Woody Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors” is one of his finest, yet darkest comedies he’s made. It brings up themes of human morality and meaning in life by dabbling in adultery and other sin, in this case a murder/assassination, which are familiar traits that can be found in one of his other masterpieces, “Hannah and Her Sisters.”
Martin Landau plays a respected ophthalmologist who has been seeing another woman for two years behind his wife’s back. She can’t live without him and wants to reveal herself to his wife, and he can’t deal with her neuroses and threats, so he has his brother, a sketchy con artist, arrange to have her killed.
These scenes are played strictly seriously, and Landau is excellent (he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1989) as he reflects on the religious ideas he sacrificed and forgot, only to have them now gnaw on his conscience as he questions how God judges sinners and what that has to do with his life on Earth in the present.
Contrast that with Woody Allen playing another version of himself, this time a struggling documentarian in a platonic marriage who falls in love with his producer (Mia Farrow) on a project to document the life of his pompous brother in law Lester (Alan Alda, hilarious).
The writing is top notch, as it is in nearly all Allen films from the ’70s to just about 1989 when “Crimes and Misdemeanors” was made. Allen makes some powerful statements by the end of the film that almost seem to make light of the murder, but it’s inherently convincing, explaining how we as humans are defined by the choices we make, our choices, thoughts and love of the world give everything meaning and how we continue on in the hopes that future generations will maybe understand a little better. Allen’s glimmer of hope comes in the form of his niece, who he takes to old movies during the day and laments his love life.
Together with “Hannah and Her Sisters,” Allen offers simple lessons to live by in the form of a wry comedy, heartbreaking romance (thank God for Woody Allen breaking down conventional Hollywood rules of love) and universal family drama.