In the present, Woody Allen is rapidly running out of the future. So one way in which to distract himself from that is by tunneling back into the past.
And here it all revolves around “cafe society”: “Cafe Society” was a phrase coined by Maury Henry Biddle Paul in 1915 to describe the “beautiful people” who socialized and threw parties in the high profile cafés and restaurants in New York, Paris, and London.
And then the part about “show business”. The usual suspects are back again with the usual targets on their back.
And while many will insist that he is making fun of them, others will insist that they know better.
Not that Allen’s perennial “themes” are ever buried all that far below the surface. Three in particular: 1] love 2] love and 3] love.
In particular, the utter and inane futility of ever trying to actually pin it down when the head and the heart become mortal enemies.
And then the part about contingency, chance and change. Oh, and the essential meaningless and absurdity of life. That’s Leonard’s part to play here. In other words, turning the themes that I tend to focus on here into “entertainment”.
Or into a joke.
This and the fact that mere mortals are the only species on earth that this is relevant to. Which seems to be beyond the reach of, among others, many philosophers.
Here folks are generally shallow, generally pretentious, and generally assholes. Not counting Bobby and Vonnie of course. Well, unless you do.
And then Ben the gangster.
Don’t look for Bruce Willis. But do look for vestiges of The Apartment. And Crimes and Misdemeanors.
IMDb
[b]Steve Carell replaced Bruce Willis after filming started. Woody Allen fired Willis after he and the cast tired of his behavior and inability to remember his lines.
This is the first film since Twilight that Kristen Stewart had to audition for to win the role. Woody Allen was unaware of Kristen Stewart’s immense exposure due to her involvement in the Twilight franchise. He cast her primarily because he admired her performance in Adventureland .
When Ben’s history of theft is shown, it includes a subtle homage to The 400 Blows when it says that his life of crime includes stealing typewriters when he was a schoolboy. The protagonist of that film, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), stole a typewriter when he was at school.[/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_Society_(film
trailer: youtu.be/Y2c1y1HT0yo
CAFE SOCIETY [2015]
Written and directed by Woody Allen
[b]Evelyn [in a letter to Bobby]: “Leornard says it’s the poignancy of life and not only do we have to embrace its meaningless but celebrate life because it has no meaning. That’s too deep for me but Mom always boils it down to, ‘live every day like it’s your last, and someday you’ll be right.’”
…
Vonnie: I thought I’d come to Hollywood and live in one of these big houses with the swimming pool and hobnob with all the glamorous types, go to openings. You know, you grow up and quickly realize if you have half a brain, what a silly life that can be.
…
Narrator [Woody Allen]: Lovely, charming, and uncorrupted by the values of a seductive city that worshipped fame and box office records, Vonnie enchanted him, although he was too scared to ask if she had a boyfriend. As his philosophy maven brother-in-law once said, “Some questions you don’t want to know the anaswers to.”
…
Phil: Howard is a two time Academy Award winner.
Bobby: Wow, congratulations.
Howard: Thank you. You’ve never heard of me, I’m a writer.
…
Rad: Here’s a fellow New Yorker who’s suffering from unrequited love.
Booby: That’s true, I am.
Steve: Unrequited love kills more people in any given year out here than tuberculosis.
…
Bobby: It’s funny, my Uncle Phil, your ex-employer, so dynamic, confident, confided to me. He’s been so hopelessy miserable, these days. He had an affair…but he could not leave his wife. However, he is so very much in love with this other woman that he has decided to leave Karen and plans to marry this other woman. And he’s been suffering so much because he very much likes and respects his wife, but he just cannot go on without this other woman.
[Vonnie says nothing]
Bobby: I didn’t have the nerve to ask if it was a movie star.[/b]
These things happen. don’t they? Then what? Then this:
Phil [to Vonnie]: …in matters of the heart, we do foolish things.
Of course, Phil is a powerful zillionaire and Bobby is, well, not a powerful zillionaire. Or not yet.
[b]Bobby: Are you going to marry me or my Uncle Phil?
Vonnie: I’m going to marry Phil.
