Husbands and Wives is a far more complex and satisfying essay on the subject of infidelity than the overpraised
Hannah and Her Sisters. Shot handheld, though perhaps with an urgency that looks a little more rehearsed than what you'd find in a John Cassavetes rumination on similar themes, the film begins with the break-up of long-time marrieds Jack (a brilliant Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis) and goes on to explore the shockwaves this sends through the lives of their friends Gabe Roth (Allen) and his wife Judy (Mia Farrow). (Aside: Cassavetes--arguably inspiring the title
Husbands and Wives first and foremost--wouldn't have couched the film's scenario in a fake documentary framework; that's Bob Fosse's turf. One imagines that Woody sees a lot of himself in Fosse, likely more than he does Cassavetes, who's a little too authentic and confrontational for Allen.) Jack enters into a relationship with the lissom Sam (Lysette Anthony), planting the idea in Gabe's head of getting to know one of his twenty-something writing students, the headstrong Rain (Juliette Lewis). Judy, meanwhile, hooks Sally up with a co-worker, Michael (Liam Neeson), a method of dealing with her own feelings for him that lacks a certain meticulousness, to understate.
Husbands and Wives marks the last time that Allen and Farrow collaborated after twelve pictures together; this was of course the project on which Farrow discovered Allen to be sleeping with her adoptive daughter Soon-Yi Previn. The chronology of those behind-the-scenes events is sketchy: one wonders how much Farrow knew during what would become her final scene with Allen the actor, an increasingly resigned conversation between a couple who put their relationship on ice long ago hoping to cheat its expiration date. Whatever the case, the subtext of Allen's affair (and his predilection for underage women) has kept the film fresher than his eighties work: we can come at any sequence of Husbands and Wives from myriad angles, especially the aforementioned onscreen parting of Allen and Farrow, a harrowing moment in which Sam's blissful ignorance gets the better of Jack's temper (at the very least, the closest Allen's ever come to true catharsis), and Allen's parting shot, which I won't ruin here.
Husbands and Wives was the end of an era for Woody, a movie wherein he bids adieu to New Yorkers with high bookshelves and commitment issues. He's less reliable now (a blessing (Bullets Over Broadway) and a curse (Deconstructing Harry)), no longer the man Quentin Crisp described as a "chain filmmaker" (lighting the tip of the next film with the end of the previous), but the snapshot that is Husbands and Wives exists and is very much worth revisiting. Columbia Tri-Star's DVD release of Husbands and Wives presents the clearest transfer of the film (in both 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and unmatted options on the same side of a dual-layer platter) yet offered on home video. Colours are slightly oversaturated and whites tend to bloom, but the image ("remastered in Hi Definition," sayeth the disc's cover art) is crisp and warm, besting anything MGM managed in their three box sets of Allen's UA- and Orion-era work. (One misses, however, MGM's comprehensive liner notes.) The mono sound is a separate issue: I had to boost the volume six decibels above my normal listening level to achieve comfortable results. Trailers for Husbands and Wives and Manhattan Murder Mystery round out the bare-bones package.-Bill Chambers
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