You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

Last updated
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
You will meet a tall dark stranger ver3.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Woody Allen
Written byWoody Allen
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Vilmos Zsigmond
Edited by Alisa Lepselter
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • May 15, 2010 (2010-05-15)(Cannes)
  • August 27, 2010 (2010-08-27)(Spain)
  • September 22, 2010 (2010-09-22)(United States)
Running time
100 minutes
Countries
  • Spain
  • United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$22 million [1]
Box office$36 million [1]

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is a 2010 comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Freida Pinto, Lucy Punch, and Naomi Watts. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2010, in an out-of-competition slot. [2]

Contents

Plot

Alfie and Helena divorce. Helena begins seeing a fortune teller, Cristal, for spiritual advice. Their daughter Sally has a troubled marriage with author Roy, who once wrote a successful book and is now anxiously waiting for a response from his publisher about the manuscript of his newest one. Helena helps pay their rent.

Alfie marries a prostitute, Charmaine. Roy falls for Dia, a musicologist he sees through a window near his and Sally's flat, who is engaged to another man. Sally considers having an affair with Greg, her new boss at an art gallery. Greg confesses he is having trouble at home and eventually it turns out he is having an affair with Iris, Sally's protégée. Helena begins a friendship with Jonathan, the proprietor of an occult bookshop, which develops into romance.

Roy's book is rejected. He hears that Henry, a friend who is also a writer, has died in an accident. Henry had just finished a brilliant manuscript he had shown only to Roy, and Roy decides to steal it and claim it as his work. It is well received. After a string of lunch dates with Dia, he convinces her to break off her engagement (much to the devastation of her fiancé and their families) and moves in with her.

Alfie gets into a fight with Charmaine over her high expenses. He asks Helena to make a new start with him, but she refuses. Charmaine has sex with another man and gets pregnant. Alfie wants a DNA test to discover whether he is the father, but Charmaine argues that his paternity is irrelevant.

Sally quits her job and asks Helena for a loan she promised, for setting up her own art gallery, but Helena refuses because according to Cristal it is astrologically a bad time. Sally is furious. Roy is informed that there was a mix-up of the people killed in the accident and is shocked to hear that Henry is actually in a coma and recovering.

In the end, all are dissatisfied with their choices, except for Helena. She has acquired from Cristal a belief in reincarnation and sees her life now as only one episode in her series of lives. Jonathan shares her beliefs, and they receive his deceased wife's blessing for the new relationship via a séance.

Cast

Production

Allen wrote the script because he was "interested in the concept of faith in something. This sounds so bleak when I say it, but we need some delusions to keep us going. And the people who successfully delude themselves seem happier than the people who can't. I've known people who have put their faith in religion and in fortune tellers. So it occurred to me that that was a good character for a movie: a woman who everything had failed for her, and all of a sudden, it turned out that a woman telling her fortune was helping her. The problem is, eventually, she's in for a rude awakening." [3]

The film is the fourth Allen film shot in London, following Match Point (2005), Scoop (2006), and Cassandra's Dream (2007).

Originally, Nicole Kidman was cast in one of the lead roles. Scheduling conflicts arose because of her production company and her film Rabbit Hole (2010). She was eventually replaced by Lucy Punch. [4]

Release

The film was released in Australia on January 17, 2013. [5]

Reception

Lucy Punch, Josh Brolin, Woody Allen, Naomi Watts and Gemma Jones promoting the film at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Bel et sombre Cannes 2010.jpg
Lucy Punch, Josh Brolin, Woody Allen, Naomi Watts and Gemma Jones promoting the film at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

The film has received generally mixed reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 46% based on reviews from 137 critics, with an average score of 5.4 out of 10. [6] The site's critics consensus states: "It's sporadically amusing, and typically well-cast, but You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger isn't one of Woody Allen's more inspired late-period efforts." [6] Metacritic, which assigns a rating of 0-100 of top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 51% based on 28 reviews. [7]

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter described it as "A serviceable Woody Allen comedy that trifles with its characters rather than engaging with them." [8] A. O. Scott called Allen the "great champion of cosmic insignificance" and said the film is served up with a "wry shrug and an amusing flurry of coincidences, reversals and semi-surprises. There are hints of farce, droplets of melodrama, a few dangling loose ends and an overall mood of sloppy, tolerant cynicism." [9]

Two reviews expressed opposing viewpoints about where the film stands among Allen's films shot in London. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly stated "The film is notable, if that's the word, for being the first movie Allen has made in London that is every bit as bad as his most awful New York comedies, like Anything Else and Melinda and Melinda ." [10] David Gritten of The Daily Telegraph wrote, "It sounds like damning with faint praise, but Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is easily the best of his recent London-based films... a fanciful fable... with an idealised London as its setting." [11] Mark Kermode also considered it the best of Allen's London films, but believed Allen was just "treading water". [12]

Mark Asch at The L Magazine named it his 10th best film of 2010. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woody Allen</span> American filmmaker, actor, and comedian (born 1935)

Heywood "Woody" Allen is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many accolades, including the most nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, with 16. He has won four Academy Awards, nine BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Grammy Award, as well as nominations for a Emmy Award and a Tony Award. Allen was awarded the Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995, an Honorary Golden Lion in 1995, the BAFTA Fellowship in 1997, an Honorary Palme d'Or in 2002, and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2014. Two of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".

<i>Lenny</i> (film) 1974 film by Bob Fosse

Lenny is a 1974 American biographical drama film about the comedian Lenny Bruce, starring Dustin Hoffman and directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Julian Barry is based on his play of the same name.

<i>Manhattan</i> (1979 film) 1979 film by Woody Allen

Manhattan is a 1979 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Woody Allen and produced by Charles H. Joffe from a screenplay written by Allen and Marshall Brickman. Allen co-stars as a twice-divorced 42-year-old comedy writer who dates a 17-year-old girl but falls in love with his best friend's mistress. Meryl Streep and Anne Byrne also star.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gemma Jones</span> British actress

Jennifer "Gemma" Jones is an English actress. Appearing on both stage and screen, her film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), the Bridget Jones series (2001–2016), the Harry Potter series (2002–2011), You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010), and Ammonite (2020).

Ellen Letty Aronson is an American film producer and is the younger sister of writer and director Woody Allen.

<i>Husbands and Wives</i> 1992 comedy-drama film by Woody Allen

Husbands and Wives is a 1992 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. The film stars Allen, Mia Farrow, Sydney Pollack, Judy Davis, Lysette Anthony, Juliette Lewis, Liam Neeson and Blythe Danner. The film debuted shortly after the end of Allen and Farrow's romantic and professional partnership, and was the last of their 13 films together. The movie is filmed by Carlo Di Palma with a handheld camera style and features documentary-like interviews with the characters interspersed with the story.

<i>New York Stories</i> 1989 film by Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese

New York Stories is a 1989 American anthology film consisting of three segments with the central theme being New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vilmos Zsigmond</span> Hungarian-American cinematographer

Vilmos ZsigmondASC was a Hungarian-American cinematographer. His work in cinematography helped shape the look of American movies in the 1970s, making him one of the leading figures in the American New Wave movement.

<i>Film Socialisme</i> 2010 film by Jean-Luc Godard

Film Socialisme is a 2010 French postmodern drama film directed by Jean-Luc Godard.

<i>Radio Days</i> 1987 film by Woody Allen

Radio Days is a 1987 comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. It is a nostalgic look at the golden age of radio during the late 1930s and 1940s, focusing on a working-class family living in Rockaway Beach, New York. The film weaves together various vignettes, blending the lives of the family members with the radio programs they listen to daily. It also features an ensemble cast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sally Hawkins</span> British actress

Sally Cecilia Hawkins is an English actress who began her career on stage and then moved into film. She has received several awards including a Golden Globe Award and the Berlin International Film Festival's Silver Bear for Best Actress, with nominations for a Critics' Choice Movie Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, two Academy Awards, and two British Academy Film Awards.

