A 1986 comedy-drama film, ‘Hannah And Her Sisters’ is a complete family
entertainer and a must-see, if you truly want a perfect ending to the wonderful
Thanksgiving day. The movie is an intertwining story of an extended family that
concludes with a family Thanksgiving dinner. It deals with the lives, relations
and infidelities of Hannah and her two sisters - Holly, played by Dianne Wiest
and Lee, played by Barbara Hershey. The lead character was played by Mia Farrow,
who did justice to each and every shade of the character, Hannah. This movie
became an instant box-office hit and was also one of the biggest critically
acclaimed hits of 1986. Produced by Robert Greenhut and directed by Woody Allen,
the movie features some of the greatest and biggest Hollywood stars, like
Eleanor Parmar, Carrie Fischer and Daniel Stern. It was released on 7th February
1986 and received seven Academy Award nominations, including the Best Motion
Picture for the year.
Plot
The entire story of ‘Hannah And Her Sisters’ can be divided into three different
parts or arcs, occurring over a 12-month period, starting from one Thanksgiving
party hosted by Hannah and her husband Elliot (Caine) and ending in the
Thanksgiving party of the next year. Due to Elliot’s resentment of his wife’s
Hannah self-sufficiency (she is a successful actress) and emotional strength, he
gets involved in a romantic entanglement with Hannah’s own sister, Lee. On the
other hand, Lee has completely different reason of looking for love and
satisfaction in Eliot.
After living with a reclusive artist called Frederick (played by Von Sydow) for
5 years, Lee no longer finds him stimulating - sexually or intellectually. So,
much to his despair, she leaves Frederick and has a secret affair with Eliot,
the husband of her own sister. A delightful break from the serious shades of
‘Hannah And Her Sisters’ is provided by Mickey, a hypochondriac who is tackling
the possibility of an actually serious disease. His past is not too happy as
well and includes a marriage to Hannah and a few disastrous dates with the
cocaine-addicted Holly.
Once Mickey gets a clean chit about his health, he experiments with religious
conversions to Catholicism and Krishna Consciousness. Finally, he goes for a
second date with Holly and this quickly transforms into a relationship and
finally marriage. The third shade in the movie is the story of Holly, who being
an unsuccessful actress, opts for a life of catering, funded by Hannah. However,
competing with her business partner April and a fellow actress leads to Holly
losing both fields of her desired career. She finally decides to try her hand at
writing.
The sharp turn in Holly’s carrier leads her to borrow money from Hannah once
again. She first starts writing a script about her two sisters and finally a
story inspired by her own life. When Mickey reads this story, he admires her and
strives to get the script produced. There is also another shade in the film
relating the story of Norma and Evan (played by O’Sullivan and Nolan), Hannah’s
parents, with their own careers in movie and production. The film finally
concludes with Lee ending her affair with Elliot and all the three sisters
happily married and contended in life.
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