Apropos of Nothing

Even Woody Allen apparently thinks the furor over his marriage to Mia Farrow's adopted daughter, decades younger, and Mia's accusation that he molested his own daughter represents the center of his life, for he devotes more attention to this than anything else in his 2020 autobiography “Apropos of Nothing.”

In contrast, he gives just a few sentences to most of the many films he directed. He writes just one paragraph about “Magic in the Moonlight,” yet neglects to even mention the title. He has made so many movies, in addition to all the other aspects of his long career, that if he gave each one the attention it deserves his book would be much longer than the 392 pages it already is.

That Allen writes so much about Mia Farrow and show more Soon-Yi, now his wife of many years, seems justified, for too few others have been willing to tell his side of the story. He says that Mia has always been something of a mental case, abusive to her many adopted children, yet she is so beautiful and such a good actress that he cast her in many of his movies even after she started making accusations against him. And her innocent appearance and acting talent also helps explain why her accusations were almost universally believed.

Allen points out that the official investigation into Mia's charges found no evidence of guilt on his part. Soon-Yi was neither his daughter nor stepdaughter — he was never married to Mia — and she was over 18 when they began their relationship, he says. She was only too happy to escape Mia, who once struck her with a phone, Allen writes.

Although he works hard to defend himself, especially against the charge that he abused his own daughter, Dylan, he is otherwise quite self-effacing in his book. He says he loves making movies, but doesn't regard them highly and never watches them or reads what others write about them. He has no interest in awards. He claims to be unworthy of being mentioned in the company of great directors, even though he has actually been in the company of many of these directors, who have welcomed him as their equal.

He repeatedly claims not to be an intellectual, despite the intellectual pretenses of many of his films, especially the dramatic ones few people actually enjoy watching. His comedies did much better at the box office. He does admit to a comedic gift, which shows up on every page of his autobiography, even when he is describing the worst aspects of his life. show less

Am I a bad person because when I saw Woody Allen had a memoir I immediately wanted to read it? Am I a bad person because I thought it was funny and I enjoyed reading it? Am I a bad person for finding his account of the whole molestation mishigoss is credible? No! I'm a bad person for other reasons, not these.

He's funniest talking about his early life. Once his career takes off it seemed to get more matter-of-fact; once we are in his late career, the movie titles flying around and actors and actresses who were all wonderful, drop-dead sexy, beautiful, amazing, a joy to work with, etc. etc. and all the other famous people he's met and known, well, it makes your head swirl a little.

So it wasn't wall-to-wall comedy, but it was enough to be show more worthwhile and remind me why I'm a fan. show less

After many years of having 'proxy' versions of himself as protagonists of his films, it was good to be reminded that the aging film is able to reflect on his real life with such a high degree of insight and humor. He doesn't dodge the scandals that have blurred the public's image of him over the last few decades, but he doesn't seem bitter, or, combative about it despite the obvious toll it has had on his career.

On memoir as a kind of "Novel in Retreat." Evidently not very much interested in 'memory' ('memoir' not apropos) as much as displaying interest in the screed — we are further troubled that the author appears more interested in what the screed does than in what the screed is, which he appears to mistake for something he has put on the page and not something already displaced into its second movement (see Bernhard), and not as funny as I would have liked.

To cut a long story short: a funny guy with glasses makes films and out with quite a few women. His ex chucks hissy fit when one these women is her adopted daughter. Lawyers get rich. This is the inside goss.

I first became aware of Woody Allen when I hear, self-deprecating humour about shrinks and embarrassing moments. I've never seen any of his films, but know there was a scandal about him marrying the adopted daughter of what I imagined was his wife; I did not pay much attention. Inappropriate I assumed. Anyway, this book popped up on my library feed, and so I read it. It reads a lot like what I heard 30+ years ago. There are some boring bits - lots of names of people in film. However, I am glad I read it.

This is a really good book and I have it as an audible audiobook but it's not the kind of book that you would want to listen to more than once. it does tell you a tremendous amount of information about Woody Allen that you may have never known before.

Se describe la autobiografía de la vida completa de Woody Allen, tanto personal como profesional, y se realiza una reseña de sus distintos labores en el teatro, películas, televisión, clubs nocturnos, y obra impresa de libros y prensa. El autor también cuenta sus relaciones con familiares y amigos, y las diferentes historias de los amores de su vida.