Rita's body. Wouldn't that be wonderful ? And I thought, why not ? What the hell ? I'm a surgeon. Tony: Surgeon ? Where'd you study medicine, in Transylvania ? Woody: So I performed the operation and everything went perfectly. I switched their personalities and I took all the badness and put it over there, and I made Rita into a warm, wonderful, charming, sexy, sweet, giving, mature woman. And then I fell in love with Doris...
I think everyone in my high school knew who Woody Allen was, but no one went to see his movies. It wouldn't really be until I got to college that I found people who wanted to see anything other than the newest "blockbuster" (I remember getting some ridicule for taking my girlfriend to see "Reds" on our first date). During this time period I would see the films as they made their way to pay TV (first on the long since defunct "Wometco Home Theater" which aired over Channel 68 in New Jersey, then on HBO when cable came in). It took me a couple of tries to "get" "Stardust Memories", and a few decades to truly appreciate it. I have no issues with the various romantic subplots, but I'm really grabbed by the existential angst aspect of the film. I quote Woody's rant about the faulty denial mechanism all the time, and I love the claustrophobic feel the film has whenever Sandy is around his adoring public. Once again Woody has denied any autobiographical intent of any kind, but even in the 1980s I couldn't watch the film without thinking of what John Lennon said in one of his nastier moods: "I resent performing for f---ing idiots who don't know anything."
On a tangent (when am I ever anywhere else?), the Lennon line makes me laugh, because a variation on opens Tony Hendra's great "Magical Misery Tour" for National Lampoon.
On the Wrong Train Years later I sort of "correlated" this scene with George Harrison's "Any Road". No matter which train you're on (or what road you take) you wind up in the same place.
Stick around, we've still got about 35 films to go ... and by the time we get there maybe the Amazon series to boot.
I doubt that, since I don't think he's started filming, but we might have his next film! He just wrapped shooting the one with Kristin Stewart & Jesse Eisenberg. Woody: "No title yet. If it comes out good, it’s an aggressive title, maybe ‘Poets of New York.’ If it’s not good, it gets a quiet nothing title like ‘Rain in the City.’ “While you’re shooting you can’t tell if it’s a winner. Every day you see dailies. Looks good. But strung all together, after sitting through 20 scenes, it’s sometimes not so charming. That’s why trailers always look perfect.”
I avoid trailers like the plague before I see films, but in the case of "Irrational Man" I could not resist the temptation. IMO, the only "perfection" in that trailer is that it obscures a number of key plot points (thankfully). The film > the trailer. 35 or so films to go (plus a bunch of acting but not directing pit stops from "Antz" to ... something that starts with "Z", other than "Zelig") so we're bound to still be going by the (I assume) summer release of the next film.
I'm watching Stardust Memories now (library loan). You know, between the time I spend ON this forum, and the time I spend listening to and viewing the things DISCUSSED on this forum...I'm not gettin' much else done.
In fact later in the film, she tells Woody she's taking a diet pill because she's fat, because she's tired of feeling gross. It seems anorexia WAS one of her character's problems.
Hadn't thought of that - assumed the "diet pill" thing was more of a hint at her mental instability. But that's an interesting theory!
I don't recall exactly when I first saw Stardust Memories, but I do remember it was playing at a "Film Society" night in college, circa '84. IIRC, those shows were usually on Thursday nights in the same auditorium that played the mainstream stuff on Friday nights (Raiders, Animal House, etc). I knew NOTHING about the film. I'd probably seen all the "early, funny films" by that point, and if I hadn't seen "Interiors", I was at least aware of it as a dramatic departure from his usual stuff. But Stardust was a complete blank for me. We didn't have a VCR back then - few people I knew did - and so this was my first real chance to catch the film. I remember sitting in the auditorium, one of only a handful of folks who were there, waiting for the film to start and not even knowing if it was a comedy or a drama. That opening scene of Woody on the train gave me my answer. I was in for a film typical for "Film Society" night: something heavy and symbolic that one might typically see in a foreign film. But then the film reel unspooled - something I'd seen happen before at a college screening - and I figured it would be awhile before things got straightened out. However, a shadowy silhouette immediately appeared onscreen and said "Well I thought it was terrible..." and I knew I was going to be in for a very creative film. I absolutely LOVED it. There are parts of it that still have me questioning what's occurred, thirty-plus years on, and I'm perfectly ok with that.* I loved the "film clips" from Sandy Bates' movies. I loved the out-of-time narrative, the b&w cinematography, the soundtrack's old jazz tunes (was this the first Allen movie to feature classic jazz tunes?), and the odd cast of hangers on, groupies and grotesques. The ending, where "real-life" seems to fade into his film-within-the-film, but then features the cast of his real life commenting on it (?) still mesmerizes me to this day. I've never seen 8 & 1/2, which is generally regarded as an obvious inspiration for this film. Part of me wonders if I've avoided that film because I don't want it to dampen my enthusiasm for this film. Perhaps someday I'll stream it... When I got around to reading critical reviews of Allen's work, I was stunned at the universally negative reaction to this film. Everyone seemed to take it so personally, as if they had been directly portrayed (and insulted!) by being an unflattering groupie or fan - and I don't think I'll ever understand that. To me this is one of Woody's most ambitious and intriguing films, full of genuinely funny bits and unique insights, told with incredible style and flair. The scene where he visits Dorrie - presumably in an institution - and jump cuts her dialogue ("there's a doctor here who thinks I'm beautiful") is just one example. I've met fellow Woody fans who haven't seen this one because of its poor reputation, and I always encourage them to check it out. *As I say, I'm perfectly ok with this film not making literal "sense" to me. Woody further confused the matter for me with comments of his that I read years later: “He sees the dead rabbit on the kitchen table and as he looks at it the sight of death leads him to a series of thoughts. From then on, the whole film takes place in his mind. It’s shot in exaggerated form because it’s in the mind.” Having just watched this film yet AGAIN a couple nights ago, I still can't see that point in the film as a "departure from reality". But since Woody also denies this film has anything to do with him in an autobiographical sense, I'll just choose to ignore that comment.
I have tried to watch the film with Woody's "transitional point" in mind - and honestly, as in your case, it doesn't make the film any clearer for me. In later years I've tried to abandon the need for the plot to be linear and be clearly divided between reality and "in his mind". I take it all in equally. In another case of two of the loves of my life (Woody Allen films, and song lyrics) crossing paths, this film is brought to mind by the Paul McCartney lyric: "I saw you sitting at the center of the circle, everybody wanted something from you". Sandy Bates's life might be a bit of an exaggeration of Woody Allen's life after "Annie Hall", but I bet it's not TOO much of one (and is probably far more normal than the lives of say, Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan).
Yes, 8 1/2 is an obvious inspiration for this film. The themes of existentialism, alienation, God, etc. are all there.Yes, you should see it. It's one of the greatest films ever made (much better than Stardust Memories IMO). Stream it, buy it, whatever you do, see it. Then see it again because you won't understand it the first time.
Woody Allen has released a film that he directed every single year from 1982 to 2015 (including two in 1987). So what he was doing in 1981? A play that he wrote was produced: The Floating Light Bulb (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Floating_Light_Bulb). And he was credited as the writer of a short French film called "The Subtil Concept". If you saw either one, you are one up on me!
