• It never comes right out and says it but Allen is far too literate to name his character/film alice and have the general narrative about alternative choices upon drug intake and not invoke Lewis Carroll and his “alice”
  • Farrow is very strong as the pampered housewife who starts the film in the incredibly detestable way of getting a manicure, nanny, chef, acupuncturist—all in first 5 minutes
  • Alice is faced with the choice of art vs commerce, passion vs practicality- a thread that would be there throughout the oeuvre of allen’s work
  • Great line with rich women talking about “waddlectomy”- “turkey neck”
  • “we can talk about a kindergarten that will give the kids the best chance of getting into an invy league college”
  • Immaculately dressed and costume work—red theme throughout—Jeffrey Kurland is the costume designer and would go on to work on collateral, inception, Dunkirk
  • Great flashing red light flashback scene of farrow’s characters first kiss with Baldwin
  • Judy davis as the ex-wife is perfectly cast as the loathsome ex-wife and so is William Hurt- he’s not meant to be a real character, he’s the danny Aiello character in purple rose of cairo but rich and arrogant “my IQ must be high, I mean just look around you” (at his apartment/things)
  • Another version of allen’s brilliant purple rose of cairo– woman bullied and escapes
  • The lighting here is fantastic
  • Farrow’s alice is a good character but it takes a while. At the beginning of the film she seems like a cypher and I can see it turning people off the film. Through the course of the running time through the flashbacks and background of her character are flushed out and she becomes a sympathetic character- though not on the level of her in cairo
  • Recommend- not in the top 10 of 1990 nor one of the best of the allen/farrow collaborations but still a welcomed addition to the body of work for both