Editing Interiors

{{Short description|1978 film by Woody Allen}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Interiors
| image          = Interiors moviep.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Woody Allen]]
| writer         = Woody Allen
| producer       = [[Charles H. Joffe]]
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Kristin Griffith]]
* [[Mary Beth Hurt]]
* [[Richard Jordan]]
* [[Diane Keaton]]
* [[E. G. Marshall]]
* [[Geraldine Page]]
* [[Maureen Stapleton]]
* [[Sam Waterston]]
}}
| cinematography = [[Gordon Willis]]
| editing        = [[Ralph Rosenblum]]
| studio         = Jack Rollins–Charles H. Joffe Productions
| distributor    = [[United Artists]]
| released       = {{Film date|1978|8|2|United States|ref1=<ref name="mojo">{{cite web|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=interiors.htm|title=Interiors (1978)|website=[[Box Office Mojo]]|access-date=April 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190516161026/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=interiors.htm|archive-date=May 16, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
| runtime        = 92 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $3.1 million<ref>{{AFI film|67967}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Allen's 'Interiors' Sets House Record In Coast Playdate|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=September 6, 1978|page=3|issn=0042-2738}}</ref>
| gross          = $10.4 million<ref name="mojo"/>
}}

'''''Interiors''''' is a 1978 American [[Drama (film and television)|drama]] film written and directed by [[Woody Allen]]. It stars [[Kristin Griffith]], [[Mary Beth Hurt]], [[Richard Jordan]], [[Diane Keaton]], [[E. G. Marshall]], [[Geraldine Page]], [[Maureen Stapleton]], and [[Sam Waterston]].

Allen's first full-fledged film in the drama genre, it was met with acclaim from critics. It received five [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nominations, including [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]], [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]] (both for Allen), [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]] (Page), and [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] (Stapleton). Page also won the [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role|BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actress]].<ref name="NY Times">{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/25065/Interiors/awards |title=''Interiors'': Awards |access-date=2008-12-31 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020145333/https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/25065/Interiors/awards|archive-date=October 20, 2012}}</ref>

== Plot ==
Arthur, a corporate attorney, and Eve, an interior decorator, are the parents of three adult daughters. Renata, the eldest daughter, is a poet whose husband Frederick, a struggling writer, feels eclipsed by her success. Flyn, the youngest daughter, is an actress who is away most of the time filming; the low quality of her films is an object of ridicule behind her back. The middle daughter, Joey, who is in a relationship with Mike, cannot settle on a career, and resents her mother for favoring Renata, while Renata resents their father's concern over Joey's lack of direction.

One morning, Arthur unexpectedly announces that he wants a separation from his wife and would like to live alone. Eve, who is [[clinically depressed]], attempts suicide in her new Manhattan apartment. The shock of these two events causes a rift among the sisters. Arthur returns from a trip to Greece with Pearl, a high-spirited and more "normal" woman, whom he intends to marry. His daughters are disturbed that Arthur would disregard Eve's suicide attempt and find another woman, to whom Joey refers as a "vulgarian".

Arthur and Pearl marry at the family's [[Long Island]] beach house, with Renata, Joey, and Flyn in attendance. Later in the evening, Joey lashes out at Pearl when Pearl accidentally breaks one of Eve's vases. In the middle of the night, Frederick drunkenly attempts to rape Flyn in the garage, but she manages to escape. Meanwhile, Joey finds Eve in the house, and sadly explains how much she has given up for her mother, and how disdainfully she is treated. Eve walks out onto the beach and into the surf. Joey unsuccessfully attempts to save Eve, but nearly drowns in the process. Mike rescues Joey, pulling her to shore, so that Pearl resuscitates the drowned victim by tilting Joey's head back, clearing the airway, and pinching the nose, to administer rescue breaths into her lungs via [[mouth-to-mouth]].

