“ART IMITATES LIFE?”

By Raymond Benson

Oh boy. This one’s difficult.

When Husbands and Wives was released in September 1992, the news was full of the Woody Allen/Mia Farrow/Soon-Yi Previn scandal, which had recently broken. The studio, Tri-Star, seemingly rushed the release of the film to capitalize on the gossip, and, as a result, the picture did pretty good box office (better than Allen’s previous two films). Although the public found out about Allen’s dalliance with Farrow’s adopted daughter a little later, Farrow discovered it at some point during the filming of Husbands and Wives. Talk about what must have been a tense set...!

Okay, so this is a case in which a reviewer can’t look at a movie without the real-life baggage encroaching on the evaluation. In fact, I’ll argue that it’s impossible not to do so.

That said, Husbands and Wives is one of Woody Allen’s greatest—albeit darkest—works. It might be his most insightful, honest, and disturbingly analytical treatise on affairs of the heart, especially as they apply to American—and specifically New York City—upper and upper-middle-class men and women.

There’s a “reality TV” approach to the way it’s shot and directed, with hand-held cameras and a narrator/interviewer (the voice of Jeffrey Kurland, the costume designer of the film!), who elicits commentary from the characters outside the main action of the story. This was a revelation at the time, since the concept of reality television had been only teased on MTV during the 1980s and had not fully developed as a primetime phenomenon. Allen’s regular director of photography, Carlo Di Palma, provides a gritty, jerky, documentary feel to the proceedings, and it works beautifully.

Gabe (Allen) and Judy (Farrow) are married with no children. He’s a college professor in literature. Their best friends Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis) are a couple that announces at the beginning of the film that they are getting divorced. They’re both ostensibly okay with that, but Judy and Gabe are shocked and upset. Jack and Sally, throughout the film, begin to date others. Jack sees Sam (Lysette Anthony), a much younger aerobics teacher who is intellectually incompatible with him. Judy matches Sally with Michael (Liam Neeson), although Judy has the hots for Michael herself. Sally is too neurotic and so-not-ready for dating again that it doesn’t work out with Michael. Meanwhile, Gabe becomes infatuated with a very young college student, Rain (Juliette Lewis), who has a history of dating older men.

Is this a film fraught with art-imitating-life syndrome, or what? Without revealing how these romantic and not-romantic liaisons work out, let’s just say that Allen consistently shows us ugly truths about lies, trust, and compromise. Is it a comedy? Yes and no. There are laughs, but mostly this is a biting, dark satire that is more akin to the works of, say, Jules Feiffer, than Woody Allen. There are moments of sheer brilliance, and others that are too close to the headlines for comfort.

Perhaps the most revelatory statement in Husbands and Wives is that Gabe, Allen’s character, refuses to take his involvement with student Rain any further after one kiss (that she asks for on her birthday) because it’s “not right.” It’s amazing that Allen’s character performs with wiser moral integrity than Allen himself did in his personal life, considering that the movie was written and made while he was courting a much younger woman. Ironic, if anything.

Judy Davis received a much-deserved Academy Award nomination for Supporting Actress for her performance. Pollack (director of such works as Tootsie and Out of Africa), too, is exceptional, and it’s a wonder why he never got more recognition for his occasional acting stints. Jack and Sally’s story is the most engaging piece of the film. Allen’s script, a striking piece of work, was nominated for Original Screenplay.

Twilight Time’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds exemplary, with its 1080p High Definition transfer and 1.0 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. The only supplements are the theatrical trailer and an isolated music and effects track. The essay in the booklet is by critic Julie Kirbo.

Limited to only 3000 units, Husbands and Wives is a collectors’ item that explores the hurricane that can exist within a relationship, and one that blew up in the tabloids.

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