Blogging By Cinema-light: Don't Make a Scene: Hannah and Her Sisters

The Story: This is one of the pieces that "Premiere" Magazine published as one of their "Classic Scene" features, breaking down—in this instance—the lunch scene from Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters.

At the time it came out, I was rather mystified as to why it was chosen as "Classic" (even though Allen won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for it). It's a lunch conversation between three sisters in different stages of life and success. The younger ones resentful of the older one—who seems to have her act together, enough that it seems to be in stasis. The youngest hasn't "settled" yet, still trying to decide what she's going to become (which, recently, entails being her older sister's husband's mistress) and the middle child is bouncing between ambitions and moods, none of which seems to stick.

It's a classic triangulation with a hidden sub-text that informs opinions and reactions. What I found revealing is in the sub-text, something left out of the magazine article.

The "Premiere" transcript just put in the dialog, but a perusal of the Woody Allen script shows that the author puts in the smallest of details about locations, logistics, camera moves, and inner thoughts of characters. Things are so worked out in the script that the only thing that the director needs to do on-set is figure out where to put the camera.

And this is where the scene is very special. Photographing people talking around a table has always been a sticky problem in movies, especially when the table is a round table; given how these things work, somebody is always going to be out-of-frame of the screen, their face obscured either by being faced away from the camera or blocked by one of the other participants. Also, there is nothing dynamic about people sitting around a table, talking. One last consideration: the scene is all about sub-text, so if you're concentrating on the people speaking, you're missing the reactions of the non-talker...which is important.

Director Allen and his cinematographer Carlo Di Palma (famed for working with Michelangelo Antonioni) solved the problem with a constantly shifting camera circling the table and the actors, with the only dependency being the natural rhythms of the actors while doing the scene. They can talk, hector, interrupt, step on each others' lines, and its up to the camera operators to catch those moments at any time during the circling. They're certain to be within a 120° arc of what is happening.

The agitated conversation has its own energy, and the camera movement reflects that, but also adds to it by concentrating on the high-points and high emotions being generated.

It really is a classic scene.

The Set-Up: As they say "It's Complicated." Hannah (Mia Farrow) has two sisters, Holly (Dianne Wiest, who won an Academy Award for this role) and Lee (Barbara Hershey). Hannah is married to Elliott (Michael Caine, who won an Academy award for his role), but Elliott is carrying on an affair with Lee. Hannah does not know this. Holly is an aspiring actress who isn't involved with anyone because she is a neurotic in a profession where constant rejection only enhances her own insecurities. Got it? Good. Let's have lunch.

Action.

EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREET - DAY

Lee is walking down the street, looking around her. The sidewalk is fairly crowded with people; the sounds of traffic are heard. She passes some office buildings, a store's large display window; she stops when she sees Hannah.

Her sister is waiting outside the Art Deco faade of a restaurant; she's looking in the opposite direction. Lee taps Hannah on the shoulder;

Hannah, surprised, turns and gasps.

LEE (overlapping Hannah's gasp) Hi.

The sisters laugh and embrace each other.

HANNAH Hi. Where's Holly?

LEE (overlapping) Hi. She's auditioning for a television commercial. She said she's gonna be a little late.

HANNAH (sighing) Oh, yeah? How's she doing?

She turns and walks towards the restaurant entrance.

LEE (following Hannah through the restaurant's doors) Oh, God, you know Holly. When she's depressed, she's manic. (MORE)

LEE (CONT'D) I think it was a good idea that we invited her to lunch.

They disappear inside. The camera follows them, cutting to the restaurant's interior at the same time the sisters walk in. It's a chic, trendy place, with an Art Deco design and high ceilings. A waiter in uniform stands near its glass and metal doors, holding a tray to his chest; a few people sit at the bar; a large plant in a vase sits in the foreground. The sisters walk toward the coatcheck area, deep in conversation.

HANNAH (pulling off her scarf, still on the subject of Holly) I hope you tell her it was your idea...

LEE Why?

HANNAH (overlapping) ...'cause every time I try to be helpful, you know, sh-she gets so defensive.

LEE (unbuttoning her coat) Oh, Hannah, she's-she's just embarrassed in front of you, that's all.

Hannah walks offscreen, farther into the coatcheck room. She talks offscreen as Lee alone is seen, reacting and speaking as well. In the background, a waiter crosses over to the bar, then walks away.

HANNAH (offscreen) So how are you?

LEE Oh, me, I'm okay.

HANNAH (offscreen) Do you miss Frederick?

LEE No.