The family attends Eve's funeral, each placing a single white rose, Eve's favorite flower and a symbol of hope to her, on Eve's wooden coffin, after which the three sisters look out at the sea from their former family beach house and comment on the peacefulness of the sea.

== Cast ==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Kristin Griffith]] as Flyn
* [[Mary Beth Hurt]] as Joey
* [[Richard Jordan]] as Frederick
* [[Diane Keaton]] as Renata
* [[E. G. Marshall]] as Arthur
* [[Geraldine Page]] as Eve
* [[Maureen Stapleton]] as Pearl
* [[Sam Waterston]] as Mike
}}

== Reception ==

=== Box office ===
''Interiors'' grossed $10.4 million in the United States and Canada.<ref name="mojo" />

=== Critical response ===
On the [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 78% based 18 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10.<ref>{{cite Rotten Tomatoes|id=interiors|type=movie|title=Interiors|publisher_hide=y}}</ref> [[Weighted arithmetic mean|weighted average]], assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.<ref>{{cite web |title=Interiors Reviews |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/interiors |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=February 29, 2020}}</ref>

[[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called the film "beautiful" and complimented [[Gordon Willis]] on his "use of cool colors that suggest civilization's precarious control of natural forces", but noted:<ref name="canby">{{cite news |last=Canby |first=Vincent |author-link=Vincent Canby |date=August 6, 1978 |title=Screen: 'Interiors,' a Departure for Woody Allen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/08/02/archives/screen-interiors-a-departure-for-woody-allenculture-shock.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=D1 |access-date=December 5, 2018 |archive-date=December 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205060801/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/08/02/archives/screen-interiors-a-departure-for-woody-allenculture-shock.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
{{blockquote|My problem with ''Interiors'' is that although I admire the performances and isolated moments ... I haven't any real idea what the film is up to. It's almost as if Mr. Allen had set out to make someone else's movie, say a film in the manner of Mr. Bergman, without having any grasp of the material, or first-hand, gut feelings about the characters. They seem like other people's characters, known only through other people's art.}}

Richard Schickel of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' wrote that the film's "desperate sobriety ... robs it of energy and passion"; Allen's "style is Bergmanesque, but his material is [[Joseph Mankiewicz|Mankiewiczian]], and the discontinuity is fatal. Doubtless this was a necessary movie for Allen, but it is both unnecessary and a minor embarrassment for his well-wishers."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948229,00.html|title=Cinema: Darkest Woody|date=August 1978|author-link=Richard Schickel|first=Richard|last=Schickel|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=October 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191013130412/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948229,00.html|archive-date=October 13, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] gave the film four stars and praised it highly, writing, "Here we have a Woody Allen film, and we're talking about [[Eugene O'Neill|O'Neill]] and [[Ingmar Bergman|Bergman]] and traditions and influences? Yes, and correctly. Allen, whose comedies have been among the cheerful tonics of recent years, is astonishingly assured in his first drama."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/interiors-1978|title=Interiors – Movie Review & Film Summary (1978)|author-link=Roger Ebert|first=Roger|last=Ebert|newspaper=[[The Chicago Sun-Times]]|via=[[RogerEbert.com]]|date=August 2, 1978|access-date=October 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191013130413/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/interiors-1978|archive-date=October 13, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Gene Siskel]] awarded three stars out of four and wrote:
{{blockquote|I thought the unremitting pain of the first half of the film was almost laughable, as if Allen had made a bad Bergman film. I thoroughly enjoyed the second half, in which the film's only bright, lively character (Maureen Stapleton as the father's new, romantic interest) makes her entrance. At the end, I left the theater thinking that the picture was painful and didn't have much applicability to my life, but that I would always remember its characters more for the superb acting than for Allen's script.<ref>{{cite news|author-link=Gene Siskel|last=Siskel|first=Gene|date=September 22, 1978|title=Allen's 'Interiors': A touch of Bergman plus fine acting|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|at=Section 4, p. 3|issn=1085-6706}}</ref>}}

