Woody Allen's new movie features a 44 yr old man and a (maybe) 15 year old "concubine."

[pnwmom]

Anyone looking forward to a creepy movie by this creepy man?

https://pagesix.com/2017/10/21/woody-allens-new-movie-couldnt-have-worse-timing/


Woody Allen’s upcoming movie contains some awkward scenes involving an older man having sex with young starlets, considering the current firestorm about sexual misconduct sparked by the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

We’re told that a plotline in the untitled Allen flick, which is currently filming in New York, centers around a middle-aged man who is sleeping with a much younger woman, among other actresses, and, according to the script, “makes a fool of himself over every ambitious starlet and model.”

In scenes just filmed, a character played by Rebecca Hall accuses 44-year-old actor Jude Law’s character of having sex with a 15-year-old “concubine.” In the scene, the so-called concubine — played by Elle Fanning (19 in real life) — acknowledges her relationship with Law’s much-older character, but then protests that she is 21 years old. After a discussion about his infidelity, Fanning’s character then asks Law, “Were all these women for pleasure, or were you researching a project?”

[PoliticAverse]

1. Allen co-stars as a twice-divorced 42-year-old comedy writer who dates a 17-year-old girl..

The plot of the Woody Allen movie Manhattan (1979) (From Wikipedia):

Manhattan is a 1979 American romantic comedy film directed by Woody Allen and produced by Charles H. Joffe. The screenplay was 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 (Mariel Hemingway) but falls in love with his best friend's (Michael Murphy) mistress (Diane Keaton). Meryl Streep and Anne Byrne also star.

[elfin]

2. Woody Allen is the poster scum for pervy sex as far as I am concerned

Stopped seeing anything involving him during the creepy stepdaughter story.

"Creative Genius" was his cover for doing this crap. Ugh.

[smirkymonkey]

31. If you watch any of his older films there is almost some kind of pervy reference in

every single one of them. It's like he can't help himself.

[superpatriotman]

3. Ang Lee did it

In the movie adaptation of The Lover ( based on a true story)

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Sounds like an autobiography.

[marble falls]

5. And Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13yr old cousin and how was old 15yr old Lorretta Lynn's ...

husband Moony?

As a nation we need a long talk about men and girls. Some states still allow 14 yr old girls to marry.

There are several states that have NO age limits for marriage as long as the parents consent.

Want to be shocked?

Read through this:

https://globaljusticeinitiative.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/united-states-age-of-consent-table11.pdf

[pnwmom]

6. Right. All 50 states still allow some form of under-age marriage.

Some with only a parent's "consent" (or arrangement); some with a judge's signature.

[marble falls]

7. These laws need fixing and how.

[pnwmom]

8. Agreed. n/t

[marble falls]

16. Legislator: Don't allow children to marry

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10384497

Legislator: Don't allow children to marry
Saying 18 is plenty young enough, a Scottsdale lawmaker wants to repeal existing Arizona laws that allow children of any age to get married.

The proposal by Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale, would make it illegal for the clerk of superior courts in any of the state’s 15 counties to issue a marriage license to anyone younger than 18. Specifically, H2006 would undo laws that allow anyone age 16 or 17 to marry with permission of a parent.

But the measure also addresses the fact that in Arizona, there actually is no minimum age. All it takes is permission of a superior court judge.

“Why do we need to allow underage marriages to happen?” Ugenti-Rita asked. “What is the public benefit to that?”

Read more: http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2017/11/22/legislator-dont-allow-children-to-marry/

[Laffy Kat]

11. Jerry Lee Lewis' 13-year-old wife was also his cousin.

It was reported that she was so child-like when they wed she still believed in Santa Claus. They had one child who drowned at three-years. They later divorced. He then remarried, and that wife also drowned in their pool under mysterious circumstances. He went on to marry yet again and had seven wives in total. He was from an extremely religious family. Of course.

[marble falls]

12. Jimmy Swaggard and Mickey Gilley are cousins as well.

[Laffy Kat]

13. I had to look Mickey Gilley up.

There does seem to be a connection between country music and evangelicals, although I know quite a few country fans who are progressive. I appreciate country music but don't usually seek it out. I only know all about Jerry Lee Lewis because I'm from Memphis and he was frequently in the newspaper headlines.

[marble falls]

14. Jimmy Swaggard was actually a wonderful Gospel singer, too bad he had a kink for hookers....

Jerry Lee and those early rockers leave me a bit meh. Gilley is juke box music, ok to drink a couple of beers by but imminently unmemorable.

[Cicada]

18. Swaggert is the best scotch and Jesus singer ever

I have heard Jerry Lee Lewis twice in small clubs. He is a complete musical genius, fantastically great. The only one I ever saw who is better is Aretha Franklin. But he also scared the shit out of me, I really thought he might be capable of killing someone. There was just some kind of ominous anger in there. And Swaggert is also a great performer. The image of the 3 teen cousins sneaking into colored clubs in Slidell to hear those fabulous musicians would be a great kickoff to a movie.

[marble falls]

19. Jerry Lee is totally capable of murder without changing his expression an iota. He's got charisma...

when he performs, though I just don't get it as much as everybody else seems to. If I had to choose between him and Little Richard, its Little Richard every single time. In '70 I was forced to go see him and wow! was I glad I did.

