365 Days. 365 Films.

Okay, this is the last Woody Allen film for a while, and yet again it stars Mia Farrow and no Woody Allen. Mia Farrow plays Alice, a rich Manhattan housewife who seemingly has it all, yet when she visits an alternative healer in Chinatown, she begins to feel like this is not the life she wanted to have at all. She indulges herself in writing and begins to have an affair, leading her to finally see what was wrong with her ‘perfect’ life after all.
Mia Farrow is a brilliant actress and she completely loses herself in this part. Yet again the writing and direction is flawless, yet there seems to be something missing from it all. Despite the strong character angle and centralised plot, it doesn’t turn out to be terribly emotive, although strangely it is thought provoking. The way in which Alice re-evaluates her life becomes infectious, and Allen seems to imply that what seems perfect never is. I’m not sure whether or not this was the idea behind it, but either way it was distracting from what could have been a very emotional story with a brilliant feel-good ending, but I didn’t really get any of that from it.

There is a slight comedy aspect to it, and a weird and wonderful fantasy element that Allen likes to use in a few of his films, and although it’s not perfect, nor particularly as enjoyable as his other films, it’s still worth a watch for Allen’s fans.