You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Encyclopedia
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is a 2010 English-language Spanish-American co-production comedy-drama film
written and directed by Woody Allen
. It features Antonio Banderas
, Josh Brolin
, Anthony Hopkins
, Gemma Jones
, Freida Pinto
, Lucy Punch
, Naomi Watts
, Roger Ashton-Griffiths
and Pauline Collins
. It premiered on 15 May 2010 at the Cannes Film Festival
in an out-of-competition slot.
) and Helena (Gemma Jones
) divorce. Helena begins seeing fortune teller Cristal (Pauline Collins
) for spiritual advice. Their daughter Sally (Naomi Watts
) has a troubled marriage with author Roy (Josh Brolin
), who once wrote a successful book, and is now anxiously waiting for response from his publisher about the manuscript of his newest one. Helena helps pay their rent.
Alfie marries a prostitute, Charmaine (Lucy Punch
). Roy falls for Dia (Freida Pinto
), 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 (Antonio Banderas
), her new boss at an art gallery, but discovers that Greg is having an affair with an artist whom Sally introduced him to.
Roy's book is rejected. He hears that a friend, who is also a writer, has died in an accident, and of whom only Roy knows that he had just finished a manuscript that he had not shown to anyone else yet. Roy steals it, and claims it is his work. It is well received. He convinces Dia to break off her engagement, and moves in with her.
Alfie gets into financial trouble and worries about Charmaine's high expenses. He asks Helena to make a new start with him, but she refuses because she feels attracted to a keeper of an occult bookshop, a widower. Charmaine has sex with another man and gets pregnant. Alfie wants a DNA test to find out whether he is the father, while Charmaine argues that it does not matter.
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 persons killed in the accident, and is shocked to hear that the friend whose manuscript he stole is actually in 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. She starts a relationship with Jonathan (Roger Ashton-Griffiths
), the keeper of an occult bookshop. He also has esoteric beliefs, and they have first received the blessing of his deceased wife for the new relationship.
in something. This sounds so bleak when I say it, but we need some delusion
s 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.”
The film is the fourth Allen 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
. She was eventually replaced by Lucy Punch
.
they planned to mount an Oscar campaign for Gemma Jones
.
The film has received generally mixed reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes
gives the film a score of 46% based on reviews from 97 critics, with an average score of 4.4 out of ten 10. Its 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.”
Metacritic
, which assigns a normalized
rating of 0-100 of top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 53% based on 22 reviews.
Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter
described it as “A serviceable Woody Allen comedy that trifles with its characters rather than engaging with them.”
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
.”
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
."
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.”
Mark Kermode
also considered it the best of Allen's London films, but noted Allen was just “treading water
.”
Mark Asch at The L Magazine named it his 10th best film of 2010 .
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
written and directed by Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
. It features Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
, Josh Brolin
Josh Brolin
Josh James Brolin is an American actor. He has acted in theater, film and television roles since 1985, and won acting awards for his roles in the films W., No Country for Old Men, Milk and True Grit.-Early life:...
, Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
, Gemma Jones
Gemma Jones
Gemma Jones is an English character actress on both stage and screen.-Early life:Jones was born in London, England, the daughter of Irene and Griffith Jones, an actor. Her brother, Nicholas Jones, is also an actor...
, Freida Pinto
Freida Pinto
Freida Pinto is an Indian actress and model best known for her portrayal of Latika in the 2008 Academy Award winning film Slumdog Millionaire, for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture...
, Lucy Punch
Lucy Punch
Lucy Punch is an English actress. Her credits include the television shows Doc Martin and The Class, and the films Hot Fuzz and Bad Teacher.-Life and career:...
, Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts
Naomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. Watts began her career in Australian television, where she appeared in series such as Hey Dad..! , Brides of Christ , and Home and Away . Her film debut was the 1986 drama For Love Alone...
, Roger Ashton-Griffiths
Roger Ashton-Griffiths
Roger Ashton-Griffiths is a British character actor, screenwriter and film director.He graduated from Lancaster University and the University of East London , and began his career as a singer with English National Opera at the London Coliseum.He has appeared in numerous high-profile films,...
and Pauline Collins
Pauline Collins
Pauline Collins, OBE is an English actress of the stage, television, and film. She first came to prominence portraying Sarah Moffat in Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah during the 1970s. She later drew acclaim for playing the title role in the play Shirley Valentine for which...
. It premiered on 15 May 2010 at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
in an out-of-competition slot.
Plot
Alfie (Anthony HopkinsAnthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
) and Helena (Gemma Jones
Gemma Jones
Gemma Jones is an English character actress on both stage and screen.-Early life:Jones was born in London, England, the daughter of Irene and Griffith Jones, an actor. Her brother, Nicholas Jones, is also an actor...
) divorce. Helena begins seeing fortune teller Cristal (Pauline Collins
Pauline Collins
Pauline Collins, OBE is an English actress of the stage, television, and film. She first came to prominence portraying Sarah Moffat in Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah during the 1970s. She later drew acclaim for playing the title role in the play Shirley Valentine for which...
