Interiors (1978)

Genre

Drama

Director

Woody Allen

Country

USA

Cast

Geraldine Page, Diane Keaton, Mary Beth Hurt, Kristin Griffith, Richard Jordan, E. G. Marshall, Maureen Stapleton, Sam Waterston

Storyline

When Arthur (E. G. Marshall) decides to leave his wife Eve (Geraldine Page), their three adult daughters Joey (Mary Beth Hurt), Renata (Diane Keaton) and Flyn (Kristin Griffith) must suddenly face face up to the disintegration of the family and deal with the personal problems in their relationship with each other, their partners and their parents. 

Opinion

First Woody Allen's drama, and first film in which he does not appear as an actor, Interiors is a refined and intimate film as well as a great tribute to Ingmar Bergman. 

Once again, the title means everything. The interiors of the title are not only the sentimentless and furnished spaces we live in, but mostly are the interior feelings of the characters.

Eve, the mother, is so used to living in her reality, that she can't live anymore when her individual and subjective reality collides with the objective reality out there. The daughters are all confused. Joey is still trying to figure out what she want to do in her life, Renata feels trapped (It was like I was here and the world was out there, and I couldn't bring us together), and then there's Flyn, who lives outside but alienated too much from her inner reality. 

Focusing on interiors that internalize the difficult situations of the characters, Allen examines family and couple's relationships with great lucidity.

At his second collaboration with Allen, Gordon Willis enriches the film with a delightful photography. The dominant colours -- white, grey and beige -- give the film an elegant but cold and sterile atmosphere. This sense of emptiness is enhanced by the complete lack of a musical score. 

Geraldine Page is devastating as the suffocating wife and manipulative mother. Diane Keaton is superb as older daughter Renata, but when it comes to Allen films, she is better in "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan". Mary Beth Hurt is very effective as Joey, and Maureen Stapleton brings a breath of fresh air with her character. E. G. Marshall, Sam Waterston, Richard Jordan and Kristin Griffith also do a good job.

I feel the need to express something, but I don't know what it it I want to express. Or how to express it. - Joey