Synopsis
When Jack and Sally announce that they're splitting up, this comes as a shock to their best friends Gabe and Judy. Maybe mostly because they also are drifting apart and are now being made aware of it. So while Jack and Sally try to go on and meet new people, the marriage of Gabe and Judy gets more and more strained, and they begin to find themselves being attracted to other people.
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Cast
- Woody AllenGabe Roth
- Mia FarrowJudy Roth
- Judy DavisSally
- Sydney PollackJack
- Juliette LewisRain
- Liam NeesonMichael Gates
- Lysette AnthonySam
- Cristi ConawayShawn Grainger - Call Girl
- Ron RifkinRichard
- Blythe DannerRain's mother
Recommendations
- 100
The New York Times
It's also an ensemble piece acted to loopy perfection by a remarkable cast headed by Judy Davis, Sydney Pollack, Mia Farrow, Juliette Lewis, Liam Neeson and Mr. Allen, who's also the writer, director and ringmaster, as well as his own best friend. - 100
Slant Magazine
Allen bravely posits one’s fear of change and the comfort in finiteness. In the end, Husbands and Wives becomes a mirror of false illusions, relentlessly held up by Allen before the faces of anyone who has ever looked for a reason to leave only to sheepishly stay behind. - 100
Rolling Stone
Allen has never crafted anything as fiercely funny as this comedy of coming apart; it’s a groundbreaking film, full of sublime performances alert to the violence done in the name of love. - 100
Time Out
With excellent performances (Davis and Pollack in particular), it's his finest film since "Hannah and Her Sisters." - 90
Variety
This is definitely his edgiest, rawest work in a good while. Acting is of a very high caliber across the board, but Judy Davis, in a very meaty part compared to her previous walk-on for Allen in “Alice,” is incandescent, revealing a whole new side to her personality that has never surfaced onscreen before. - 88
Chicago Sun-Times
But what Husbands and Wives argues is that many "rational" relationships are actually not as durable as they seem, because somewhere inside every person is a child crying me! me! me! We say we want the other person to be happy. What we mean is, we want them to be happy with us, just as we are, on our terms. - 80
Washington Post
Allen, the schlemiel, has humiliated himself and hurt his family, disillusioned his fans and become a case in point for the GOP, but he has also hit upon an issue that is universally applicable, the stuff of Oprah Winfrey shows and the trend punditry of newsmagazines. - 80
Empire
Excellent performances from Pollack and Davis in particular, make this one of Woody's finest of the 90s.