) for spiritual advice. Their daughter Sally (Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts
Naomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. Watts began her career in Australian television, where she appeared in series such as Hey Dad..! , Brides of Christ , and Home and Away . Her film debut was the 1986 drama For Love Alone...
) has a troubled marriage with author Roy (Josh Brolin
Josh Brolin
Josh James Brolin is an American actor. He has acted in theater, film and television roles since 1985, and won acting awards for his roles in the films W., No Country for Old Men, Milk and True Grit.-Early life:...
), who once wrote a successful book, and is now anxiously waiting for response from his publisher about the manuscript of his newest one. Helena helps pay their rent.
Alfie marries a prostitute, Charmaine (Lucy Punch
Lucy Punch
Lucy Punch is an English actress. Her credits include the television shows Doc Martin and The Class, and the films Hot Fuzz and Bad Teacher.-Life and career:...
). Roy falls for Dia (Freida Pinto
Freida Pinto
Freida Pinto is an Indian actress and model best known for her portrayal of Latika in the 2008 Academy Award winning film Slumdog Millionaire, for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture...
), 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 (Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
), her new boss at an art gallery, but discovers that Greg is having an affair with an artist whom Sally introduced him to.
Roy's book is rejected. He hears that a friend, who is also a writer, has died in an accident, and of whom only Roy knows that he had just finished a manuscript that he had not shown to anyone else yet. Roy steals it, and claims it is his work. It is well received. He convinces Dia to break off her engagement, and moves in with her.
Alfie gets into financial trouble and worries about Charmaine's high expenses. He asks Helena to make a new start with him, but she refuses because she feels attracted to a keeper of an occult bookshop, a widower. Charmaine has sex with another man and gets pregnant. Alfie wants a DNA test to find out whether he is the father, while Charmaine argues that it does not matter.
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 persons killed in the accident, and is shocked to hear that the friend whose manuscript he stole is actually in coma and recovering.
In the end, all are dissatisfied with their choices, except for Helena. She has acquired from Cristal a belief in reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
, and sees her life now as only one episode in her series of lives. She starts a relationship with Jonathan (Roger Ashton-Griffiths
Roger Ashton-Griffiths
Roger Ashton-Griffiths is a British character actor, screenwriter and film director.He graduated from Lancaster University and the University of East London , and began his career as a singer with English National Opera at the London Coliseum.He has appeared in numerous high-profile films,...
), the keeper of an occult bookshop. He also has esoteric beliefs, and they have first received the blessing of his deceased wife for the new relationship.
Production
Allen wrote the script because he was “interested in the concept of faithFaith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...
in something. This sounds so bleak when I say it, but we need some delusion
Delusion
A delusion is a false belief held with absolute conviction despite superior evidence. Unlike hallucinations, delusions are always pathological...
s 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.”
The film is the fourth Allen shot in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, following Match Point
Match Point
Match Point is a 2005 dramatic thriller film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode, Brian Cox and Penelope Wilton....
(2005), Scoop
Scoop (2006 film)
Scoop is a 2006 American-British romantic comedy/murder mystery written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Ian McShane, and Allen himself...
(2006), and Cassandra's Dream (2007).
Originally, Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
was cast in one of the lead roles. Scheduling conflicts arose because of her production company and her film Rabbit Hole
Rabbit Hole (film)
Rabbit Hole is a 2010 drama film starring Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, and Dianne Wiest, and directed by John Cameron Mitchell; the screenplay is an adaptation by David Lindsay-Abaire of his 2005 play of the same name. Kidman produced the project via her company, Blossom Films. The film premiered...
. She was eventually replaced by Lucy Punch
Lucy Punch
Lucy Punch is an English actress. Her credits include the television shows Doc Martin and The Class, and the films Hot Fuzz and Bad Teacher.-Life and career:...
.
Cast
- Antonio BanderasAntonio BanderasJosé Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
as Greg Clemente - Josh BrolinJosh BrolinJosh James Brolin is an American actor. He has acted in theater, film and television roles since 1985, and won acting awards for his roles in the films W., No Country for Old Men, Milk and True Grit.-Early life:...
as Roy Channing - Anthony HopkinsAnthony HopkinsSir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
as Alfie Shepridge - Gemma JonesGemma JonesGemma Jones is an English character actress on both stage and screen.-Early life:Jones was born in London, England, the daughter of Irene and Griffith Jones, an actor. Her brother, Nicholas Jones, is also an actor...
as Helena Shepridge - Freida PintoFreida PintoFreida Pinto is an Indian actress and model best known for her portrayal of Latika in the 2008 Academy Award winning film Slumdog Millionaire, for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture...
as Dia - Lucy PunchLucy PunchLucy Punch is an English actress. Her credits include the television shows Doc Martin and The Class, and the films Hot Fuzz and Bad Teacher.-Life and career:...
as Charmaine Foxx - Naomi WattsNaomi WattsNaomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. Watts began her career in Australian television, where she appeared in series such as Hey Dad..! , Brides of Christ , and Home and Away . Her film debut was the 1986 drama For Love Alone...
as Sally Channing - Roger Ashton-GriffithsRoger Ashton-GriffithsRoger Ashton-Griffiths is a British character actor, screenwriter and film director.He graduated from Lancaster University and the University of East London , and began his career as a singer with English National Opera at the London Coliseum.He has appeared in numerous high-profile films,...