HANNAH (offscreen) I can't believe Elliot and I can't think of someone nice for you to go out with, you know--

LEE (interrupting, her voice slightly higher- pitched as she takes off her coat) How are you?
HANNAH (offscreen) I'm okay.

LEE (overlapping) You know, how's everything? You doing okay? How's Frederick? (laughing) I mean, Elliot.(You know how it is).

HANNAH (offscreen, overlapping) Y-yeah.

Hannah walks out of the coatcheck room without her coat; it's Lee's turn to disappear and check her things. Now only Hannah can be seen onscreen as the sisters talk. In the background, the waiter once again walks over to the bar.

HANNAH (continuing) Oh, he's fine. He's-he's, I guess he's fine. I don't know.

HANNAH (shaking her head, her arms crossed) He's been kinda moody lately, the last few months.

LEE (offscreen, overlapping) Really?

HANNAH Yeah. I-I don't know what's wrong with him. He's just...kind of distant and difficult.

LEE (offscreen) Oh...

HANNAH (overlapping, gesturing) I've been trying to talk to him about it. He says everything's fine, but I don't know. Automatically, you know, I leap to the worst conclusions.

LEE (offscreen) Like what?

As Hannah answers her sister, Holly can be seen entering the restaurant and walking over to the coatcheck area, an unlit cigarette in her mouth, her sunglasses still on her eyes.

HANNAH (gesturing) I mean, I don't know, he's seeing someone else or something, but...

LEE (walking back onscreen without her coat, reacting) Oh, no! I mean, everyone thinks things like that.

Hannah mumbles indistinctly as Holly walks over to her sisters.
HANNAH (turning, to Holly) Hey, hi!

HOLLY (overlapping) Well, I just came from an audition...

LEE (overlapping, leaning against the coatcheck wall) Hi.

HOLLY (continuing) ...which I did not get.

HANNAH (reacting) Awwww...

HOLLY (overlapping, sighing) So what's new?

(She takes off her gloves and scarf, stuffing them in her bag)

HANNAH (helping Holly with her coat) Boy--

HOLLY (interrupting) They said I was too offbeat looking, whatever the hell that means.

HANNAH Oh, what do they know?

Holly gives her coat to the coatcheck person.

HOLLY (to the checker) Thanks.

HOLLY (turning to her sisters) But guess who was there auditioning?

LEE April?

The hostess appears, peeking around the corner of the coatcheck area. She signals for the three sisters to follow her.

HANNAH (reacting to Holly's news) Oh, gosh.

HOLLY You got it.

Holly takes off her sunglasses; her cigarette still dangles from her mouth.

Hannah murmurs her sympathy as the trio follows the hostess into the dining room.

HOLLY (gesturing) I was very polite. I maintained my poise.

HOLLY (taking out a match for her cigarette) I said hello. 159.

The sisters walk to their seats, at a round table in the middle of the room; the hostess puts down their menus.

LEE Hmm. I never trusted April, you know. She has eyes in the back of her head.

They sit down. The hostess leaves. Other diners are seen in the background; a waiter is taking the order of a couple sitting on a banquette; other waiters clear off a table. Diners walk in and out. A low murmur of conversation, as well as the faint clatter of dishes, is heard.

The camera moves closer to the three sisters, circling the table as Holly speaks.

HOLLY Yeah, well, she and an architect are now a very definite item, which I still cannot believe.

LEE (overlapping) Hmm.

HANNAH Oh, God...

HOLLY (nodding her head, holding her cigarette) Yeah, although it's put an end to the Stanislavski Catering Company.

HOLLY Which is why I have to speak to you. And...

HOLLY (gesturing to Hannah) you're gonna get impatient, but...I have to borrow some more money.

HOLLY (putting her cigarette in her mouth and picking up the matches)

HANNAH (shaking her head) Well, that...th-that's fine.

HOLLY (gesturing, her cigarette in one hand, her matches in the other) But what I decided to do is some writing. (MORE)

HOLLY (CONT'D) Yeah, I think I've had it with acting. You know, these meaningless auditions at cattle calls. And I can't handle another rejection.

HOLLY (emotionally) Now let's face it here. I gotta, you know, latch on to something in my life. You know--something with a future. I'm not sixteen anymore.

HOLLY (lighting her cigarette) It's just...crazy!

HOLLY (puffing her cigarette) I've got...an idea for a story. More than one.

HOLLY And I just need a few months, you know, or, uh, a year even.

As the camera slowly circles the table, Hannah is seen listening to Holly, her hand on her mouth.

HOLLY I've picked up a lot about dramatic structure from doing my scenes in acting class.

