Annie Hall

Its status on my self-important list was quickly elevated because of its trend-setting ability to portray ordinary (if somewhat insane) people and speak candidly to the fundamental lust of mankind – love.

An autobiographical scandal surrounds Annie Hall; it's rumoured to be based on Allen's relationship with Diane Keaton (real name Diane Hall), but Allen strongly denies this. Whether there's any fire beneath the smoke is not clear, but I suspect the reason for the rumours is because that's what you get when you make a film with an ex-lover, and also because Allen is a cinematic genius.

It feels so honest. It's like being in the characters' heads. And so it should be. In this film Allen has perfected the art of dialogue (and believe me, many wannabe-successors have taken notes). It's not so much what happens in the film, but rather the neurotic-nothings that are being said that keep you watching.

For those unfortunate souls who have not watched it yet, the best way to describe Annie Hall is to quote the tagline: "A nervous romance." It tells the quaint and rather complex story of a romantic relationship between two very different people, the phobic comedian Alvy Singer (Allen) and the ditsy, babbling photographer and singer Annie Hall (Keaton).

Now let's put this into perspective: the time is 1977, the place is New York, the cast is Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Paul Simon, Tony Roberts, Shelley Duvall and Truman Capote (among others). Imagine the possibilities, or watch the film. (The latter will probably be more impressive.) In the story, Alvy and Annie are involved on-again, off-again for a number of years. Through their relationship we explore the effects of unremitting therapy, the bizarre customs of dating and the paranoia of a Jewish man living in what he believes is an anti-Semitic world.

Alvy is a death-obsessed intellectual whose analysis of life may be summed up like so:

"I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That's the two categories. The horrible are like, I don't know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, crippled. I don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So you should be thankful that you're miserable, because that's very lucky, to be miserable."

Annie, on the other hand, is a "La-di-da, la-di-da, la la" kind of girl. Needless to say, they have many differences. This, combined with Allen's wit and warped view of the world, keeps things interesting.

The film's form merits some mention as well. Allen does away with the conventional Hollywood trend towards realism. He breaks the fourth wall, often speaking directly to the camera, including the viewer in his journey. He uses quirky subtitles to explain what Alvy and Annie are thinking juxtaposed with what they're actually saying. He embraces animation and double exposure – and does it with class. His use of camera movement and angles for comic effect is brilliant – but then again, his name is Woody Allen.

So what's the moral of my story? If it wasn't for peer pressure, I never would have discovered my all time favourite neurotic cinematic couple. Here's to giving in.

- Natalie Sineke

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