[[Charles Champlin]] called the film "somber, intense and stunning", concluding, "Like ''[[Cries and Whispers]]'', Allen's ''Interiors'' is, for all the somberness of the material, in the end an affirmation of life and a transcendent piece of art. The film lovers will love it if joke-seekers do not.<ref>{{cite news|author-link=Charles Champlin|last=Champlin|first=Charles|date=August 27, 1978|title=Woody Allen Drops the Mask|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|at=Calendar, pp. 1, 32|issn=0458-3035}}</ref>

[[Penelope Gilliatt]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' wrote: "This droll piece of work is [Allen's] most majestic so far. The theme its characters express is very [[Anton Chekhov|Chekhovian]]. It is pinned to the idea that the hardest, and most admirable thing to do is to act properly through a whole life."<ref>{{cite magazine|author-link=Penelope Gilliatt|last=Gilliatt|first=Penelope|date=August 7, 1978|title=The Current Cinema|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|page=78|issn=0028-792X}}</ref>

[[James Monaco]], in his 1979 book ''American Film Now'', described ''Interiors'' as "the most pretentious film by a major American filmmaker in the last thirty years" alongside ''[[Mickey One]]'' (1965).<ref>{{cite book |last=Monaco |first=James |author-link=James Monaco |url=https://archive.org/details/americanfilmnowp0000mona_v8w4/page/264/mode/2up |title=American Film Now: The People, the Power, the Money, the Movies |location=New York |publisher=[[Plume (publisher)|Plume]] |year=1979 |page=264 |isbn=978-0-1950-2570-5 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

In 2016, ''Interiors'' was listed as Allen's 11th best film in an article by ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' critics [[Robbie Collin]] and Tim Robey, who wrote that "the emotional effort being expended is cumulatively hard to shrug off" and praised Stapleton's performance.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/woody-allens-best-and-worst-movies/|title=All 47 Woody Allen movies – ranked from worst to best|author1-last=Collin|author1-first=Robbie|author-link1=Robbie Collin|author2-last=Robey|author2-first=Tim|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=October 12, 2016|access-date=January 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118143535/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/woody-allens-best-and-worst-movies/|archive-date=January 18, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Woody Allen's response ===
Allen's own fears about the film's reception are recounted in a 1991 biography of Allen by [[Eric Lax]], where he quotes [[Ralph Rosenblum]], the film's [[Film editing|editor]]:<ref name="tcm">{{cite book |last=Lax |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Lax |url=https://archive.org/details/woodyallenbiogra00laxe/page/335 |title=Woody Allen: A Biography |location=New York |publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf]] |year=1991 |page=335 |isbn=978-0-3945-8349-5 |url-access=registration}}</ref>
{{blockquote|He [Allen] managed to rescue ''Interiors'', much to his credit. He was against the wall. I think he was afraid. He was testy, he was slightly short-tempered. He was fearful. He thought he had a real bomb. But he managed to pull it out with his own work. The day the reviews came out, he said to me, 'Well, we pulled this one out by the short hairs, didn't we?'}}

Later, while watching the film with an acquaintance, Allen reportedly said, "It's always been my fear. I think I'm writing ''[[Long Day's Journey into Night]]'' and it turns into ''[[The Edge of Night|Edge of Night]]''."<ref name="tcm" />

Looking back on the film in 1982, Allen said:
{{blockquote|I should have brought Pearl, Maureen Stapleton's character, in earlier. I thought the audience would be entertained before the nub of conflict emerged. I thought that it was entertaining enough before Pearl entered, but it wasn't. It should have been. I should have started it with Pearl coming in right away and the whole thing would have flowered right from the start.<ref name="arnold">{{cite news|last=Arnold|first=Gary|date=July 16, 1982|title=Woody Allen, Inside and Out|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|pages=C1–2|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>}}

