Entertainment / You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger – A Comedy Of Illusions

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger – A Comedy Of Illusions

Entertainment Jun 10, 2013

by Anokhi Admin

Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is a comedy of illusions and failing relationships. Freida Pinto's presence in the film and at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival affirms her spot on the global cinematic map as a darling who seems to be getting A-list pampering. In this film she is brushing shoulders with the likes of Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Gemma Jones and Lucy Punch.

The film emphasizes the oft-repeated adage, "the grass is greener on the other side". After 40 years of marriage, Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) leaves his wife Helena (Gemma Jones) and sets out for greener pastures only to meet a call girl, Charmaine (Lucy Punch) who he instantly decides to marry. Alfie and Helena's daughter, Sally (Naomi Watts) is struggling with her marriage with Roy (Josh Brolin), an author who is preoccupied with a manuscript and also gets possessed with the view from his window. The lady in red (Dia – Freida Pinto) on the other side, becomes his obsession. His wife Sally, frustrated with her husband's inability to support and start a family is getting more and more attracted to her boss, Greg (Antonio Banderas) who owns a gallery. To make matters worse, Helena, devastated on being abandoned seeks help from a fortune teller, Cristal (Pauline Collins) who predicts love in her future.

Allen focuses on the complexities of life, relationships and the suffering of the four women in his film. "Women in this picture are sufferers, Freida doesn't know it but she's a sufferer later," he says at the Toronto International Film Festival press conference. Pinto says both Allen and Brolin were amazing mentors on the project who advised her to keep it "organic", "natural" and "visceral". Speaking to ANOKHI about playing a writer's muse she said, "Nobody's told me that I am a muse to them, well hopefully one day! I think it is a very flattering compliment to pay to a gal-to a woman that she's a muse to somebody-that someone's inspired by her."

Hopkins says that he's reached a happy stage in his life. "I have no expectations anymore, I'm glad I am not young anymore. We've all gone through our mid-life crisis. My wife Stella suggested we buy a Porsche car a few years ago and I said I couldn't even get into the damn thing." Discussing his character he adds, "I understand poor Alfie. He's just caught up in this nightmare and what he does is that he makes a big mistake, then everything's taken from him, the marriage is destroyed, his wife is very upset by it. That happens, that's life, people do that."

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger also delves into the themes of mortality and life after death. Quoting T.S. Elliot's poem Hopkins adds, " 'I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker and I have seen the eternal footman hold my coat and snicker and in short I was afraid.' I think that's the most eloquent and elegant statement on death and life. In a way reaching certain point of actually confronting mortality and being aware of it (which I am now). I find a solace in that because finally it's all a joke, life is a joke you have fun but I think somebody said, it sucks and then you die, that's it."

Allen didn't dream of getting Hopkins for the role but adds that he was happy that everyone that he wanted in the film including Pinto was available. Speaking about working with Pinto, Allen says, "She was a pleasure. She is very sweet and gifted and I just saw her in that one movie (Slumdog Millionaire) and I thought she would be the perfect obscure object of desire to look at through another window and I withheld any view of Freida for a long time in the movie because she's so beautiful that I wanted you to just see her from a distance and never really get a good picture of her."

Pinto's co-star Josh Brolin has this to say about her, "She's incredible. I have a lot of respect for somebody who comes out of a Best Picture situation and works with Woody Allen and Julian Schnabel. I think it takes a lot of courage. I mean she'll tell you that she used to get sick before coming to the set. She was very nervous but she dealt with it extremely well."

BY PREETI THANDI

_{Source: sonyclassics.com and IMDb.com}

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You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger – A Comedy Of Illusions

by Anokhi Admin

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