A Companion to Woody Allen

Edited by the authors of two of the most important books on Allen to date, A Companion to Woody Allen presents a collection of twenty-six original essays on Allen’s films. Addressing mainly the movies produced after Husbands and Wives (1992) and the tabloid scandals, contributions illuminate the films of Allen from a number of divergent critical perspectives, while seeking to expand the contexts in which his work is understood.

The essays are divided into five categories which cover Biography/Autobiography/Auteurism; Movies about the Movies; Allen and His Sisters: Cultural Critiques; Influences/Intertextualities; and Philosophy/Religion. Within these categories, essays discuss the relationship between Allen the filmmaker and his screen persona, films Allen has made about filmmakers and filmmaking, the depiction of female subjectivity in his more recent films, his influences, and the comical aspect of Allen’s films. Critical approaches range from the formalistic to the highly postmodern, and this lively, wide-ranging volume assesses his remarkable filmmaking career by exploring its evolution and development and acknowledging the conflicts and contradictions that suffuse it.