as Jonathan Wunch - Ewen BremnerEwen Bremner-Early life:Bremner was born in Edinburgh, the son of two art teachers. He attended Davidson's Mains Primary School and Portobello High School. He originally wanted to be a circus clown, but was offered a chance in show business by television director Richard D. Brooks. One of his first notable...
as Henry Strangler - Neil JacksonNeil JacksonNeil Jackson is an English actor and writer who has appeared in several television series and films, but is probably best known for his role as Marcus on Blade: The Series and Sasha on Make It or Break It. His screenwriting credits include the film The Passage directed by Mark Heller and released...
as Allen - Celia ImrieCelia ImrieCelia Diana Savile Imrie is an English actress. In a career starting in the early 1970s, Imrie has played Marianne Bellshade in Bergerac, Philippa Moorcroft in Dinnerladies, Miss Babs in Acorn Antiques, Diana Neal in After You've Gone and Gloria Millington in Kingdom...
as Enid Wicklow - Pauline CollinsPauline CollinsPauline Collins, OBE is an English actress of the stage, television, and film. She first came to prominence portraying Sarah Moffat in Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah during the 1970s. She later drew acclaim for playing the title role in the play Shirley Valentine for which...
as Cristal - Anna FrielAnna FrielAnna Louise Friel is an English actress. She rose to fame in the UK as Beth Jordache on the Channel 4 soap Brookside.-Early life:...
as Iris - Meera SyalMeera SyalMeera Syal MBE is a British comedienne, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and became one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No...
as Dia's Mother - Anupam KherAnupam KherAnupam Kher is an Indian actor who has appeared in nearly 400 films and 100 plays. Though mainly appearing in Bollywood films, he has had roles in some films from other nations as well...
as Dia’s Father - Natalie WalterNatalie WalterNatalie Walter is a British actress who is best known for her film, theatre and television roles. She was born in Woking, Surrey in 1974. Her father is David Walter, the former BBC and ITN journalist. She studied at London's prestigious Drama Centre, where one of her classmates was the comedian...
as Allen's Sister - Christian McKayChristian McKay-Early life:McKay was born in Bury, Lancashire. His mother is a hairdresser and his father is a railway worker. He studied piano as a youth, and had performed the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 at age 21...
as Poker Friend - Philip GlenisterPhilip GlenisterPhilip Haywood Glenister is an English actor, known for his role as DCI Gene Hunt in British television series Life On Mars and its sequel Ashes To Ashes.-Television and films:...
as Poker Friend
Reception
On the brink of the film’s premiere at Cannes, a representative of Sony Picture Classics, the film’s distributor in the United States, told the Daily MailDaily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
they planned to mount an Oscar campaign for Gemma Jones
Gemma Jones
Gemma Jones is an English character actress on both stage and screen.-Early life:Jones was born in London, England, the daughter of Irene and Griffith Jones, an actor. Her brother, Nicholas Jones, is also an actor...
.
The film has received generally mixed reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives the film a score of 46% based on reviews from 97 critics, with an average score of 4.4 out of ten 10. Its 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.”
Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Normalization (statistics)
In one usage in statistics, normalization is the process of isolating statistical error in repeated measured data. A normalization is sometimes based on a property...
rating of 0-100 of top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 53% based on 22 reviews.
Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
described it as “A serviceable Woody Allen comedy that trifles with its characters rather than engaging with them.”
A. O. Scott
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
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
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
, droplets of melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, a few dangling loose ends and an overall mood of sloppy, tolerant cynicism
Cynicism (contemporary)
Cynicism is an attitude or state of mind characterized by a general distrust of other's apparent motives, or a general lack of faith or hope in the human race. It is a form of jaded negativity, and other times, realistic criticism or skepticism...
.”
Two reviews expressed opposing viewpoints about where the film stands among Allen’s films shot in London. Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is an American film critic for Entertainment Weekly, a position he has held since the magazine's launch in 1990. From 1981–89, he worked at the Boston Phoenix....
of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
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
Anything Else
Anything Else is a 2003 romantic comedy film. The film was written and directed by Woody Allen, produced by his sister Letty Aronson, and stars Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci, Woody Allen, Stockard Channing, Danny DeVito, Jimmy Fallon and KaDee Strickland....
and Melinda and Melinda
Melinda and Melinda
Melinda and Melinda is a 2004 film written and directed by Woody Allen. It was premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. The film is set in Manhattan and stars Radha Mitchell as the protagonist Melinda, in two storylines; one comic, one tragic...
."
David Gritten of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
wrote “It sounds like damning with faint praise
Damn with faint praise
Damn with faint praise is an English idiom for words that effectively condemn by seeming to offer praise which is too moderate or marginal to be considered praise at all...
, 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.”
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...
also considered it the best of Allen's London films, but noted Allen was just “treading water
Treading water
Water treading is an aspect of swimming that involves a swimmer staying in a vertical position in the water while keeping his or her head above the surface of the water...
.”
Mark Asch at The L Magazine named it his 10th best film of 2010 .