"The Great Irony" is perhaps Woody Allen's best film in many years.

On September 28, the Russian premiere of the film “The Great Irony” took place.

This is Woody Allen's 50th film. For several years now he has been hinting that he is preparing to end his career (and perhaps his life - his interviews have long become depressing). The director's films are not shown in the United States due to accusations of child molestation, and his advanced age hints that it is too late to fight to revive his career. As a result, Allen decided to say goodbye to cinema in Paris, making a film in French. And The Great Irony is much better than anything he's done in recent years.

According to the plot, Alain and Fanny, who have not seen each other for many years, meet quite by chance in Paris. He is a writer, she is the wife of a rich man, dissatisfied with life. A romantic relationship quickly develops between the characters, during which Fanny increasingly thinks about how wrong she lived. At this time, her husband begins to suspect that his wife is cheating on him, and hires a detectiveto check your guesses.

Typical Woody Allen

It is impossible to avoid repetition by making 50 films. However, Woody Allen is not afraid to repeat himself, and therefore fills his new script with already familiar characters and elements.

Once again (not the 50th, but only the 20th or 30th) time, Woody Allen creates an intellectual hero grumbling about an illogical world. True, he is never neurotic - here the director decides to change his habits at least a little. Maybe it's the air Paris has a beneficial effect after noisy New York.

Fanny, a confused girl who yearns for romance, is also not the most original heroine. She is charming and sometimes even touching.

Having created two characters typical of his films, Woody Allen makes them have endless conversations - they are also quite familiar. Literature, cinema, social injustice, the middle class - the characters may live in Paris, but they say the same things as in New York. The only innovation is admiration for the city's architecture.

Woody Allen changed locations and language, but still his new picture is too reminiscent of the old ones. This is both a plus and a minus - it depends on the viewer’s attitude towards director's filmography.

Class struggle

From the very first dialogue between Alain and Fanny, it becomes clear that the director will play with the theme of social stratification. A luxurious mansion is contrasted with a small apartment, gourmet meals are contrasted with eating food from a frying pan, and expensive alcohol from a home bar is contrasted with cheap wine.

The worlds of Fanny (and her husband) and Alen are completely different. Trying to highlight the differences (to be fair, they are already obvious), the director gets carried away and begins to bore. The comparison of rich and poor (although Alain is not poor, just poorer than Fanny's husband) is reminiscent of a communist activist poster. Still, the cost of wine does not make a person good or bad, but Woody Allen is trying with all his might to prove what he does: the cheaper, the better. As a result, the director romanticizes some and demonizes others. Halftones go only to the heroine, who rushes between two worlds.

Allen's war with the bourgeoisie (or even the bourgeoisie) has always resembled the rebellion of an excellent student who angrily draws nasty things in the margins, but with a pencil. And now he comes to the conclusion that the bourgeois way of life leads to lies; it is better to be like the poor intellectual Alain. Why is it better? Because he eats from the frying pan. And Fanny's husband eating in a restaurant, so it's bad.

If we compare the anti-bourgeois message of Allen’s films with the experience of other directors, for example with the tireless Fassbinder, then the American’s films turn out to be toothless, too soft. Jokes, lamentations, petty discontent - and “The Great Irony” completely follows the same path.

Great ending

Any complaints about the film go away in the third act. The closer The Great Irony gets to its end, the better it gets. Woody Allen turns a rom-com into a thriller, dynamics and nerves suddenly appear. Intellectual conversations fade into the background; the feelings of some (resentment, thirst for revenge) and the desire to survive of others come first.

And if the heroes’ past thoughts boiled down to their favorite poems, then new questions turn out to be more pressing. For example, what should you do with your wife if you are planning to kill her lover? How to save yourself if Fanny’s husband turned out to be much more influential than previously thought? When the layers of culture fall off the characters, they begin to look much more alive.

The last half hour is a breathtaking spectacle for which you can forgive an hour of the usual Woody Allen. But if the viewer loves the director, then the final the paintings will be a gift.

Woody Allen's (probably) latest film showed that the director is still capable of making a good movie. Yes, with repetitions, the same characters, almost identical dialogues, but still enjoyable. But the further the director moves away from the usual elements, the better the picture becomes. Perhaps "The Great Irony" is the director's ideal point.