Woody Allen has long since ceased to be a film director, occasional writer and now-forgotten comedian, to become almost a ceremony. In Woody Allen, before believing, one was militant and to see his cinema, people went to fulfill an annual rite. At that time, we are talking about a scandalously close past, Woody Allen was the personification of everything a good person (more like a man) aspired to: neurotic, maniacal, hypochondriac, brilliant and intelligent to the point of despair.
But at some point, everything changed. His daughter, his son and his ex insisted on the old accusation of sexual abuse, the entire society (or almost) became aware of its many errors regarding this and other issues related to his machismo… and the universe broke apart. two or three). Woody Allen continued to be a ceremony, but from confusion. On one side, the unconditional; on the other, the disillusioned and, in the middle, the separatists (on one side the work; on the other, the author). But no one else.
And so, he was always and is there, movie after movie, until he proudly put together his fifty. ‘Stroke of luck’ It is the one that makes number 50, perhaps the last. In any case, the first in a language other than English. “I always wanted to be a French filmmaker,” she says. There are sufficient reasons, therefore, to become aware of its importance. Those against, because maybe, just maybe, they will finally lose sight of him; those in favor, because they have been waiting a lifetime for something like this, and the others, because at some point the streak has to be broken, the bad streak. From ‘Blue Jasmine’ in 2013, there have been no great joys in a rather dim filmography which, recognized by him, has served the purpose of touring the world more than anything else.
Well, good news. ‘Stroke of luck’ It is perhaps not on that list of 10 incontestable films that the director admits to himself (“It’s 20%. Not bad,” he says), but it’s not that far off either. Let’s say that Allen’s latest work (take it loosely) sports the cloudy look of ‘Match point’, but, above all, he spends the immoral and very disturbing certainty of one of his major works: ‘Crimes and misdemeanors’. And be it one way or the other, one quickly realizes that this film is already something else. And much better.
The tape tells what happens in the life of a couple (Lou de Laage and Melvil Poupaud) rich and Parisian (that is, extremely rich) when a memory of the past (Niels Schneider) appears out of nowhere to threaten the happiness of art galleries, dinners in the brasserie and weekends in the country. So, anything can happen. The human being’s ability to become strong in their privileges is infinite. But beyond what happens is the very fact of why things happen. We spend our lives looking for an explanation as events go by and, who knows, maybe things just happen. Luck or fortune as the most sinister side of what we call destiny. This is Woody Allen in a position to deal damage.