Interiors (1978)

Powerful

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

You know...this movie is so scary realistic. So much symbolism, it is brilliant. It brought tears I want to explain Jowye as a character ,because I really relate. She is hard at expressing herself,but inside is really sensitive human being...and this sensitivity is strengthen by tension from not knowing what exactly she is good at and what her role in the world is, not having any specific talent and not going any specific path in the jobs she takes. At the same time, there is this burning desire to change the world, to be useful, to be definite, and to make her life count.That, in itself create a flaw and makes otherwise good person somewhat harsh and depreciating herself.She's seen mostly art people around her, so she seeks creative ways of expressing. Her sensitivity makes her care and relate most of all for her mom, she can relate to her mom's gloominess because of the way she herself feel,but her dissatisfaction makes her see the reality as it is, even a bit harsher, thus the final words to her mom and her attitude. Well, she also have a loving boyfriend, but can't understand why he likes her,because she has yet to like herself. And doesn't want kids because she hasn't sorted her own life. I guess it is quite simple for her- to accept not everyone is having a talent, not everyone can do something that great, but having a loving person and family is a gift in itself.Tried to explain Jowey the way I see and relate to her. I can't relate to the other character as much.But I hope someone who recognize themselves would give us an inner glimpse :)

Nothing could keep me watching this film after the first hour. Dialogue was putting me to sleep, and not just the burdensomeness that made me want to slink down and curl my shoulders forward, but the tone. And the sets. And the clothes. Bland and banal.This film felt like a wanna be Graduate or Last Tango in Paris. Although I do not expect the sensationalism of these films, I did hoped something would grab me, rather than making me exhausted because watching felt like work.

I'm a big fan of Woody Allen, and I just watched this movie for the first time. I can totally understand why many people hate it, or do not like it. It is depressing, and there's no real "finish" or arc for the characters.That being said, the one thing that stood out for me that nobody has mentioned, is that even Woody Allen didn't like the characters. I think that was his point. As some have pointed out, the characters are pretentious, self absorbed upper middle class yuppies with no real problems. I think what Woody Allen was doing, as was the case in Manhattan, was giving us a glimpse into that sort of liberal elitist upper crest society, where these characters in particular are pseudo-intellectuals and wannabe artists, who create their own problems that really don't mean anything.This would explain the introduction of Pearl, the fathers new fiancé. Pearl is great. Amidst all the self absorbed, elitist syrup the characters espouse relentlessly, Pearl emerges as almost a down to earth, working class gal.The family goes out to a play with their father and Pearl, and later while eating dinner, they are discussing this play. The daughters and their yuppy husbands are over analyzing the play to literally a puke inducing pretentiousness...and Pearl just chimes in "One character was a squealer, the other wasn't. I liked the character who wasn't a squealer. Thats all there is to it!" They try to argue with her with more pretentious drivel, and Pearl simply states again "The message I got was "dont Squeal." Later, Pearl is dancing to dixieland music with everybody, and knocks over a vase on accident, and the one daughter calls her an animal. Towards the end of the movie, Pearl ends up saving the daughters life with CPR after she nearly drowns. She seems almost ungrateful. Its as if this fmaily is so elitist, they look down on Pearl as some sort of "inferior".Pearl is a down to earth, normal, lovable older woman with some spunk, which is why the father fell in love with her. Throughout the movie, we see how dominating and obnoxious their mother is. She is pretty much the reason the family is dysfunctional, with her delusional, relentless whining, and quiet yet aggressive behavior. On top of that, she was a successful interior designer, and her 3 daughters are all "artsy" intellectuals...and you can see why a character like the father is just overwhelmed with them all, and falls in love with a very grounded, relatively simple woman, Pearl.I think it was Woodys purpose to make you feel burdened or overwhelmed by the characters, the mother...hell, almost feel completely alienated, only to suddenly find yourself relating to Pearl when she arrives.Another scene that kind of highlights the pretentiousness of the characters, one of the girls husbands is speaking into a tape recorder about marxism and communism, hinting that he is a supporter of such ideology. Which, again, is woody making a small point. Because here you have this wealthy, yuppy guy, embracing the concept of marxism.For anyone who grew up or lived around New York in the 60's and 70's, that was always one of those ironies...wealthy yuppy types preaching about marxism and communism. Its sort of a hypocrisy Woody Allen often points out in many of his movies.To summarize, this was a serious movie that essentially criticizes the upper class liberal crowd, as Woody has done in many of his movies. In Manhattan, Woody narrates in the film at the end about how its full of people with no real problems, so they create them. That is essentially the characters in this film. They want for nothing...so they began creating these "existential dilemmas".

At the very least, "Interiors" is fascinating viewing because it's so damn hard to believe it was written and directed by the same person who had made "Sleeper" just five years earlier, in which he also acted, and spent his first five minutes making weird faces at the camera. With "Interiors", Woody Allen goes out of his way to eliminate every trace of humor or happiness out of the picture, and nearly every trace of warmth as well. It's a moody film dripping with misery. There are scenes and lines that cry out for a comic spin ("I want to express something but I don't know what to express or how to express it" or "An enormous abyss between us" - reminded me of the "empty void" that Allen's character was feeling in "Love And Death"), but Allen is determined to play it all deadly straight. In later films such as "Hanna And Her Sisters", he would temper the heavy drama and the psychoanalysis with sarcastic observations and memorable one-liners, and the results would be both more balanced and more enjoyable. But if you accept "Interiors" for what it is, it really is extremely well made. Though most of the characters are clichés, they are so perfectly acted that they become real persons. And Allen's choice not to include a music score is as brilliant as when Alfred Hitchcock did it for "The Birds". *** out of 4.