As talented as he is controversial, Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Woody Allen hasn’t always been talked about for the right reasons in recent years. With 55 films to his credit and a record number of awards, his talent could hardly be questioned. Rather, it is his personal life and allegations of sexual assault that are the subject of controversy. In a new biography, author Damien Ziegler focused primarily on Allen’s work of the last decade, in which humor meets neurosis while drawing parallels to his personal life.
The New York filmmaker, the most famous in the world, continues to make just one film a year despite being 87 years old. The rain of criticism that has rained down on him since the #MeToo movement still claimed that he had become an artist of the past. But it is undoubtedly the public allegations of sexual misconduct that forced him to write his own autobiography in 2020 to defend himself and clear his reputation, even if none of the allegations against him resulted in a conviction.
Photo provided by LettMotif Editions
However, the edition of this book already caused heated debates and the reviews were not praiseworthy.
To summarize, Woody Allen was accused in 2018 of sexual abuse by touching a minor by Dylan Farrow, the girl he adopted with his ex-wife Mia Farrow in 1992 when Dylan was seven years old. Woody Allen categorically denies the allegations against the youth. The girl was manipulated by her mother, who demanded sole custody of her eleven mostly adopted children.
Another family scandal dates back to 1992, when Allen was married to Mia Farrow. She finds photos of her then 21-year-old adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, who Woody took completely naked. Disgusted, she leaves Woody, who quickly begins a relationship with Soon-Yi, 35 years her junior, only to marry her a few years later. America is offended and screams incest.
But can all this, as shocking as it may be, erase the undeniable talent of the filmmaker, master of neurosis?
According to author Damien Ziegler, Woody Allen is a genius of the seventh art. In his book, the author focuses in particular on his films from the 2010s, including the successful films “Midnight in Paris”, “Magic in the Moonlight”, “Blue Jasmine” (Jasmine French), “Café Society” and “Wonder Wheel”. .
The art of reinventing yourself
It is said that Woody Allen reinvented himself throughout his career and that this made him a genius. He began his career at the age of 17 by writing gags that he sent to New York newspapers. But nothing had prepared him for this. He was born in New York in 1935 to a family of Jewish immigrants and grew up in a modest family in Brooklyn.
Woody Allen, his pseudonym, began studying cinema, but dropped out due to his poor grades. But that didn’t stop him from writing sketches for comedians and television shows, including The Tonight Show, as well as satirical articles for magazines.
Early in his career he was called upon to co-write the film What’s New, Pussycat? which led him to direct his first film, Lily the Tigress, in 1966. Although he loves burlesque, the comedy gradually fades to emphasize the drama.
At the same time he writes and directs plays.
He admits that he enjoys being in front of the camera as much as behind it. As a proof of this, he has played different characters in around thirty of his films.
Humor, tragedy and neurosis
His films, which are often comedies of manners, often feature neurotic characters. In addition, he often admitted that he suffered from various neuroses.
Neurotic characters can be found in Jasmine French or Magic in the Moonlight, Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Purple Rose of Cairo and Whatever Works, to name just a few.
In his films he also shows that love is complicated, a bit like his life. In addition, several of his wives or partners appear in his films. This is the case of Diane Keaton and of course Mia Farrow, who appeared in 13 of his films.
Despised in the United States, the much more mature filmmaker has almost fallen into disrepute in his country, so much so that his latest film, Coup de chance, his fiftieth feature, was shot entirely in France, far from his homeland. It was released in September.