I see the man of your dreams

After a brief trip back to New York in "Whatever works", Woody Allen returns to Europe with "I See the Man of Your Dreams", where his career has famously soared to new heights in recent years with films like "Match Point". With "I See the Man of Your Dreams" a wonderful ensemble film in which the filmmaker knows how to play to all his strengths.

Helena (Gemma Jones) is desperate. After many years of marriage, she is left overnight by her husband Alfie (Anthony Hopkins). And now he's taken a fancy to young call girl Charmaine (Lucy Punch) to walk down the aisle with her. The abandoned woman seeks help from a fortune teller, who has some helpful prophecies not only for the desperate Helena, but also for her daughter Sally (Naomi Watts). Because things truly aren't going perfectly in their lives either. Her husband Roy (Josh Brolin) has been desperately trying for years to write a worthy follow-up to his acclaimed first book, but prefers to lose himself in fantasies about the strange beauty (Freida Pinto) who lives in the house across the street. And Sally herself develops strong feelings for her handsome boss Greg (Antonio Banderas), but he'd rather flirt with one of her friends. They all dare to follow their dreams, but soon have to realize that reality can't really be predicted and instead is always good for a surprise...

Sure, really new are the themes Woody Allen deals with here. Again and again motifs from his earlier films appear, which are merely varied and presented in a different way. But what would normally be a negative aspect, doesn't really matter here. Because the film can boast with two positive aspects, by which the aspect of the lack of originality is quickly forgotten. On the one hand there is the great ensemble, which makes the movie a real pleasure with their good-humored performances. On the other hand, of course, there's the great dialogue Allen puts into the mouths of his ensemble. The director, who celebrates his 75th birthday in December 2010, has never really forgotten how to write dialogues, despite some creative lows, which always seem to be a bit cleverer than real life, but which reflect it perfectly. So in "I See the Man of Your Dreams" there are again quite a few real-life truths that just nobody can put into words as well as Woody Allen.

But what also makes this film well worth seeing is that underneath the amusing surface Allen tells a very nasty and biting story. As in real life, Allen gets right in on the action and leaves it just as suddenly, which leaves some plot lines unresolved, but at the same time establishes an extreme biting quality precisely because of that, which leaves the viewer with a certain amount of schadenfreude. This is not to say that one begrudges the characters in question their not really positive fate. On the contrary, although almost all of the characters behave stupidly, badly or just plain wrong in some way, they are all somehow likeable. You wish them the best, but in the end you're kind of glad that it doesn't turn out that way. Because that's the only thing that makes this movie special and unexpected, that stays in your mind longer than many a Hollywood comedy with an obligatory feel-good ending.

Whoever liked Woody Allen's recent works, is looking for great acting cinema with clever dialogues and biting wit, will be more than well served by "I see the man of your dreams" and should definitely not miss this movie. Absolutely recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp