Is Woody Allen’s career finally toast?
The question has been asked frequently in recent decades, both in response to a midcareer slump and, later, as the #MeToo movement brought new scrutiny to his marriage to Soon-Yi Previn and allegations that he abused Dylan Farrow, his daughter with actress Mia Farrow, when she was a child. For the most part, Hollywood promptly answered — with standing ovations, multiple Oscar nominations (and one win, in 2012, for writing “Midnight in Paris”) and a steady film-a-year pace.
But things might be about to change.
HBO’s powerful four-part series “Allen v. Farrow,” from investigative filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, is a comprehensive, convincing and ultimately devastating documentary that threatens to burn what’s left of his career and legacy to the ground. And Dylan, now 35, is here to tell her side of the story.
The filmmaker first faced the accusation that he’d sexually abused 7-year-old Dylan, whom he’d adopted as a baby with his longtime partner Mia, in 1992. As part of his public defense, Allen, who has repeatedly denied the allegation, admitted to having an “affair” with Soon-Yi, Mia’s adopted daughter from her previous marriage to composer André Previn. (At the time, Allen was 57, Soon-Yi was 21.) Mia was a scorned girlfriend, he said, and she coerced false claims out of Dylan. A media frenzy ensued, and as twisted as his defense was, Allen largely won that skirmish in the court of public opinion.
Even after he lost his battle for custody of Dylan, with an appellate court concluding that “the testimony given at trial suggests the abuse did occur,” Allen remained New York City’s hometown hero and a “genius” filmmaker who attracted Hollywood’s bold-faced names for his films: Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett, Scarlett Johansson and Emma Stone among them. As for the pre-#MeToo culture of showbiz, the industry’s permissiveness around men it deems too talented to touch is briefly explored here via Oscar-winning predator Roman Polanski.
“Allen v. Farrow,” which premieres Sunday, goes beyond the scandalous headlines and makes a compelling argument that Allen got away with the unthinkable thanks to his fame, money and revered standing in the world of film — and that a little girl never received justice. The documentarians pored over years of custody trial evidence, home movies, recorded phone conversations, photo exhibits and more, piecing together a harrowing picture of Allen as an abuser and master manipulator and Dylan as his silenced, disbelieved victim.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...JO7_kaGVC81Ed8