Alisa Lepselter is an American film editor who has edited director Woody Allen's films since 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfie Allen</span> English actor (born 1986)

Alfie Evan Allen is an English actor. He portrayed Theon Greyjoy on all eight seasons of the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2019. In film, he is best known for his starring roles in John Wick (2014), The Predator (2018), and Jojo Rabbit (2019).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy Punch</span> British actress (born 1977)

Lucy Punch is a British actress. She has appeared in the films Ella Enchanted, Hot Fuzz, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Dinner for Schmucks, and Into the Woods. She is also known for her role as Amy in Bad Teacher, Amanda in the BBC series Motherland and Esmé Squalor in the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events.

<i>Whatever Works</i> 2009 film by Woody Allen

Whatever Works is a 2009 American comedy film directed and written by Woody Allen and starring Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley Jr., Michael McKean, and Henry Cavill. It was released on June 19, 2009, received mixed reviews and grossed $35 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalie Walter</span> British actress (born 1979)

Natalie Walter is a British actress and writer who is best known for her film, theatre and television roles. During her career, Walter has worked with film and theatre directors including Peter Hall, Gregory Doran, Sam Mendes, Christopher Guest and Woody Allen. In 2020, Walter starred in the award-winning BBC and HBO drama I May Destroy You alongside the actor and writer Michaela Coel. Her father was David Walter, the former BBC and ITN journalist.

<i>Midnight in Paris</i> 2011 film by Woody Allen

Midnight in Paris is a 2011 fantasy comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. Set in Paris, the film follows Gil Pender, a screenwriter, who is forced to confront the shortcomings of his relationship with his materialistic fiancée and their divergent goals, which become increasingly exaggerated as he travels back in time each night at midnight.

<i>To Rome with Love</i> (film) 2012 film

To Rome with Love is a 2012 magical realist romantic comedy film written, directed by and co-starring Woody Allen in his first acting appearance since 2006, as well as his most recent appearance in a film he's directed. The film is set in Rome, Italy; it was released in Italian theaters on April 13, 2012, and opened in Los Angeles and New York City on June 22, 2012.

<i>Irrational Man</i> (film) 2015 American film by Woody Allen

Irrational Man is a 2015 American crime mystery drama film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Parker Posey and Jamie Blackley. The film was released on July 17, 2015, by Sony Pictures Classics in a limited release, later expanding wider.

<i>Café Society</i> (2016 film) 2016 film by Woody Allen

Café Society is a 2016 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. It stars Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell, Jeannie Berlin, Blake Lively, Parker Posey, Corey Stoll, and Ken Stott. The plot follows a young man who moves to Hollywood in the 1930s, where he falls in love with the assistant to his uncle, a powerful talent agent.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)". Box Office Mojo . Archived from the original on July 12, 2021. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Cannes Film Festival - Selection List". Festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2010-10-02.
  3. ↑ Itzkoff, Dave (September 14, 2010). "Woody Allen on Faith, Fortune Tellers and New York". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2010-09-16. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  4. ↑ Jaafar, Ali; Fleming, Michael (May 12, 2009). "Kidman bolts from Woody Allen film". Variety . Archived from the original on 2012-11-06. Retrieved 2010-10-02.
  5. ↑ "Hoyts Cinemas - You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger". Hoyts Cinemas Australia. Archived from the original on 2013-02-05. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  6. 1 2 "You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes . Archived from the original on 2016-04-23. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
  7. ↑ "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic . Archived from the original on 2017-05-28. Retrieved 2010-10-07.
  8. ↑ Honeycutt, Kirk (2010-05-15). "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger - Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on May 18, 2010. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  9. ↑ Scott, A.O. (September 21, 2010). "Looking for Something When Life Signifies Nothing". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2010-09-27. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  10. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (2010-05-15). "Cannes: Mike Leigh scores and Woody Allen bores". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  11. ↑ Gritten, David (17 May 2010). "Cannes Film Festival: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, review". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 2010-10-23. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  12. ↑ Kermode, Mark (17 May 2010). "Cannes 2010 Day 4 - So what's good this year?" (Adobe Flash). Kermode Uncut (video blog). BBC. Archived from the original on 2010-05-20. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  13. ↑ "The L's Best Films of 2010". The L Magazine . 8 December 2010. Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.