Stardust Memories has also been viewed as a parody of Fellini's 8 1/2. The film is perhaps best known for the quote 'we enjoy your films, particularly the early funny ones' made to the Allen character (Sandy Bates) on two separate occasions during the film. The film is essentially a parody of Allen's career (although Allen denies this), and his dilemma around his ultimate ambition to make 'serious' films which are acclaimed (in the vein, say, of his hero Ingmar Bergman), rather than the 'mere' comedies with which he made his name. Woody Allen's 1980 film Stardust Memories was made in the wake of two of his most highly acclaimed films, the Oscar-winning Annie Hall and (one of) his masterpiece(s) Manhattan, and, given this backdrop, can be regarded as extremely innovative and (potentially) risky. My own aunt, Victoria Zussin, utters the film's most famous line as the patron who tells Sandy she loves his movies, especially "your early funny ones." -Donald Liebenson There are also choice bits by Sharon Stone as a fantasy woman on a train, Daniel Stern as an aspiring actor, Louise Lasser as Sandy's overwhelmed secretary, Laraine Newman as an unimpressed studio executive, and Tony Roberts as Tony Roberts. The film is impeccably cast with Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, and Marie-Christine Barrault (of Cousine/Cousine ) as the three women in Sandy's life. It poses the same dilemma Stephen King would later tackle in Misery : What happens when a popular artist is held captive by an adoring audience that doesn't want him to change? The answer may come from an extraterrestrial, who in one of the many fantasy sequences advises the comedian, "You want to do mankind a real service? Tell funnier jokes." But out of all of Allen's films, it is perhaps the one most ripe for rediscovery. As studio executives threaten to wrest control of his latest film, he reluctantly attends a weekend film-culture festival in his honor, where he is besieged by journalists ("I'm doing a piece on the shallow indifference of celebrities"), groupies ("I drove all the way from Bridgeport to make it with you"), and persistent oddballs ("Can I talk to you about my idea I have for a movie? It's a comedy based on the whole Guyana mass suicide").Īfter the exhilarating Manhattan, Stardust Memories was a dramatic departure that threw critics and fans for an outraged loop. Although it may not be for everyone, for anyone with even a passing interest in Allen it must be seen."Doesn't he know he's got the greatest gift anyone can have, the gift of laughter?" Woody Allen stars as filmmaker Sandy Bates, who, like John Sullivan in Preston Sturges's Sullivan's Travels, no longer wants to make comedies. STARDUST MEMORIES is truly unique, a film made by an artist on the edge of a divide in his career and considering if his actions are worthwhile or even legitimate. It differs from his later films that deal with similar thematic material, such as the caustic DECONSTRUCTING HARRY and CELEBRITY, in that Allen seems to place equal blame on both himself and those he feels expect too much from him. Allen's examination of his career employs a nearly plotless structure, driven more by character and theme, with a rather daring temporal editing structure that causes his memories of the past to flow neatly into the present. As the weekend continues, he struggles with his feelings of inadequacy, haunted by the repeated comment "I liked your earlier, funny films better."The most obvious point of reference for the film, as many have pointed out, is Fellini's 8 1/2: both deal with filmmakers questioning their own purpose and path, both combine comedy and pathos, and Allen's use of black and white cinematography and scenes of absurdity seem lifted almost directly from Fellini's film. There, he is assaulted by his fans and critics, and can only find refuge in the companionship of his friend's wife Daisy (Jessica Harper of SUSPIRIA fame), and in his memories of an intense relationship with beautiful but insane Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling). Allen stars as Sandy Bates, a celebrated filmmaker who travels to a weekend retrospective of his films.
Marking perhaps his first public consideration of himself as an artist, Woody Allen's STARDUST MEMORIES is also a bold narrative exercise that recalls the European cinema that Allen admires.
0 kommentar(er)
