Allen v. Farrow v. Comfort

By ROB PATTERSON

Extreme discomfort dominated my feelings as I watched the four-part HBO documentary “Allen v. Farrow,” just as it has regarding this topic since the long-term tussle between the two film legends, Woody and Mia, broke out in 1992. The descent of what once seemed to be New York City’s coolest creative couple into a protracted warfare that reflects some major themes of the times we live in – sexual molestation and older/younger male and female unions, the power and centrality of celebrity, the notion of “cancel culture,” what constitutes family in this modern age, to name a few – and continues to be the epitome of a lose/lose situation.

Oh, for the days when, at some point in the early 1980s, I was walking southward on Eighth Avenue in the Manhattan East 50s and a couple came towards me: a woman with a stunningly pretty face and a sweet glow about her, hand in hand with this schlubby-looking guy in a short-brimmed fishing cap pulled low upon his head, My first thought was “what’s she doing with him?” but then realized it was Farrow and Allen. And smiled to myself over a New York minute that helps inform why, even if the couple’s superheated imbroglio has put me off Allen’s films, the soliloquy on The City that Allen wrote and reads at the opening of his 1979 movie “Manhattan” expresses so eloquently my deep and abiding love for the ultimate urban center where I became who I am from 1975 to late 1989.

Like it could have been a plot for one of Allen’s films, Mia and her sizable brood of natural and adopted children lived in an apartment on the west side of Central Park; her partner Woody resided solo across the park in his swanky Fifth Avenue digs. It seemed as if they had mastered a modern romantic union.

To the cineastes from my generation he was the neurotic standup comic who matured from writing, directing and appearing in delightfully funny and gently-pointed comedic films into becoming a bard of modern life as well as its antecedents, a Big Apple answer to the French auteurs. The 13 movies he did with Farrow are arguably the richest seam of films he made.

Interestingly, two major loves of my life were near-fanatical in their appreciation of his work. My relationship with my ex-wife was her attempt to have an “Annie Hall” New York experience. My first girlfriend after I moved to Austin, Texas, would play Allen VHS movies on her TV in the background as she went about her days at home. Ironically, she was significantly younger than I was (just about to turn 19 when we met; I was 34). And had confessed to me that her father had molested her prior to puberty, which had its obvious ill effects on her.

Allen took the PR lead when accusations emerged that he had molested his adopted daughter Dylan when she was seven years old in the aftermath of the revelation of his relationship with Farrow’s (also adopted) daughter Soon-Yi. He also sued for custody of his three children with Farrow: Dylan, Moses and Ronan (nee Satchel), the last now well known as a journalist who reported on the sexual predations of movie producer Harvey Weinstein, but did not win the case.

When the matter first became public, I read about it rather extensively. My inclination was to believe Allen’s denials, especially as no charges were ever filed against him. But the portrayal of Farrow as an embittered ex-lover seeking revenge on Allen for his relationship with Soon-Yi by false charges of molestation did not sit well with me.

The well-done and quite comprehensive documentary – a few arguments in Allen’s favor are not included – changed my mind, sadly. The videos of Dylan explaining what happened to her immediately after the fact are compelling. I’m inclined to say as Farrow and others did to her daughter: Dylan, I believe you. The final episode underscores that.

But we shall never know for sure. Nonetheless, the damage remains. I highly doubt I will ever watch an Allen movie again. I don’t imagine Mia Farrow will ever again star in a significant movie. The family unit that she strived to create is fractured (adopted son Moses sides with Allen). Dylan appears to be a happy and healthy married woman with two children, but there’s no way, whether Allen molested her or not, that the whole matter isn’t a burden she will carry the rest of her life.

In the end, it’s just further sadness, conflict and ugliness that is already all too pervasive in the public realm. Yuck.

Populist Picks

Musical Album: “The Scenic Route” by Claire Kelly – It’s women like Kelly that keep me from tuning out from today’s country music altogether. This young singer and songwriter brims with smarts, sincere sweetness and freshness in a genre that has grown plagued by regressiveness and cliches. From start of finish it’s an utter delight that lives up to its title.

Book: “Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill” by Sonia Purnell – One could all but build a small library to house the many books written about and by Winston Churchill. Yet the great (if also flawed) man’s story can never be fully told without this excellent and highly-engaging biography of his wife. She a woman formidable enough to not simply match but enhance him, and their very dynamic and productive union as well as a deep and dedicated lifelong romance makes for a most satisfying read.

Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas. Email orca@prismnet.com.

From The Progressive Populist, May 1, 2021

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