Though Annie Hall is a romantic comedy
in many respects, it does not fit neatly into this genre. Though
the film is indeed about a romantic relationship, and it is comedy,
it also disregards several of the genre’s conventions, most notably
through its lack of a happy ending. Though the protagonists’ relationship
succeeds on many levels, it does not succeed in the traditional
sense—it does not end in marriage. On the other hand, the film does
end relatively happily, with only a tinge of sadness. Put simply,
the film champions the notion that love fades. People drift apart,
but that doesn’t mean that what they once had is any less powerful.
The film also pulls no punches in putting both Annie and
Alvy’s flaws on full display. The confessional, revisionist tone
of the narrative pulls us in so that we experience the impending
implosion of the characters’ relationship as Alvy is remembering
it. While Alvy’s anal-retentive, neurotic paranoia is endearing,
it also becomes irritating to the point at which it’s hard to blame
Annie for wanting to split. At the same time, Annie’s “la-dee-da”
habit can be charming, but it becomes apparent why her descriptions
of everything as “neat” irk the hyperarticulate Alvy. Although Annie
Hall clearly contains splendid moments in which Annie and
Alvy seem the ideal match, the film doesn’t airbrush out the flaws
in the relationship. Instead, these flaws—Alvy’s domineering nature,
Annie’s insecurities—are magnified as the film unfolds. Of course,
the viewer knows from the start that the relationship will end and
spends much of the film anticipating the breakup. Whereas most romantic
comedies consist of a couple meeting and overcoming numerous obstacles before
eventually realizing they are meant to be together till death do
them part, Annie Hall comes at love from a different
angle, following the storyline of one relationship’s bittersweet
end.
An argument could be made that Annie Hall is
less about love than it is about the unending loneliness of the
human soul. Alvy’s relationship with Annie takes center stage, but
the film skirts around his other failed couplings. Much of the narration
deals with his sexual frustrations and failure to communicate effectively
with women. He seems resigned to a life lived largely alone, with
some brief periods in which he is in a monogamous, decently healthy
relationship. Frustrated by his lack of success in love, he stops
pedestrians in the streets of Manhattan to ask them the secret to
a happy relationship. Their answers are telling: an elderly man
suggests, bizarrely, a “large, vibrating egg,” and an attractive
young couple explains that they’re both equally shallow, with “no
ideas and nothing interesting to say.” The scene supports the idea
that the success of relationships depends on factors that are largely
arbitrary, and furthermore that most relationships ultimately are
not successful. The last monologue in the film reiterates this notion,
as Alvy concludes that relationships are “totally irrational and
crazy and absurd and . . . but I guess we keep going through it
because most of us need the eggs.” By “eggs” Alvy means all the
rewards that come from a relationship, however absurd and troublesome
that relationship may be. In focusing on the futility of relationships, Annie
Hall dismantles many prevalent ideas of love, especially
as glamorized and mythologized in typical romantic comedies.