Lee, her hand on her mouth, glances briefly at Hannah.
As Hannah replies to Holly, the camera focuses on Lee's face. She bites her nails; she looks down, involved in her own thoughts.

HANNAH (offscreen) Well, that-that's good.

HANNAH It just, uh...it just seems to me that-that six months or a year, if-if you spent it more productively...

HOLLY (offscreen, the camera still focused on Lee) Well-well, like what?

Lee looks up, her hand still on her mouth, watching Hannah, as the camera slowly moves off her to show Hannah.

HANNAH Well, I don't know. We'd uh, uh, um... Didn't Mom mention there was something...something at the Museum of Broadcasting?

HOLLY (offscreen) Yeah, that's clerical.

HANNAH No. She, didn't she say it was, um...

HANNAH ...she said it was in the publicity department. That-that can lead to other things.

The camera is back on Lee. She looks around tensely, barely listening to the conversation. She fidgets. An empty table sits in the background.

HOLLY (offscreen) Boy, I knew you'd be discouraging.

HANNAH (offscreen) I'm not! I'm not! I'm trying to be helpful.

HANNAH A person doesn't just say one day, "Okay, now-now I'm finished as an actress. Now I'm a writer." I mean--

HOLLY (offscreen, interrupting) Yeah, you mean not at my age.

LEE (shaking her head, unable to take much more) Oh, please! We all came to have lunch, didn't we?

HOLLY (reacting, now in view) Yeah, okay, right.

HOLLY Forget it. (puffing on her cigarette) What's to eat?

Holly abruptly picks up her menu.

LEE (trying to alleviate the tension) Boy...Holly...Holly.

HOLLY (overlapping) I just want a salad.

HOLLY (to Hannah) You really think I'm a loser, don't you?

HANNAH (offscreen) What do--? You're being ridiculous.

LEE (overlapping, reacting) You are, Holly. Stop it.

HOLLY (to Hannah) You treat me like a loser.

HANNAH (offscreen) How?

HOLLY You never have any faith in my plans. You always undercut my enthusiasm.

She puffs intensely on her cigarette as the camera slowly circles to Hannah's face.

She is equally intense, looking at both sisters as she speaks.

HANNAH Not so! No. I...

HANNAH ...think I've been very supportive. I've...I try to give you honest, constructive advice.

HOLLY (offscreen) Hmm!

HANNAH (overlapping) I'm-I'm always happy to help you financially.

HANNAH I think I've gone out of my way to-to introduce you to interesting single men. There's nothing I would--

HOLLY (offscreen, interrupting) Uh, losers! All losers!

HANNAH You're too demanding.

HOLLY (offscreen) You know, I could always tell what you thought of me by the type of men you fixed me up with!

The camera, slowly circling the table, is back on Lee's face.

While her sisters argue emotionally on her right and left, she is looking down, biting her lip. She is outwardly still, but her face is registering her seething emotions.

HANNAH (offscreen) You're crazy! That's not true.
HOLLY (offscreen) Hey, Hannah, I know I'm mediocre.

LEE (interrupting angrily, looking as if she's about to cry) Oh, will you stop attacking Hannah?!

HANNAH (offscreen, overlapping) Oh, now-- (stuttering)

LEE (interrupting, shaking her head) She's going through a really rough time right now.

HOLLY (offscreen) Why are you so upset?

LEE (sobbing and gesturing) You know, you've been picking on her ever since she came in here.

LEE Now just leave her alone for a while! I'm just suffocating. (sniffing back her tears)

HOLLY (leaning over to Lee, puzzled, reacting to her sister's tears) What's the matter with you, Lee? Why are you so sensitive all of a sudden?

HANNAH (offscreen) Look.

(onscreen, as the camera circles around the table) Listen. Listen.

HANNAH (tapping Holly on her shoulder and gesturing) You want to write? Write.

HOLLY (offscreen, overlapping to Lee) What's the matter?

HANNAH (flinging her hands) Write! Let's just not talk about it anymore.

HOLLY (offscreen) Good.

HANNAH (shaking her head) Take...take a year. Take six months. Whatever you want.

HANNAH Who knows? Maybe you'll, maybe you'll be sitting with a good play.

She opens her menu, then turns to Lee, reacting suddenly to her sister, who is rubbing her forehead, looking terribly upset.

HANNAH (to Lee) What's the matter? What's the matter with you?

HANNAH (offscreen again as the camera circles back to Lee) You look pale. You okay?

LEE (overlapping, nodding and stuttering) I'm-I'm okay. Yeah, I-I-I, you know, I...I'm just, um, I got dizzy all of a sudden. I'm-I'm...I have a headache.