Thursday, November 09, 2006

[1980] STARDUST MEMORIES: It's a sweet little metamovie about relationships that apparently pissed off the Woodman's fanbase because he made fun of them throughout. I am not a big Woody Allen fan, so perhaps that's why I quite enjoyed this. The Woddy Allen character in this is a film director who's gone from making comedies to serious movies and his fanbase is constantly stalking him and he's pursuing three relationships at once, between the reliable woman (Marie-Christine Barrault), the crazy woman (Charlotte Rampling), and the unobtainable woman (Jessica Harper--and has anyone else been in a De Palma movie, an Argento, and a Woody Allen?) You know--basic Allen territory. Except he's constantly blurring the lines--he's constantly cutting between the life of Sandy Bates (Woody) and the oeuvre of Sandy Bates, which is either psychoanalytical comedy or Bergman imitation, and of course it's great that Woody gets his own joke. The ending really sold it for me: the lights come up, and the cast of Stardust Memories leave the theater and critique their own performances, and then Allen comes in, lingers, and leaves. It's a nice little "thank you for coming" touch that I don't know why this thing upset people--the fanbase ribbing turns out to be gentle.

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