Stardust Memories

Released 1980
Stars Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, Marie-Christine Barrault
Directed by Woody Allen

Sandy Bates is a much-loved comedic filmmaker who doesn't want to make funny movies anymore. He's just finished a turgid, Bergmanesque drama that the studio heads want to give a happy ending (think Interiors). He attends a weekend retrospective of his work at a seaside resort, where the audience of loyal fans and critics have a chance to rub shoulders, ask questions, and harass a favorite filmmaker. Meanwhile, Sandy struggles with his personal and professional demons. He's involved with a married woman, Isobel (Marie-Christine Barrault), who's just left her husband for him, which sets him running after Daisy (Jessica Harper), the girlfriend of a Columbia professor attending the weekend screenings. Through it all, he's haunted by the memory of Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling), a beautiful-but-crazy ex-girlfriend who left him for a doctor she met in the mental hospital. The women serve as a counterpoint to the adoring masses. He tries to woo them while the fans chase him, forming a unique kind of love triangle.

Summary from Marina Chavez

This was quite a personal film for Woody, and it's kind of like watching an analyst session. He was at a point where he wanted to do more dramatic work like Interiors, but he obviously felt stung by the public's reaction. He must have also been hitting his mid-life crisis, because he felt guilty for not doing more with his life than making silly movies. How many of us felt that way after 9/11? Eventually Woody comes to realize making people laugh matters, but I enjoyed the way he ripped on himself throughout the movie. His fans constantly tell him they liked his earlier, funnier movies better, and some admonish him to tell funnier jokes. I can see where some people would call this movie self-indulgent, but I'd call it honest as he works through his issues via his work. The fact that much of the humor is at his own expense helps keep it from being self-indulgent, and it also helps that he worked his Fellini obsession into the movie within a movie instead of the movie itself. Since Woody didn't return to drama until "September" seven years later, you could say he either worked out his issues or didn't, depending on how you look at it. One issue he definitely didn't work out, though, was his attraction to his ladies' kids. There's a great scene where Dorrie accuses him of being attracted to her 14 year-old niece. Hmmm, I wonder how long it was between this movie and the first time he felt attracted to Soon-Yi. --Bill Alward, September 26, 2003