FILM « In Which We Are The Sum Of Our Choices »
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 1:24PM 
Woody's Warm Black Comedy
by YVONNE GEORGINA PUIG
Perhaps the most profound injustice perpetrated in Woody Allen's masterpiece Crimes and Misdemeanors is revealed by Clifford Stern's (Woody Allen) sister. In tears, she tells her brother that she has very literally been shit on, as in tied up and pooped on, by a man she met through the personal ads. This is a "nice, middle class woman" raising a young daughter on her own. What could she possibly have done to deserve such disgusting, unthinkable humiliation?
Allen's answer is nothing, and this is the point. Crimes and Misdemeanors tells us that, while morality exists, in the end it fails to protect us from harm or provide our lives with meaning. Judah Rosenthal (Martin Landau), revered opthamologist, a man who stares deeply into people's eyes for a living, hires his thug brother to murder his prying longtime mistress Dolores Paley (Anjelica Huston), and while he agonizes over the decision, he goes through with it. And moves on.
He is never suspected and continues living his privileged, happy life. Clifford is in love with Halley Reed, a complicated and beautiful producer who actually cares about his documentary project on the aging philosopher Lewis Levy.
In the end, however, Halley chooses a shallow, rich television producer named Lester about whom Clifford has been forced to direct a biography for lack of money. "Show business is dog-eat-dog," Clifford tells his niece. "It's worse than dog-eat-dog. It's dog-doesn't-return-other-dog's-phone-calls, which reminds me, I should check my answering service." He checks his answering service and discovers that Lewis Levy has committed suicide. So the dog-eat-dog problem holds up for life as well as show-business.
And what are we to make of this? Why, instead of feeling nihilistic and hollow after watching this film, do we (I do, at least) feel warm and even inspired? I think it's because it hard to regard this movie as real tragedy (despite the fact that it is) because there's so much good comedy.
The tragedy is camouflaged by good writing; the sad story is delivered with a smile. It's not that Allen doesn't take the suggestion that morality is arbitrary seriously, it's more that humor, being human in the day-to-day, is the only way to cope with this Great Meaningless Life.
Crimes and Misdemeanors would not be the same movie if we didn't have the comedy as well as the tragedy. Judah is the virus, Clifford the antidote. This is Allen's elixir, and what makes Crimes and Misdemeanors so complete. It shows us how to live, hope to cope.
"We're all faced throughout our lives with agonizing decisions, moral choices. Some are on a grand scale, most of these choices are on lesser points," Levy says via voiceover in the final scene. "But we define ourselves by the choices we have made. We are, in fact, the sum total of our choices. Events unfold so unpredictably, so unfairly, Human happiness does not seem to be included in the design of creation. It is only we, with our capacity to love that gives meaning to the indifferent universe. And yet, most human beings seem to have the ability to keep trying..." This is one of Allen's finest scenes, and he is right, fools that we are, we do.
Yvonne Georgina Puig is the contributing editor to This Recording. She tumbls here.
"Mirrored and Reverse" - White Denim (mp3)
"Sex Prayer" - White Denim (mp3)
"Paint Yourself" - White Denim (mp3)
Reader Comments (2)
Ahh this is one of my favorite Woody Allen movies. Such a beautiful ending sequence.
You're right- entirely about the comedy and the tragedy- if you take away Allen's hilarious cringe after she says "he went to the bathroom" I think it would just be a very sad pathetic story and we'd react to it as such.