Crimes and Misdemeanors may well be my favourite Woody Allen film, thus far. I realize I gushed incessantly over Bullets Over Broadway, even placing it in my tentative top ten for a few days before I changed my mind again. Crimes and Misdemeanors, however, exceeds Bullets Over Broadway just in pure quality of film, script, and performances. I admit that I never thought I would say that, but I have and I stand by it until I see my next Woody Allen film. Bear in mind that as I write this review, I still have not seen Annie Hall (shameful, I know), Zelig, The Purple Rose of Cairo (which is Allen’s favourite of the films he’s made), Manhattan, and a slew of others. So it stands to reason that Crimes and Misdemeanors may even be surpassed at one point, but who knows? All I can tell you know is that Allen’s 1989 film is a masterpiece.
Crimes and Misdemeanors was met with enormous critical acclaim upon its release and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Woody Allen for Best Director and Martin Landau for Best Supporting Actor. After the film came out, many people considered this work to be one of Allen’s most mature films. It does contain a pile of subject matter, indeed, and is essentially light on the comedy overall. The treatment of its characters and its plot is rather serious, but above all Allen’s script here is eloquent, touching, and thought-provoking. Crimes and Misdemeanors excels because of its attention to the details of the human condition, ethics, and moral choices based on theological or other frameworks.
The film is set in New York, of course. It follows two main characters through parallel stories. One character is Judah, a successful ophthalmologist who is confronted with a moral crisis. Judah, played with engrossing intensity and patience by Martin Landau, has been having an affair with an airline stewardess for quite some time. The stewardess, Dolores (Anjelica Huston), threatens to tell Judah’s wife about the affair. As there appears to be no reasoning with this woman, Judah enters into a moral dilemma and must decide on a course of action to deal with Dolores. He consults with his brother and some friends about his situation and it ultimately drawn into a situation in which it is dealt with, but much to Judah’s moral dismay. As he grapples with his morality, much of which was imposed by his Jewish father’s teachings, Judah finds a way to press through his dilemma, for better or for worse. The ethical quandaries of Judah and his lack of “comeuppance” drives the narrative.
The other character is Cliff (Allen), a documentary filmmaker. He is struggling with his career and eventually and begrudgingly takes on a job with his brother-in-law, Lester (Alan Alda). Lester is, to put it lightly, a pompous ass. He has Cliff follow him around and make a self-serving documentary about his life, which Cliff despises. Along the way, Cliff – who is married – falls in love with Halley Reed (Mia Farrow), an assistant. Cliff and Halley have a friendship, but Cliff pushes for more. Cliff finds himself in a moral dilemma that he, like Judah, must solve for himself. His choice parallels with Judah’s choice in the essence of the choice and in the motivation of the character within the framework of the ethical dilemma. Cliff contrasts with Judah in many ways, but they both are men with choices the make. The film comes to a close as Judah and Cliff actually meet for the first time and discuss, albeit briefly, their senses of morality and “getting away with murder.”
Crimes and Misdemeanors, like many of Allen’s films, takes a good deal of its core from philosophy. In this case, Allen explores the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche. Especially of note for Allen within Crimes and Misdemeanors appears to be Nietzsche’s notions of reality, more specifically that the world is an “empty void” and that we create values within it. These values, as created by the differing behaviour of those within this empty void, depend, for the most part, on one’s outlook of the world and on one’s ideas of weakness or strength. For Nietzsche and for the purposes of Allen’s exploration of this, the characters within Crimes and Misdemeanors represent characters that have created their own ethics and their own morality, choosing to reject external points of view. The end results are either tragic or victorious, depending on your outlook of the world. This, then, becomes the marvelous thing about Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Martin Landau’s Judah is by far the more compelling character here, but it is within the juxtaposition of the actions and ethos of Judah and Cliff that we find beauty in this film. Cliff’s choices are apposite to Judah’s in many ways. The “good” moral choices within Crimes and Misdemeanors are anything but rewarded and the “bad” moral choices appear to carry with them none of the consequence we may expect. Instead, the “hero” is fallen through his own morality and the “villain” gets away with it all. This interesting and compelling dichotomy is played to bear by the wondrous performances in the film, as each actor plays his or her role with such a sense of weakness and intelligence for the material. Allen aims for realism here, yet still places comic moments inside of some of the darkest passages.
This film reminded me of the central notions within Double Indemnity, as a character thinks of himself as good but comes to discover that he is, in fact, anything but. Allen’s film questions those notions of ourselves, leaving us with a lot of explaining to do when we take the moral high ground and a lot of thinking to do when we don’t. Where does our morality come from? Who do we listen to: ourselves or external voices? Perhaps a combination of the two? These questions are at the fabric of Crimes and Misdemeanors. With Allen’s trademark direction and compelling performances from everyone involved, this dark comedy remains a classic and is one of Allen’s best.
10/10
Trailer:
