Essay Questions

How is the structure of Annie Hall coherent with the significance influence of Freudian psychoanalysis exhibited throughout the movie?

Annie Hall begins at the end and is told as a flashback where earlier events and memories bring the viewer up to date on where things stand in the present. This technique of storytelling is, of course, Freudian psychoanalysis in the nutshell. As the film plays out the back story bringing up us up to date, Alvy’s recall is non-linear and switches focus as one might when engage in a therapy session. Fantasy sequences are situated alongside factual events and the truth of some factual events diverges according to the perception of those involved. In a sense, Annie Hall is almost like filming the interior of Alvy’s mind during a session with his psychoanalyst.

Annie Hall subverts almost every traditional generic convention of the romantic comedy while also managing to fit seamlessly within its evolutionary trajectory. What has been the legacy of Woody Allen’s unconventional subversion of traditional romantic comedy Hollywood casting of the male lead?

The history of romantic comedy casting in Hollywood is best explicated by simply mentioning the names of its most dependable leading men: Clark Gable, William Powell, Cary Grant and Rock Hudson. And then came Woody Allen in Annie Hall and nothing was ever quite the same again. Hugh Grant’s studied nervous behavior traces a direct line back to Woody’s nebbish Alvy Singer. If Alvy Singer had never existed, a strong argument can be made that offbeat comic actors like Bill Murray, Adam Sander, and Jim Carrey would never have been considered for romantic comedy leads.

In addition to being a romantic comedy, Annie Hall is also a sharp satire of some of the most pervasive stereotypes of the 1970s: the drug culture, search for religious meaning outside traditional Judeo-Christian archetypes, the self-involved superficiality of Californians, New York Jews and even conspiracy theorists. How does the movie as a satire impact the movie as a love story?

Opposites attract even though more often than not the magnetism isn’t quite strong enough for the bond to hold permanently. Annie and Alvy have absolutely no business being together other than the fact that they for a brief period they would rather not be with anyone else. A number of reasons exist for Alvy and Annie eventually terminating their relationship, but underlying every one of those reasons is a space between created by their own acceptance of stereotypes. Annie is insecure about not being smart enough for Alvy, but Alvy’s intellect is revealed in many cases to be little more than snobbery toward what he views as less than worthy. By highlighting some of the most common stereotypes of the era for direct satire, the film subtly points out how individual differences between the stereotype and the satirist routinely create communication problems between couples every day.