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Starring: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Michael Caine, Barbara Hershey, Dianne Wiest, Lloyd Nolan, Max von Sydow, Daniel Stern

Directed by: Woody Allen

It spans a year in the life of these three extraordinary women fashioned by the hurtful writing of cinemas greatest avatar Woody Allen. Who are we trust when it comes to the matters of the heart? Does love happen only once or it is just something people want to believe? Time plays a huge part in the lives of these women who know every single step of their lives. They lives germinate, wither and rejuvenate in the streets of Manhattan. A city filled with images of Woody Allen’s great conversations.

The film revolves around Hannah, played by Mia, whose sisters are trying to find a footing in their love lives. Barbara Hershey plays the sister, who falls for Hannah’s husband. A person described as a glorified accountant well read and lusts for Lee played by Hershey.

Lee on the other hand has been living with a reclusive artist Fredrick played by the Bergman Actor Max Von Sydow. But it is Elliot, played by Michael Caine, who voices the pangs of love and lust with a beautiful pitch that some of you might not even recognize him with.

Two men voice the narratives of the story, one is Elliot, and the other is the melodramatic yet endearing Mickey played by Woody Allen himself. His stories are more to do with his former marriage to Hannah. He had no control of what really happened between the two of them. They are more like two people who didn’t really know what to say to each other. But it is in his existential drive to find a disease that will surely kill him that makes him one of the most endearing characters and the best performers of this ensemble cast. He begins to experiment with various religions making it difficult for him to face the fact that he has been looking for love. But it is not in religion, that he finally finds solace but in an awkward screening of Duck Soup, that helps remind why life is worth living for.

But these stories are not just character graphs. They deal with relationships that are very reminiscent of Bergman and his handiwork. But Woody Allen does make it his own by several improvisations with the characters. He really doesn’t give us much by the end of the film. But it is thoughtless shenanigans, that a truly thoughtful depiction of human suffering is shown.