…
Marty: What kind of man throws out his wife of 25 years to run off with a 25 year old secretary?
Ben: Bobby says she is really beautiful.
Marty: So, is looks everything? Where’s character? Where’s loyalty?
Leonard: Look, love is an emotion and emotions are not rational. You fall in love, you lose control.
…
Leonard: I have known many wonderful women, but the moment I laid eyes on your daughter I knew that Evelyn was for me.
Evelyn: It was pure luck. If my cab driver hadn’t driven his cab through the plate glass window of a restaurant I never would have met Leonard. He was having coffee and we barreled right into him.
…
Narrator: Soon Les Tropiques was known as the place one could always find the driest martinis and the prettiest women in Manhattan. Beautiful girls attracted celebrites and sports figures. Socialites mingled with politicians, and with the smart set, came the press and an ever growing reputation. And Bobby moved more and more gracefully amongst the rich and famous and learned more about the ins and outs of cafe society.
…
Veronica: I hope you don’t mind a democratic liberal…
Bobby: No, no, no…it’s…my whole family are Demo…we’re Jews.
Veronica: Oh, Jews. How quaint. It plays right into my rebellious streak. You know, in Oklahome we weren’t even allowed to mingle with Jews growing up.
Bobby: Really?
Veronica: You guys were the money-lenders.
Bobby: No, we control everything, actually.
Veronica: I never even saw a Jew until we moved to New York. I find Jews exotic and mysterious.[/b]
The ones without horns as it were.
[b]Veronica [to Bobby]: You called me Vonnie. You never call me that…That’s what you said your old girlfriend was called.
…
Narrator: It seemed Bobby knew everyone in high society. His wife Veronica now rarely came in, having succumbed to the joys of motherhood. And then one evening in walked the past…
…
Bobby: …you should listen to yourself and look at you…you’ve become everything that you used to pke fun at, everything that you couldn’t stand.
Vonnie: Well, you know. Time passes. Life moves on. People change.
Bobby: Yeah, but all that talk about the simple life. It would be comical if it weren’t so sad.
Vonnie: Well, you’re not necessarily the same person you were either.[/b]
She’s got that right.
[b]Leonard [to Evelyn]: I haven’t seen our next door neighbor now for quite a while.
…
Ben: This if Father Brolian. He’s guilding me to understand Christianity.
Bobby: Ben, I’m…I’m flabbergasted.
Ben: Yeah, I know. We both didn’t have time for this bullshit before, but when the end is near you need something.
Bobby: You don’t want to be buried as a Jew in a Jewish cemetary?
Ben: The Jewish religion doesn’t believe in an afterlife.
Bobby: Right, I guess, but I can’t believe what I’m hearing from you.
Ben: I have to know that it all doesn’t end, you know what I mean? I have to believe that part of me keeps going, that we all got a soul.
[he turns to the priest]
Ben: Right, Father?[/b]
This part? haaretz.com/jewish/features/ … m-1.638100
[b]Rose: First a murderer, then he becomes a Christian. What did I do to deserve this? Which is worse?
Marty: He explained it to you. The Jews don’t have an afterlife.
Rose: We are all afraid of dying, Marty! But we don’t give up the religion we are born into.
Marty: I’m not afraid to die.
Rose: You’re too stupid to appreciate the implications.
Marty: I didn’t say I like the idea. And I will resist death with everything I have. But when the Angel of Death comes to cut me down, I’ll go. I’ll protest. I’ll curse. You hear me? I will go under protest.
Rose: Protest to who? What the hell are you gonna do? Write a letter to the Times?
Marty: I will protest the silence. I will protest that my whole life I pray and I pray and there is never an answer.
Rose: Nit kain entfer iz oich en entfer.
Marty: What are you saying?
Rose: “No answer is also an answer”. Too bad the Jewish religion doesn’t have an afterlife. They’d get a lot more customers.
…
Veronica: Can I ask you a question?
Bobby: Yeah, sure.
Veronica: Have you ever cheated on me?
…
Leonard [to Evelyn]: I was just pondering the relentlessness of time. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” But the examined one is no bargain…[/b]