Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers on the film Deconstructing Harry by Woody Allen.
I am not one to buy films or TV
programs as DVD’s or CD’s. While I
meticulously buy the books I read in paperback format, having decided to
eliminate the expense of ever buying a hardcover if a paperback is available
and being very reluctant to commit myself to electronic format that robs me of
the pleasures of the feel of the cover and pages and also tires my sight, I
have not extended the habit to proceed to acquiring film media. I like to view my films either in a cinema,
and those that I miss or omit as not deserving a visit to the big screen I
borrow, preferably by mail order. As of
this writing I own a single series of TV programs – the full eight “Monk”
series – in digital format on iTunes, and I own a single DVD of a somewhat
obscure Woody Allen film titled “Deconstructing Harry” and I own it for the
reason that, however obscure, it resonates with me so intensely.
I love Woody Allen movies with
such vehemence that I do not hesitate to augment the old adage commonly used to
describe his works, that “you either love them or hate them,” with my own
addendum “if you hate them you are a tasteless fool,” at least with respect to
his top ten ranked films amongst which Deconstructing Harry falls. It is the main storyline that moves me so
much. The story is about a man who is
does not function well in real life situations and who has ended up alone with
a life that is somewhat of a mess. One
of his main failures is that he is a serial philanderer who is so weak that he
ruins his relationships in deplorable ways, at times by resorting to
prostitutes. We also know that he has
been thrown out of his university for some unknown mess up. He messes up the relationship with his son
also by inappropriate misguidance that he gives and by being a horrible role
model that his mother is not willing to let him have contact with him. The protagonist Harry Block, played by Woody
Allen himself, is a writer and he uses his writing to express the anxieties and
situation he experiences in real life, often conversing with the characters that
actually come to life for him. Woody
Allen forms an allegory of his inability to function well in social situations
and in real life, and his failures in relationships and social situations by
the creation of the character of “the man who is out of focus” played adorably
by Robin Williams. He literally slides
out of focus and cannot be seen clearly by his family, friends, or colleagues,
and his children have to be fitted with glasses purely to see their dad.
We know, however, that the one
thing he does well is writing. He has
won awards for his writing and his old university who kicked him out is now
preparing to honour him with an honorary degree. The main storyline is that he is preparing to
go to his award ceremony, but he has no one to take with him. He is desperate to take his son to the honorary
ceremony that marks the one thing that he is proud of and is a success at, but
his pleadings with his bitter ex-wife fail.
On his way home alone he runs into
an acquaintance, Richard, who also strikes a chord in one because of his
loneliness in the big city of New York.
Richard is so alone that he has no one who will come with him to
hospital to check up on his heart which he is worried about, although what is
so dysfunctional about him that he is so alone is not extrapolated. He asks Harry to come with him to the health examination,
and afterwards Harry invites him to accompany him to the award ceremony, which
invitation Richard declines at the time.
Harry goes home alone and resorts
to his old vice by hiring a prostitute, Cookie, and ends up inviting her to
stay the night at his house and accompany him to the award ceremony the next day.
The next day, as they set off for the event,
Richard turns up and wants to come although one is left to wonder whether this
is because of gratitude or loneliness with a definite bias towards loneliness.
Cookie is dressed in a revealing pink two piece number that screams she
is a prostitute with a definite bias towards loneliness. On the way they decide
to stop by Harry’s son’s school and forcibly take him from the woman picking up
the child. Harry turns up at the award
ceremony with the police after him for kidnapping the child, with Richard dead
in his back seat, and a prostitute dressed in pink work gear. He literally slides out of focus in a panic at
how badly he has handled the situation of a ceremony so important to him by “turning
up with a dead body and a hooker”, and it is Cookie who takes charge and talks
him into focus by returning his attention to the award he is about to receive
for the writing he loves and is so good at.
The movie ends on the note of the man who is literally “out of focus”
except when he is doing his work as a writer, the one thing he is successful at
in his life.
This work resonates so intensely with
me because I feel out of focus except when I am writing or working on my electronics
as an engineer. I should hasten to add I
do not draw a parallel to Harry Block literally – i.e. I do not resort to prostitutes
and such likes; but I feel socially anxious often and I function best through
my work.
