In the 1978 film, Interiors, Woody Allen shows just how far his range in movie-making can stretch. A year after the release of Annie Hall, which is widely considered one of the cinema's finest comedies, Allen pulls back the laughter in this full-fledged drama. While there was a very, "Laugh at my pain," feeling presented in Annie Hall, the characters' struggles in Interiors are no laughing matter. But even Allen himself wasn't sure he would be able to make the transition to a different film genre. In his biography by Eric Lax, the film's editor, Ralph Rosenblum, stated that Allen was, "afraid." "I think he was afraid. He was testy, he was slightly short-tempered. He was fearful. He thought he had a real bomb. But he managed to pull it out with his own work," (Lax, 1991). In an interview in 1978, Allen himself admitted his uncertainties regarding the movies' success. "I was willing to accept the fact that even if the film turned out well nobody would come to see it because it was serious and people expected comedies from me. So we opened it very simply, simple ads, one small theater, and now it’s doing all this business" (Ebert, 1978). With a number of nominations that the film, as well as its individual actors, received, it is safe to say that Woody Allen made a successful leap from all of his comedic films to dramas.
One can argue that up until Interiors, all of Woody Allen's movies had been serious to an extent. And that could very well be a valid argument. Movies like Annie Hall and Take the Money and Run have certain degrees of seriousness within them. What makes Interiors so different, and what the defining trait that leads people to consider it Allen's "first" real drama, is that it doesn't care that it's not funny. While the comedy in previous films may seem effortless, Interiors accepts the fact that the comedic undertones are no longer present and that's what makes it a successful drama and so different from Allen's other films. However, that's not to say that there isn't any connection between the decade's worth of comedies that Woody Allen penned and directed and this serious drama. Throughout his previous films, Allen has often examined relationships between people and the social aspects of so many of his characters' lives. Interestingly enough, Allen was quoted stating the themes in the movie was, "My same old themes. Difficulties with relationships. Trouble sustaining a marriage. The decline of American culture. The terrible influence of television. The bane of drugs and fast food. The inability of people to take control of their lives," (Ebert, 1978). Struggling relationships, in particular, were commonalities that were often joked upon. Only this time, the relationships and interactions between characters were missing that comedy. Instead, the audience was given a sense of despair and struggle, helping the viewers connect and possibly empathize with the characters in a much different way than before.
In Interiors the relationships between Renata, Flyn, and Joey seem quite toxic and each individual has problems of their own and problems among each other. Of their three daughters, Joey (played by Mary Beth Hurt), a listless actress/literary agent has been most burdened with Eve’s care. Joey, out of the three sisters, harbors the most resentment about the situation, which she takes out mainly on her controlling and even more so delusional mother. Her sister Renata (played by Diane Keaton), an accomplished and respected poet is married to Frederick (played by Richard Jordan). Frederick, who lives his life as a failed novelist, but accomplished drunk, finds himself becoming attracted to the younger sister Flyn. This all attributes to how Renata is too wrapped up in her own neuroses to take a firmer hand on the situation regarding her mother and her illness. Meanwhile, the youngest sister Flyn (played by Kristin Griffith), spends her time and makes her own living as a flighty TV actress in Hollywood. Flyn has found no troubles beyond the worry that she doesn’t get enough respect to be in movies, however, she seems relatively okay with those circumstances. Interiors is all about the conflict between the pursuit of personal individual happiness and the obligations family members have toward each other, all while showing that it doesn’t go easy on anyone involved. It really shows that when it comes to family, a family takes priority over everything else including our own personal problems and lives. This being shown with how each sister is handling the divorce of their parents, and the remarrying of their father and Pearl alongside their own problems they’re experiencing outside of the family. Eve may be severely mentally ill, but she isn’t a complete basket case. Eve’s hope for reconciliation with Arthur is genuine and her failure to make it happen is a devastation that continually eats away at her, and eventually becomes one of the moving factors for her suicide. She becomes too eager to hear false encouragement from Renata about how much better she’s doing, soaking up all the positivity and believing everything she’s told. Alongside that, she takes Joey’s pessimism about it all to heart, and yet Eve is not so oblivious that she misses Arthur, who is stringing her along with an empty exchange of pleasantries, which leads to her first suicide attempt. Eve’s breakdown and its ripple effect on the family are great, substantial drama, despite the loaded symbols of Pearl’s dress and Eve’s vase driving it home.