I would like to see your movie, though ......

[Cicada]

29. have you seen him live?

if so how large was the venue?

when elvis met him, in a studio, when they were so young, he said hearing him that first time made the hairs stand up on his back

i never saw little richard except driving on laurel canyon blvd one day when he had a crash. he was fine but on the stretcher his wig was tilted off his head attached only at the back, kind of sad. But I can believe he was awesome.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. This clown sees Woody Allen as creepier than Harvey Weinstein.

[3catwoman3]

10. I have always found Woody Allen...

...thoroughly revolting.

[Control-Z]

15. Me too.

I was skeeved out by him from the very first time I saw him in a movie. I never understood how anyone could actually like him or his movies which I found to be just disturbing.

[Farmer-Rick]

27. I happened to be at a very swanky hotel in NY when he was there

He is uglier and creepier in real life. He looks like what you expect all pedos to look like. I never understood why people liked his creepy movies.

[madville]

17. Must have run out of step-daughters to seduce

Definitely not the right time in Hollywood to broach this subject, hopefully not a time that comes back around again.....

[oberliner]

20. Do you object to this movie because of the director?

Or would you find it objectionable regardless of who directed it?

[Orrex]

22. That question is unfairly dismissive of a legitimate concern

If the film were found in a cave, and we had no outside knowledge of the director, the production staff, or the cast, then we could assess it as an object of art unto itself. Sure. Maybe a copy of this forgotten film will be discovered somewhere 500 years from now, and we can have that discussion. But we don't live in that world, and it's foolish to pretend that we do.

The realities of the creator do in fact inform the artwork, for good and ill. Critics (including armchair critics) who claim to assess an artwork independent of the reality of its creator are playing a fool's game.

You might as readily try to assess a piece of art independent of your own assessment of it, which is an impossible absurdity.


Suppose that you enjoyed a movie for years but then discovered that the director had systematically butchered your entire family. Would you still find the film as enjoyable, and in the same way that you had always enjoyed it?

If you claim that you would, then I don't believe you.
If you accept that you would not, then you have proven my point.

[oberliner]

23. I'm not dismissing anything

I'm just wondering if the objection to the film is because of the connection to Woody Allen or because the topic of the film is objectionable regardless of who the director is.

[Orrex]

24. The framing of the question is dismissive

Because it smells like you're trying to zing the OP with a GOTCHA! moment.

Here is the answer: the film is objectionable, in part, because of Allen's decades-long agenda of normalizing January-December "romances" in his film, in a way that seems unmistakably calculated to exonerate his own creepy behavior in the real world.

Knowing who the director is, and knowing anything about him, it is not realistically possible to assess the film independent of the fact of Allen's character.

If you're keeping score--and I know that you're diligently tracking the ongoing firestorm of sexual harassment revelations--then you already know that this is why Louis CK's film was canned just days before its intended release. The distributors recognized that, in the real world, the fact of the director's character has a clear impact upon the reception of a film.

[oberliner]

25. It was not meant to be

There are films I object to because of the people involved and there are films I object to because I find them offensive or exploitative.

In this case, I am wondering if the issue is with the director or the content (or both).

[marylandblue]

26. I think the issue is largely with his own personal life

Before his own attraction to young girls was public, his films about it were just films. Now they look like he wants the public to bless his sick desires. I am not going there. I like watching his old films from a more innocent time, but I won't see any new films. I hope his film flops.

[oberliner]

35. His personal life does make it hard to watch some of his films

Manhattan, in particular.

[Orrex]

28. In that case, it's probably both, as it should be.

Films like Allen's (and Louis CK's) are catastrophically tone-deaf and ill-timed, if nothing else.

Last week I heard a commentator on NPR's Fresh Air who noted that she can still appreciate the brilliance of Louis' comedy, but not in the same way any longer. She wisely identified part of the power of his humor as the trust that comes along with the intimacy of shared experience. Louis has shattered that trust, and viewers henceforth will be aware of that as they approach his work.

With Allen, audiences were kind of going along with the joke until it became clear that it wasn't entirely a joke, after all. Now it's difficult to watch his films without that awareness.

And it's a shame, because both of these men are capable of brilliance, but their own grotesque behavior has compromised their legacies. Ditto for Polanski. Less so for Ratner, whose work is a smear of shit.

[oberliner]

36. I think you are right

The combination is a deadly one. Though I wonder if people would be more receptive to Allen's films if he stayed away from this sort of thing (or is his personal life so repugnant that no film of his would be welcome at this point).

[WhiskeyGrinder]

30. .

[oberliner]

34. Definitely could be both

I think the combination of the two probably enhances to objection.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

21. I can't stand him or his work.

[smirkymonkey]

32. I can't believe Rebecca Hall signed on to this.

She's such an excellent actress. It's really beneath her.

[LeftInTX]

33. He pretty much plays himself in most of his movies

It doesn't surprise me.

[bathroommonkey76]

37. Would you criticize Kubrick for bringing Lolita to the big screen?

[pnwmom]

38. Did Kubrick's partner's daughter accuse him of child molestation? Did Kubrick

have sex with the teenage sister of his own children, and then marry her?

Not that I ever heard of.