Rent Husbands and Wives (1992)

Raw Life. - Husbands and Wives review by Steve

 This was released at the time of Woody Allen's separation from Mia Farrow and its raw, documentary style made it feel that some of the blows were landing close to home. It mimics fly on the wall reality tv with hand held cameras and jump cuts. The actors are interviewed in character about their emotional responses to the events.

A middle aged/middle class couple (Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis) visit Woody and Mia to inform them they are divorcing. This sets wheels in motion for the other marriage. By the fade out, all of them have been burned by the consequences of their inability to manage their ever evolving needs.

 It's relentless and brutal stuff and a lot of pain is condensed into its slender narrative. Woody writes about how hard it is to be married, how the manipulations that help make it work are the very things that will destroy it. There is little humour. A character says to Woody about his past work: 'All this suffering, you make it so funny'). But there's not much of that here.

Davis is magnificent as a sexy, middle aged ballbreaker. Juliette Lewis is interestingly ambiguous as Allen's young, high maintenance writing class student. At the end, Woody addresses the camera: 'Can I go now? Is this over?' As if the whole experience is too intense and destructive to endure. It's not typical, but it's one of Allen's greatest films.