IRRATIONAL MAN
US, 2015, 95 minutes, Colour.
Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Parker Posey, Jamie Blackley, Betsy Aidem, Ethan Phillips.
Directed by Woody Allen.
A word of warning before the review. If you have not seen the film and don’t know anything about the plot, don’t continue reading here but go and see the film and be surprised. This is a review for those who have seen the film.
Released some months before Woody Alan turns 80, Irrational Man does not seem to be the work of an elderly director or writer. Certainly, it will remind audiences at a number of films from Allen’s CV, something which has annoyed critics who accuse him of repeating himself, but for those who appreciate his films, why not rework themes?
And one of the criticisms that Woody Ellen has had to face over the years is that some of his films are funny and some people think that they are all supposed to be funny and, if not, there is something wrong with them. And, Irrational Man, is a case in point. Allen is not trying to be funny.
Another complaint is that the film has too much philosophy in it – as if that could really be a problem. Yes, there are philosophical questions because the leading character is a Professor of philosophy in an American college and we see him quite a number of times in the classroom, specifically mentioning philosophers like Conte, Kierkegaard, Edmund Husserl, phenomenology and existentialism, Jean-Paul? Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Martin Heidegger. Allen certainly remembers his history of philosophy. Which indicates tones of depth in the exploration of philosophical questions.
In recent years Joaquin Phoenix has been playing offbeat roles, Inherent Vice, Her, The Master, and here Allen provides him with another one. He is Abe, arriving at a college, subject of curiosity, middle-aged with a very evident paunch, a reputation for relationships with his students, and eager do-gooder and traveller to countries in distress in his younger days, but now a touch dissipated and a touch world-weary as well is impotent.
He first attracts the attention of another lecturer, Parker Posey, dissatisfied in her marriage and eager to ingratiate herself with Abe. That doesn’t quite work out, though she tries hard.
More satisfying is the admiration of a young student, Jill, Emma Stone, who appeared in Woody Allen’s previous film, Magic in the Moonlight. She seems a sensible young woman, an eager philosophy student, flattered when the professor praises her assignment – but then preoccupied with him, talking about nothing else but him, more than infatuated with him, enjoying his company, discussions, and falling in love.
In an innocent incident, listening in to a conversation amongst a group in a diner, leads to consequences that Jill certainly did not anticipate, nor did Abe, as he gets angry with the judge who is partial, refusing custody of children to a deserving mother, and, reading Dostoevsky and Crime and Punishment, with annotations, he sets out to rectify the situation, finding what he thinks is a moral freedom but which is an amoral freedom, which not only has an effect on himself but also on Jill and her integrity.
Which means that audiences for and against the film will be going back to Woody Allen’s 1989 classic, Crimes and Misdemeanours, as well as thinking about his 2004 Match Point, issues of principle, issues of responsibility, issues of conscience, and deviation in conscience.
So, not a funny Woody Allen film, but very well-written, well-acted, an evocative jazz score as well as classical excerpts, and, for this reviewer, one of Woody Allen’s best.
1. A Woody Allen film? Late Woody Allen, Woody Allen in his late 70s? His long career? His reputation? The combination of philosophy, romance, crime and self-justification? The quality of the language, the lines? The jazz score and its effect? The classical score and the piano recitals?
2. Providence, Rhode Island, the college, the city, the buildings, classrooms, offices, apartments, restaurants? The sea and the beach? The feel of Providence?
3. The voice-over for each of the characters, the tone of the voices, the explanations, explaining themselves, explaining others, anticipation of what was to happen? Tone, reflection? Self-explanation? Self-justification?
4. The title, rationality and irrationality? The importance of the mind, the brain, reacting with the head? The contrast with the heart, emotions, the gut? Rationality and philosophy, the variety of stances, Abe and his list of philosophers, treating them in class, Conte and lies and honesty, Kierkegaard and anxiety, Christian background? Edmund Husserl and phenomenology? The existential philosophers? Jean-Paul? Sartre and hell as others, Simone de Beauvoir and the status of women, Martin Heidegger and fascism?
5. Abe’s previous story: middle age, his international experiences, the variety of jobs, always reading, his academic career, his affairs with the students, going to Bangladesh and other world situations, wanting to do good, to affect some change? Philosophy, his classes? The new college, his reputation, his manner?
6. Abe’s arrival, driving, enquiries, the interview with the official, the accommodation? The encounter with Rita, her husband, talking with her? The range of classes and topics, his students? Talking with Jill? Praising her for her essay? His being cautious? Their time together, outings, sharing, the bond? Her piano recital? His attitude towards Roy? The encounter with Rita and his impotence? Her gift of the whiskey? Reluctantly going to the party, the discussions about Russian roulette, the ignorant girl, the demonstration, his getting the gun, playing roulette, everybody’s reactions, Jill’s reaction?
7. The portrait of Jill, with her parents, her love for Roy, her protestations? Love for philosophy, her essay, Abe’s comments, being flattered? Her explanation in the voice-over? Liking Abe, sharing with him, the walks, affection? Roy and his exasperation with her always talking about Abe? The family meals and her talk? Jill breaking off with Roy, his feeling hurt?
8. In the diner, listening to the discussion in the next booth, the story, adoption, custody, the judge, his bias?
9. Abe, sleeping, awake, the decision about the judge, his coming alive with his decision, Rita and his regaining of potency? Going to the lab, the encounter with April and his justifying himself? The poison? Following the judge, exchanging the drinks on the park bench? Buying the paper, his reaction to the death? The news, talking things over with Jill? Saying it was like playing a hand at poker and his not revealing anything? His satisfaction, self-justification, the world a better place without the judge?
10. Jill, her reaction, shock, having the meal with Abe, celebrating the judge’s death, her wanting the sexual relationship, happy, both feeling alive?
11. The meal with her parents, Abe present, the variety of theories, her mother and father, the difference between cyanide and arsenic? The mystery, the theories of how the poison got in the drink? The variety of suspects, the police interrogating everyone? Jill in Abe’s office, finding the copy of Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky’s philosophy, Abe’s annotations?
12. Jill, thinking things through, the realisation about the poison, Rita and her theory about Abe, the horseriding friend and her theory?
13. Jill, caution, questioning Abe, getting more information, the fact that Rita’s husband saw Abe in the morning, April’s information about the key? Building up to the confrontation?
14. Moral stances, Jill and integrity, ready to report Abe?
15. Abe’s moral stance, justification, explanations, righteous, Raskolnikov and Crime and Punishment, the world a better place?
16. Rita, Abe going to Spain, her wanting to go with him, the confrontation with her husband in the car?
17. Jill, going to her music lesson, a quiet Saturday, Abe fixing the elevator, is explanation and reasons for killing Jill, accosting Jill, the clash, the fight, his trying to kill her in the lift well, his tripping on the torch, falling?
18. Jill on the beach, reflecting on lessons, the rational approach in class, the irrational aspects, non-rational, yet the experience better than a textbook or lesson? Reconciliation with Roy?
19. Woody Allen in his late 70s, getting together all his themes and style, humorous and serious?
