The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

Annie Hall
15
Johnson: Absolutely. It’s obvious that this is the first time he let himself
indulge. One of the first scenes of the film is the two characters in line at
an art house. They’re waiting to see Persona. They end up going to see The
Sorrow and the Pity after they can’t get into Persona—remember they miss
the credits?
Annie Hall is one of those legends of film lore that originally the film
was written, made, and cut as a completely different film. Originally, it was
a little less audacious in its storytelling, and it had more of a narrative hook.
I’ve read that it was supposed to be a murder mystery. I’m blanking on what
the name of it was. . . .
It was originally titled Anhedonia, which means the inability to experience
pleasure.
Johnson: Right, right. Originally, it was a much more traditionally structured
film. The legend goes that while working with his editor, Allen threw
out half the movie, patched it together, and made it into a much more
impressionistic, subjective canvas of memories. It’s interesting watching
the film if you’re aware of that, because you can see the glue. You can
hear the lines that stitch one scene to another, but it works. It doesn’t end
up detracting from it. If anything, it makes it even more amazing that
they were able to create one statue, shatter that statue, and from those
fragments build a completely different statue that left me stunned in the
Cinema Study Center.
It’s neither here nor there, but I often hear the opposite story: that it
was Gordon Willis, his cinematographer. Allen credits Willis by saying,
“My maturity in film came when I met Gordon Willis.” Willis helped
him discard and keep certain gags. Some of the more Bergmanesque,
surrealistic scenes were cut. There’s one scene where he and Shelley
Duvall go to the Garden of Eden to discuss the female orgasm.
Johnson: Right, and there’s one where he goes to hell, which is eventually
in Deconstructing Harry.
Yeah, and there’s a great quote from that, “Layer 5: For Organized
Crime, Fascist Dictators, and People Who Don’t Appreciate Oral Sex.”