Interiors - 1978

Film Synopsis

An empty house. Precious vases on providing tables. Steps. A window, behind which a sea beach becomes visible. Silence and the icy atmosphere of cultivated civility.

The 60-year old Eve created a harmonious home for her husband and three daughters. Everything seems furnished for the long term. Eve's 63 year old husband, Arthur, quietly announced to his family that he wants a change in his life, and that he is taking a trip to Greece by himself. The daughters are stunned. Eve does not want to admit to her husband's vacation. The film explores how the three daughters cope with their parents' obvious seperation. Joey lives together with a political intellectual. Renata is unhappily married to a frustrated writer. Arthur returns from Greece and confesses to Eve that they should seperate. Eve breaks down. She tries to take her own life, however in last minute she is saved. In the hospital she recovers physically, not the mental trauma is obvious. Arthur does not change his mind. He soon announces that he has become acquainted with another woman, the life-thirsty Pearl from Florida. Arthur is so enamoured with Pearl that he marries her.

The daughters attend the wedding, however Joey is the most reluctant. She feels an irrational solidarity her mother, despite their own broken relationship. In the family house, the wedding takess place, and all eventually participate. Pearl appears to the daughters as a naive person, but friendly and cordial. The daughters nevertheless cannot accept her. The symbolic break happens when Pearl, who is dancing, knocks over ove of Eve's vases. The harmony is broken.

Main Cast

• Kristin Griffith .... Flyn
• Mary Beth Hurt .... Joey
• Richard Jordan .... Frederick
• Diane Keaton .... Renata
• E.G. Marshall .... Arthur
• Geraldine Page .... Eve
• Maureen Stapleton .... Pearl
• Sam Waterston .... Mike
• Missy Hope .... Young Joey
• Kerry Duffy .... Young Renata
• Nancy Collins .... Young Flyn
• Penny Gaston .... Young Eve
• Roger Morden .... Young Arthur
• Henderson Forsythe .... Judge Bartel

Movie Remarks

Although indisputably a film by Woody Allen, Interiors is about as far from "a Woody Allen film" as you can get--and maybe more people could have seen what a fine film it is if they hadn't been expecting what Allen himself called "one of his earlier, funnier movies." An entirely serious, rather too self-consciously Bergmanesque drama about a divorcing elderly couple and their grown daughters, it is slow, meditative, and constructed with a brilliant, painterly eye. There is no music--a simple effect that Allen uses with extraordinary power. In fact, half the film is filled with silent faces staring out of windows, yet the mood is so engaging, hypnotic even, that you never feel the director is poking you in the ribs and saying, "somber atmosphere." Diane Keaton, released for once from the goofy ditz stereotype, shines as the "successful" daughter. Some of the dialogue is stilted, and it's hard to tell whether this is a deliberate effect or simply the way repressed upscale New Yorkers talk after too many years having their self-absorption sharpened on the therapist's couch. Fanatical, almost childish self-regard is the chief subject of Allen's comedy--it's remarkable that in this film he was able to remove the comedy but leave room for us to pity and care about these rather irritating people. --Richard Farr on Amazon.com

Interiors Trivia:

Budget: $10m (USA)
Filming Dates: October 1977 - January 1978
Release Dates: August 2, 1978 (USA), December 21, 1978 (West Germany - Innenleben), March 21, 1979 (Sweden), March 30, 1979 (Finland)