The tone of the film is established right from the beginning. There's no jazz music. Dialogue is nowhere to be heard. The opening scene is absent of any friendly faces welcoming the audience into the film for the next ninety minutes. Instead, the opening credits leading into the opening scene is silent and empty. The weather is foggy and gloomy. Even when the viewers get their first sight of any characters, it's a reflection in the dusty mirror hanging in the room. Not only that, but she appears almost out of nowhere, like a ghost. The overall mood that the film's opening sets are very ominous and an indicator from Woody Allen, as if he was saying, "Don't expect to laugh during this one." Soon, the movie dives right into the struggles of its characters and the relationships between them and us, as the audience, are assured that this is going to be a much different type of viewing experience.
Alongside the tone and setting that the opening theme sets for us, throughout the movie we are given multiple symbols through scenery and actions that eluded to the tone of the movie. In the movie, the color scheme was the majority of dull earth tones, dark scenes, and scenes that gave off an eerie vibe, then when Pearl was introduced into a scene in bright colors, it changed the mood of the movie dramatically. Her presence in the movie was much different than any other mood we had felt. Pearl with her bright red lipstick and bright red dress added a new type of tone into the movie and I believe it was a form of foreshadowing. As Pearl was entering and becoming part of the film more frequently she brought a significantly more positive vibe into scenes, which I believed lead to the foreshadowing of the suicide death of Eve which, as terrible as it may be, was a positive aspect for the family. Alongside the significance the color choices that Pearl brought into the film and the symbolism that proved, I felt the section in the film where Pearl is dancing and everybody is watching her and sees a positive energy she’s providing, then she knocks over the vase that was Eve’s provides a lot of symbolism. In this scene, Pearl is dancing along to happy-toned jazz music, which coincidently enough is the only scenes where jazz music is played throughout the entirety of the film. This shows a lot of significance because usually, Woody Allen is very consistent with using jazz music persistently throughout his films, however in Interiors, this is the only time jazz music is heard. At the same time, as Pearl is dancing along and everyone seems enraptured by her dancing and positive energy, even Joey seems to be enraptured by her positive energy. Then in the midst of her dancing, Pearl accidentally knocks into a table and consequently knocks over a tan earth-toned vase that belonged to Eve. I believed this scene showed a great amount of significance and symbolism and was very clever of Woody Allen. This scene in a way symbolized the death of Eve, or even more so, the negativity that Eve brought into the house and how Pearl was taking that negativity away and trying to replace it with positivity. Joey, however, responded with anger and hostility. I believe all this symbolism that Woody Allen was able to create and put into a film was what made his very first drama so incredibly successful and popular. He was able to portray through the film without straight out saying it that the death of Eve was a positive occurrence that happened to the family. As terrible as the idea of suicide is a positive aspect of any individuals life, let alone a family as a whole, in this specific aspect, it is the best thing that could’ve happened to this family. Most of the problems that affected each individual family member stemmed from the mother, Eve. Each daughter found themselves feeling like a disappointment and not good enough in the eyes of their mother. They were constantly battling internally with themselves to find and become that idea of perfection in their mother's eyes. Each daughter had flaws that they were fighting and trying to live up to their mother's expectation, which led to stress and anxiety in their lives, alongside all of the other problems life had brought them. Joey, finding herself not knowing how to truly express herself through anything or any job. Constantly quitting jobs and searching for the right one that provided her with that proper outlet to express her thoughts and feelings. Woody Allen expressed this well by showing shots of her writing in notebooks and trying different jobs to express herself. Renata is showed having a flawed relationship with Frederick and with all the neurotic thoughts of her daily life how it affected how she handled the situation with her mother, and finally, Flyn is a mediocre actress who never gets the big role and had a cocaine addiction. Each daughter is flawed and it all comes back to Eve. Therefore, subsequently, Woody Allen connects it all and makes it clear to the reader that the suicide of Eve was the best thing that could’ve happened to the family and each individual.
Interiors remains a Woody Allen film, even if it may not incorporate all the comedy of a typical Woody Allen film, it still shows his personality and typical type of work and production. It harnesses themes and obsessions particular and familiar to him, all while conducting it in a form that was outside of his typical directing to his audience. Interiors were Woody Allen’s first drama, however, I believe he did pretty well considering it was a first-time drama production in his career. It had minor flaws, but all in all, it leads to moments of raw emotion and insight that can’t be expressed as comedy.