Another Woman

Marion, played by Gena Rowlands, is a philosophy professor of fifty who rents an apartment to write her book and finds that the sound of therapy sessions next door carries through the ventilation. As what the woman says starts touching her own life, Marion begins asking questions she has never asked. Woody Allen makes no attempt to hide Bergman here; the film is a direct variation on Wild Strawberries. Like Isak Borg, Marion rereads her life after those close to her call her cold and unfeeling, and Allen carries over some of the dream sequences too. Sven Nykvist, Bergman's cinematographer, shot it, and the pale colours and natural light give the film a closed, held-back tone. That resemblance is what divided people. Some dismissed it as imitation, others defended it as among Allen's best. Gene Hackman, Ian Holm, Mia Farrow and John Houseman are in the cast. Who it is for: viewers who like quiet dramas of internal reckoning, and Gena Rowlands. Who it is not for: anyone expecting humour from Allen, of which there is none here.