Hannah and Her Sisters. 1986. USA. Written and directed by Woody Allen. With Barbara Hershey, Mia Farrow, Michael Caine, Dianne Wiest. 35mm. 107 min.
Michael Caine won an Oscar for his performance as Elliot, who is married to Mia Farrow but seduces her sister Barbara Hershey. In his memoir, Caine offers revealing insights into what it’s like working with Woody Allen, noting that “it would be easy to believe that parts of the dialogue are ad libbed. The truth is the precise opposite…. As an actor himself, Woody brings something very different to the role of director—and he notices everything. Once, he stopped a take and asked me why I had not moved my hand the way I had done in the rehearsal a few minutes before. I had no idea I had even moved my hand at all, let alone in what way, but he had spotted it, liked it, and we repeated the take to get it in. It takes a great deal of skill to achieve the levels of naturalism that Woody does.”