September **** (1987, Denholm Elliott, Dianne Wiest, Mia Farrow, Elaine Stritch, Sam Waterston, Jack Warden) – Classic Movie Review 3039

Writer-director Woody Allen’s powerful 1987 Ingmar Bergman-style movie is an intense, serious psychological drama from Allen in which six people (played by Denholm Elliott, Dianne Wiest, Mia Farrow, Elaine Stritch, Sam Waterston and Jack Warden) try to deal with their various loves, paranoias and anxieties during a Bergmanesque country weekend at Farrow’s house in late-summer Vermont.

Among the fine players, it is Stritch and Farrow who impress most as a tense mother and daughter, though Wiest as Farrow’s best friend and Warden as her stepfather have their strong moments.

The storyline may be dialogue driven but there’s a neatly devised plot, in which  everyone is in love, but each loves someone else. Neighbour Howard (Elliott) falls for Lane (Farrow), though she is in a relationship with Peter (Waterston), who is falling for Stephanie (Wiest), a mother married with children.

Entirely filmed in the studio (re-creating Vermont indoors), the economically produced and directed film explores emotions in a controlled and unemotional way. The acting and screenplay are impeccable, and so are Carlo di Palma’s cinematography and the production designs by Santo Loquasto and Speed Hopkins.

But the public was disappointed at the lack of jokes and the lack of Woody Allen in this real downer of a movie – and stayed away. It grossed only $486,434 in the US.

Also in the cast are Ira Wheeler, Jane Cecil and Rosemary Murphy.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3039

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