Despite watching through a modern lens of seeing Allen as the creepy dude he seems to be, you can't deny that this interweaving story is a classic. Sure, the Allen parts are a tad... Woody Allen-y with the neurotic, hypochondriac being all nebbish and insecure, but the rest deals with some real emotions and balances a lot of humanity as it goes in and out of the lives of the characters. Well worth a watch with some strong performances!

Obligatory "Woody Allen opens a film like no one else is capable of, always in an amazing engaging way" sentence. Seriously though, I say this every time because it's always true. By this point, I would be shocked if a Woody Allen film had a poor opening. The 1986 feature of Woody Allen's found him starring as a hypochondriac ex-husband of Hannah (Mia Farrow) and examined the lives of she and her sisters and their various life trials over the span of two years at Thanksgiving. Hannah and Her Sisters was another of Allen's film to have a largely serious tone as the issues of infidelity and the meaning of life was explored. Through Hannah and Her Sisters, Woody Allen achieved, again, the depth of raw human emotions and the power they can have over someone.Sisters Hannah (Mia Farrow), Holly (Dianne Wiest), and Lee (Barbara Hershey) had their share of upheaval raised by showbiz parents. Their mother believes she is still in her prime and able to woo any man which usually means she is neglectful towards the girls' father. With a family full of people who were ill-equipped to take care of themselves, Hannah stepped up and acted as the chief adult of the family, tending to everyone's needs and pushing her own aside. This aspect of Hannah's life has extended into her marriage. Hannah's husband Elliot (Michael Caine) has grown bored of his marriage to the saint that he thinks Hannah is and has moved his attention toward her sister, Lee. Lee is a vulnerable alcoholic seemingly awaiting someone to take her on as a project and make her into a functioning adult. Lee has lived with Frederick (Max Von Sydow) for years as he teaches her about art and life and gives him some connection to the outside world, as he detests everyone except Lee. Holly is struggling with her calling in life as she goes to countless auditions trying to make it as an artist and also run the catering business with her friend as her other pet project. Holly, especially, goes to Hannah for everything including money to survive. Hannah is the only one who has a good handle on her life. She believes she has a good marriage, she has a good relationship with her ex-husband, Mickey (Woody Allen) whom she shares two children with. Hannah wants so badly for everyone in her life to be happy that she even set up Mickey with her sister Holly after her divorce. Sometimes, though, being the one who always fixes every problem they come across can make those closest to them feel unneeded, feelings Elliot blames for pursuing an affair with Hannah's sister. When he contemplates telling Hannah he is in love with Lee, the perfect life Hannah has tried so diligently to manage may crash under the weight of her husband;'s unfulfillment.Hannah and Her Sisters is largely told as two independent stories only occasionally intersecting and that format works for me anyway, but especially with the brilliant writing and directing of Woody Allen. Acting and the relatability of the characters usually have little influence over how I view a film. Hannah and Her Sisters, however, had a character so relatable to me, I felt like I was watching myself on screen. Always the philosopher, I struggle with the concept of life and its meaning and the purpose of a finite existence. Because I am so uneasy about a number of questions I struggle with about life and their persistence in my mind, the character of Mickey was one that hit especially close to my heart. Many a night have found me waking up in a cold sweat with the sudden realization that we are spinning on a ball in space that will someday cease to exist, driven to a dread that I can't shake without talking myself down. I'm basically a female version of Woody Allen which probably explains why I've held a soft spot in my heart all these years for his films. It's either that or the fact that I never want to visit New York as much as I do after watching one of his films, either or, probably.

Life is one giant human comedy, and Woody Allen understands, and portrays, this fact better than any living American director. I prefer him when he's trying to make a comedy comedy ("Manhattan Murder Mystery", "Sleeper"), but there's no denying just how proficient of a writer, of a director he is when it comes to studying the complex relationships between lovers, friends, family. "Annie Hall" remains immortally wise, "Manhattan" blindsidingly poignant. He hit his stride during his professional (and personal) relationship with Mia Farrow (lasting in the movies from 1982-1992), "Hannah and Her Sisters" acting as the era defining tour-de-force that broadened his horizons as a writer as mischievously observant as his idol, Ingmar Bergman.Told in three stretches over a two-year period, "Hannah and Her Sisters" begins during Thanksgiving and ends during Thanksgiving, both dinners held at Hannah (Farrow) and her husband, Elliot's (Michael Caine), impressive New York apartment. Acting as a plot device in similar spirit to the Cookie of "Cookie's Fortune" or the Alex of "The Big Chill", the interweaving stories, in some shape or form, connect to the perpetually frazzled blonde.As the film opens, Hannah, along with her sisters, are facing particularly difficult periods in their lives. Normally happily married, Hannah and Elliot's union begins to hit turbulence when Elliot suddenly finds himself obsessed with his wife's earthy sibling, Lee (Barbara), with whom he begins having an affair. The neurotic Lee, in turn, is currently living with a much older, antisocial artist (Max Von Sydow) she no longer finds physically or mentally arousing. While Lee's guilt thickens, Hannah, in the meantime, is forced to act as the emotional net for her basket case sister Holly (Dianne Wiest), an ex-cocaine addict who jumps from career to career while attempting to also make it as a Broadway actress. Her failed jabs at a normal life eventually settle, however, when she begins dating Mickey (Woody Allen), Hannah's hypochondriac ex-husband."Hannah and Her Sisters" kicks off as warm as any one of Allen's other comedies, but as its observational progression toward character study oblivion becomes more apparent, the film turns voyeuristic — it's as though we're a fly on the wall, catching glimpses of these imperfect people at their most imperfect times. Notice how the vulnerabilities of the characters never lose their prominence even when they're putting on friendly façades for strangers, how Allen draws such subtly profound characterizations that it becomes increasingly effortless to understand these people so well it's as though we've known them since they were children. Long after "Hannah and Her Sisters" closes does one begin to realize just how masterful of a writer Allen is; he can cover up his genius with his neuroses all he wants, but to make a cast of characters feel so multidimensional in the scope of a single film is an astonishingly difficult task — for Allen, it's duck soup. He's the perceptive one in the room.It's as if he's known people like these before. Hannah is the kindhearted success story whose need to nurture sometimes hinders her own personal growth; Lee is the intellectual who doesn't quite know where to focus her potential. Holly is the type that fantasizes about what her life could be like rather than trying to make much needed changes; Mickey closes himself off in a bubble of fear because he doesn't want to admit that a mundane life is something okay to live. Perfectly cast, the ensemble feels like one large extension of Allen's consciousness."Hannah and Her Sisters" is a saga of failed attempts at moviedom happiness, combining comedy and heartfelt drama with startling pathos. The characters here aren't merely characters but people, people with ticks, little confidence, doubts. How Allen so successfully pens them all I can hardly understand — just let the film do the talking instead of me.

Hannah (Mia Farrow)'s husband Elliot (Michael Caine) is secretly infatuated with her sister Lee (Barbara Hershey). Lee is living with old artist Frederick (Max von Sydow). Her other sister Holly (Dianne Wiest) asks her for $2000 to start a catering business. Holly is a former cocaine addict and an actress. She starts the business with her friend April (Carrie Fisher) but they end up competing for a role and architect (Sam Waterston). There's also sketch-TV producer and Hannah's ex-husband Mickey (Woody Allen). The beauty of this movie is that every character is fascinating. Every story is compelling. There isn't a bad section. Woody is neurotically funny. Everybody is doing great work. It is one of Woody's best.