Hannah and Her Sisters

Virtually nonstop exhilaration--a dramatic comedy not quite like any other, and one that sets new standards for Mr. Allen as well as for all American moviemakers. [7 February 1986]

He (Allen) makes nary a misstep from beginning to end in charting the amorous affiliations of three sisters and their men over a two-year period.

Mellow, beautiful, rich and brimming with love, "Hannah" is the best Woody Allen yet and, quite simply, a great film. [7 February 1986, Calendar, p.6-1]

Hannah and Her Sisters is old-fashioned in another sense: its plot has the elegant geometry of a Philip Barry play. [Feb 3, 1986]

There's a sense of ease and contentment to it that has never been so prominent in Allen's work before.

At least we know this Allen persona, whatever his current name; the other characters, starting from scratch, don't get much past scratch. Although the picture spreads its attention fairly evenly among them, most of them end up as supporting cast because they are only life-size puppets. [Feb 10, 1986]

"It's one of the problems I have with Hannah. I feel I haven't gone deeply enough." Should Woody Allen ever tire of making movies, he can take up criticizing them.

Woody Allen's magnificent Hannah and Her Sisters plays out like a novel on screen, parsed into chapters by white-on-black quotes, or snippets of dialog, that announce the beginning of each scene. The film's chapters tell intertwined stories of an extended family of Manhattanites, centered largely around Hannah (Mia Farrow), the oldest of three sisters, Hannah, Holly (Dianne Wiest), and Lee (Barbara Hershey). The stories link at three family Thanksgivings at Hannah's apartment, shared with her husband Elliot (Michael Caine), at the beginning, middle, and end of the film. Each story is distinguished by its own soundtrack, and sometimes by its own pace, look, and/or location. Hannah and Elliot have marriage troubles. Elliot's infatuated, and starts an affair, with Lee. Holly's aimless, trying and failing to find satisfaction, repeatedly, taking "solace" in a self-destructive drug habit. Alongside this mix is Mickey (Allen), who's learned he may have a brain tumor and finds himself on a quest to make meaning of life in the face of death. Each story provides a window into the complex decisions adults make -- whether right or wrong -- when confronted with circumstances they hardly apprehend. Allen treats right and wrong choices with the same degree of tolerance, and ultimately with a blind-but-necessary optimism -- a belief that, next time around, a person might just do better. The film's feats are numerous. Effortless mixing of drama and comedy. Thematic and personal bonds uniting seemingly disparate characters and stories. Crafty direction that juggles the pieces but fits them together. This is perhaps Allen's most richly acted film; it's certainly one of his most richly written. His assured storytelling and directing exhibit a marked maturation of his skills. Hannah and Her Sisters is a great, and now classic, film.

"Hannah and Her Sisters" is Woody Allen's second-best film. Only "Manhattan" was better.

Once again, Woody Allen resorts to his favorite topics without repeating himself: religion, psychoanalysis and Groucho Marx. On this occasion the core of the story is marriage; supported by an inimitable cast.

Simply Woody Allen at his top, probabily my favourite Allen movie so far. Loved it.

I am a massive fan of Woody Allen, because of Woody Allen's creativity and his hysterical characters however, i am not a fan of Woody Allen when he makes a melodramatic, not funny, romance movie about a love-hexagon starring a whole bunch of actors and giving himself a supporting-supporting role. I love his movies because of him, and ''Hannah and Her Sisters'' (1986) barely had Allen himself in it, and in fact, the only scenes i thorougly enjoyed were the scenes starring Allen. The rest really wasnt that interesting in my opinion, it's just a sappy romance movie about a love-hexagon between 6 people over 2 years, and it is not that funny, nor does it have any interesting characters, except Allen's and Max von Sydow's. All in all, ''Hannah and Her Sisters'' (1986) is a fine film, but i expected more from Allen. Some consider this one of his finest films, i consider it a big disappointment. Sorry