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“You have no values. You have all nihilism, cynicism, sarcasm and orgasm, ”his beloved denounces Allen’s hero in the movie Taking Harry apart. But these fair words are written by Woody Allen himself. A person who questions everything. A director who made cinema a means of expressing philosophical thought. A supporter of romantic nihilism, good-natured sarcasm and genuine orgasm.
Now his name sounds like a synonym for the word “irony”. Which is natural – everything becomes the subject of jokes of Woody Allen, director and writer: sex and charity, intellectuals and revolutions, cultural heritage and moral values, ballet and opera, the era of radio and the power of television, family addictions and the war of the sexes, prestidigitators and journalists, masculinity and feminism, actors and rabbis, the middle class and insurance medicine. And even God. And even the Holocaust. And the search for truth, and the fear of death. But first of all, he himself is a New York intellectual, a descendant of Jewish refugees from Europe, a frequenter of the psychoanalyst’s couch. Nothing seems to be sacred to him. He definitely doesn’t have any idols. Everything is doubtful for him. But Woody Allen doubts and doubts.
And he lives in his own ideal world, where there is absolutely nothing perfect … “Except, of course, the stupidity of Uncle Chaim” … This world is cozy, because everything is home-like in it, because you can joke about it, and it won’t hurt . Or rather, it will not be as painful as it usually happens to us from collisions with world imperfections.
Behind Allen’s caustic rationalistic doubt is a vulnerable soul who trusts only feeling. Only it is authentic, only it does not deceive. An egghead Manhattan, he believes in love. He writes about her, and shoots, and plays the clarinet with a jazz orchestra. The undoubted value of living feelings is the main lesson to be learned by anyone who decides to study with the dubious rationalist Woody Allen.
His dates
- December 1, 1935: Allan Stewart Koenigsberg was born in Brooklyn, New York.
- 1952: Takes the pseudonym Woody Allen.
- 1953: Film student at New York University.
- 1965: Writer and actor in What’s New, Pussycat? Clive Donner.
- 1969: Take the Money and Run, directorial debut.
- 1972: “Everything you wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask.”
- 1977: Annie Hall wins four Oscars.
- 1986: Hannah and Her Sisters, Oscar for Best Screenplay.
- 2002: “Palm of Palms” at the Cannes Film Festival for his contribution to cinema.
- 2005: “Match Point”.
- 2006: “Sensation”.
- 2007: “Cassandra’s Dream”.
- 2008: work on the film “Vicki Cristina Barcelona”.
Keys to Understanding
Fear of death as a stimulus to life
“Nothing… Non-existence… Black void…” – “Did you say something?” “No, just some plans for the future.” The inevitability of death, the finiteness of our present life is Allen’s main phobia, the motive of almost all of his films. But it is also a reason not to waste life in vain. Try to experience, understand, commit, on- and create. Consoling ourselves with the Epicurean: where we are, there is no death, and when it comes, we will no longer be here. And why is Woody Allen not the Epicurus of our time?
Don’t expect too much
He does not hide that he is afraid of life. “In general terms, I see life like this: loneliness, unhappiness and suffering. And it’s all too short,” he says in Annie Hall. But nevertheless, he constantly acts, shoots film after film and, excuse me, woman after woman (Allen is a well-known conqueror of ladies’ hearts). Question: why? Answer: “He hated reality, but he knew that there was nowhere else to count on a good chop.” Since we live in this world, it’s better to try to master it and live in it with pleasure than to push in confusion and indecision in the hallway.
Men and women: overcome misunderstanding
“Everyone says, ‘I love you.’ This is the name of one of his films. Allen is convinced that love is the engine of life, that the most vivid experiences and impressions are generated by love. But, according to his logic, since she is the main thing, then she is the funniest. It’s funny because men and women are infinitely different creatures, but still they try, fools, to find a common language, to connect, to merge. According to Allen, love is a meeting and an inevitable farewell. Therefore, in his films, as in life, there are continuous partings.
Communicate with God… humanly
In fact, Allen has a lot of questions to God, but … “According to the latest books of Moses, God is merciful, but there are many things and phenomena in the world that he simply does not reach his hands.” So Allen is not an atheist at all, he is simply “in constant opposition to God.” While sharply on the “divine” topic, Allen only confirms the Jewish truth: a person should not judge God. With all his malicious existence, he confirms the correctness of the Hasidic parable about Rabbi Mendel, who asked the learned people who came to him where the Lord dwells. Scholars wondered, “Is not the whole world filled with His glory?” Then the tzaddik himself answered his own question: “The Lord dwells where he is admitted.” Woody Allen, whose books and films help to see the joyful absurdity (inscrutableness) of the world, is in fact the one who let God in.
About it
Woody Allen books
- “Jokes of the Lord”, Foreigner, B.S.G.-Press, 2002.
- “Notes of an urban neurotic, a small bespectacled Jew who stopped writing in time”, Symposium, 2002.
- “Riverside Drive”, Inostranka, 2005.