Crimes and other trifles

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Movie
German title Crimes and other trifles
Original title Crimes and Misdemeanors
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1989
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Woody Allen
script Woody Allen
production Robert Greenhut
music Johann Sebastian Bach , Irving Berlin , Cole Porter , Franz Schubert a . a.
camera Sven Nykvist
cut Susan E. Morse
occupation

Crime and Trifles is a 1989 American film . Written and directed by Woody Allen , the mix of drama and comedy includes two separate storylines that are put together at the end. The dramatic story of a doctor who has his beloved killed corresponds to the rather comical occurrences of an unsuccessful documentary filmmaker who loses the woman he loves to his hated, more successful brother-in-law .

action

The respected and successful ophthalmologist Judah Rosenthal is happily married to his wife Miriam and could lead a carefree life. But there is also his lover, the mentally unstable and irascible ex- stewardess Dolores. This threatens him with suicide , and so Judah sticks to the relationship. However, he cannot bring himself to leave his wife because of Dolores. When this eventually but he faces, his wife of the love affair to tell and, moreover, financial irregularities in the construction of a hospital for ophthalmology , which also is involved Judah to reveal, the doctor gets it with fear.

Judah is seriously considering getting Dolores out of the way, so she makes contact with his half-silky brother Jack, who has connections to the underworld. At first he hesitates because he has scruples. But when Dolores threatens him again, he gives his brother the job. He then hires a professional killer who takes care of the matter without difficulty. When Jack then reports the execution, Judah begins to plague his guilty conscience. He developed strong feelings of guilt and also came into conflict with his religious views, which were believed to be buried. Only talking to a patient, Rabbi Ben, who is gradually going blind , helps him a little in his crisis of conscience.

At the same time, the unsuccessful documentary film director Cliff Stern was working on a film about the Jewish philosopher Louis Levy, but the work was slow due to lack of funds. His wife Wendy then pushes her brother Lester, a superficial and self-centered , but highly successful producer of TV - soap operas and comedy a -Shows a good word for him. Cliff then gets the opportunity from his brother-in-law, although they basically hate each other, to shoot a film about Lester for a series with portraits of famous personalities.

While working, Cliff meets Halley, who works as Lester's production manager for the series. He falls in love with her because, unlike his wife and Lester, she is intellectually on his wavelength. She is also interested and open-minded about his work on Levy and is also holding out the prospect of a publication as part of the series. However, she reciprocates Cliff's feelings only hesitantly, but is also heavily wooed by Lester.

In order to get revenge on Lester, Cliff cuts his portrait into an embarrassing satire by underlaying Lester's high-handed speeches with historical film recordings of Mussolini and also inserting Lester's rendezvous with young actresses with the film camera . He is then fired by his brother-in-law. To make matters worse, he receives news of the philosopher's suicide during an afternoon that he spends with his niece. Cliff's view of the world is shaken, also because Levy's fundamentally positive attitude to life is so difficult to reconcile with his decision to commit suicide. Halley will also go to Europe for a few months .

Some time later, at the wedding party of Rabbi Ben's daughter, who is Lester's brother and Cliff's wife , Cliff meets Halley again, who, having returned from Europe, is now with Lester. As a result, Cliff is extremely dejected and meets Judah Rosenthal in the foyer of the Hotel, who is also among the guests with his wife. Sitting next to each other, the two ponder morality and responsibility together. Without knowing anything about each other, they both share a profound experience that made them doubt their respective worldview.

Judah, who was a pessimistic person and thought everyone would eventually be punished for their sins , seems to have been taught better by the past few months of forgetting his guilty feelings while traveling around Europe . But Cliff, who was always convinced that he could make the world a better place, has to understand that there is usually a wide gap between claims and reality and that the superficial, the non-committal, ultimately seems to triumph.

Remarks

  • The episodically constructed film ostensibly only offers a connection between the two storylines in the person of Rabbi Ben and the wedding celebration that takes place at the end. However, the statements of the Jewish philosopher about life and love in the second part can be read like a commentary on the events in the first part.
  • There was originally a sequence in which Cliff Stern and Halley made a documentary about aging vaudeville artists. Since Allen was not satisfied with these scenes, he removed them completely from the film. An appearance by Sean Young fell victim to the scissors, and the role of Daryl Hannah , who has a cameo in this film , was reduced to a minimum.
  • In contrast, Alda's role was initially limited to appearing at a party. But through Alda's improvisational skills , the figure gained weight and so it was expanded during the shooting.
  • In addition, Alda's character Lester had a real role model, the producer and screenwriter Larry Gelbart , for whom Alda and Allen had also worked and whom they both disliked because of his despotic nature. Some of the quotes put in Lester's mouth are originally from Gelbart.
  • Martin Landau was originally supposed to take on the role of Jack, the brother of the character he ultimately embodied.

Awards (selection)

  • He was nominated in six categories at the BAFTA Awards :
    • Best Picture: Robert Greenhut, Woody Allen
    • Best Director: Woody Allen
    • Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allen
    • Best Supporting Actor: Alan Alda
    • Best Supporting Actress: Anjelica Huston
    • Best editing: Susan E. Morse

For further awards see

Reviews

  • film-dienst : “ The synthesis of light comedy and serious plot with a philosophical-religious reflection on the existence of God, the question of guilt, love, happiness and responsibility is convincing. A masterpiece full of irony, sadness and bitterness. "

literature

  • Woody Allen: Crime and Other Little Things - Screenplay . Original title: Crimes and Misdemeanors . Translated from the American by Willi Winkler . Diogenes, Zurich 1991. ISBN 3-257-21954-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097123/trivia
  2. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097123/awards
  3. ↑ Crime and other trifles. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used