=== Accolades ===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Recipient(s)
! scope="col" | Result
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="5"| [[51st Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| [[Woody Allen]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]
| [[Geraldine Page]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| [[Maureen Stapleton]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen]]
| Woody Allen
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction]]
| [[Mel Bourne]] and [[Daniel Robert (set director)|Daniel Robert]]
| {{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| [[32nd British Academy Film Awards|British Academy Film Awards]]
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role|Best Actress in a Supporting Role]]
| Geraldine Page
| {{won}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles|Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles]]
| [[Mary Beth Hurt]]
| {{nom}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[Fotogramas de Plata]]
| Best Foreign Movie Performer
| [[Diane Keaton]] {{small|(also for ''[[Looking for Mr. Goodbar (film)|Looking for Mr. Goodbar]]'')}}
| {{won}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="4"| [[36th Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe Awards]]
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama|Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama]]
| Geraldine Page
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture|Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture]]
| Maureen Stapleton
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Director|Best Director – Motion Picture]]
| rowspan="2"| Woody Allen
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay – Motion Picture]]
| {{nom}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[Jupiter Award (film award)|Jupiter Awards]]
| Best International Actress
| Diane Keaton
| {{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3"| Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
| colspan="2"| Best Film
| {{won}}
|-
| Best Director
| Woody Allen
| {{won}}
|-
| Best Actress
| Geraldine Page
| {{won}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="4"| [[1978 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards|Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards]]
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| Woody Allen
| {{Runner-up}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| Geraldine Page
| {{nom}}
|-
| Maureen Stapleton
| {{won}}{{efn|Tied with [[Mona Washbourne]] for ''[[Stevie (1978 film)|Stevie]]''}}
|-
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]]
| Woody Allen
| {{Runner-up}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[National Board of Review Awards 1978|National Board of Review Awards]]
| colspan="2"| [[National Board of Review: Top Ten Films|Top Ten Films]]
| {{draw|3rd Place}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| [[1978 National Society of Film Critics Awards|National Society of Film Critics Awards]]
| [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| Maureen Stapleton
| {{Runner-up}}
|-
| [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]]
| Woody Allen
| {{draw|5th Place}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[1978 New York Film Critics Circle Awards|New York Film Critics Circle Awards]]
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| Maureen Stapleton
| {{won}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[Sant Jordi Awards]]
| Best Foreign Film
| rowspan="2"| Woody Allen
| {{won}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[31st Writers Guild of America Awards|Writers Guild of America Awards]]
| [[Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen]]
| {{nom}}
|}

==Soundtrack==
* "[[Keepin' Out of Mischief Now]]" (1932) – Written by [[Fats Waller]] & [[Andy Razaf]] – Performed by [[Tommy Dorsey]] & His Orchestra
* "[[Wolverine Blues (song)|Wolverine Blues]]" (1923) – Written by [[Ferdinand Morton]] – Performed by [[The World's Greatest Jazz Band]]<ref>{{cite book |last= Harvey |first= Adam|year= 2007|title= The Soundtracks of Woody Allen: A Complete Guide to the Songs and Music in Every Film, 1969–2005|location= Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher= [[McFarland & Company]] |page=74 |isbn=978-0-7864-2968-4}}</ref>

== Popular culture ==
The plot and characters of ''Interiors'' are alluded to in the [[Death Cab for Cutie]] song "Death of an Interior Decorator", taken from the 2003 album ''[[Transatlanticism]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Death Cab for Cutie – Death of an Interior Decorator|url=https://genius.com/Death-cab-for-cutie-death-of-an-interior-decorator-lyrics|access-date=2018-07-04|website=[[Genius (company)|Genius]]|archive-date=July 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704213014/https://genius.com/Death-cab-for-cutie-death-of-an-interior-decorator-lyrics|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{AFI film}}
* {{TCMDb title}}

{{Woody Allen}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1978 films]]
[[Category:1978 drama films]]
[[Category:1970s American films]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:American drama films]]
[[Category:English-language drama films]]
[[Category:Films about depression]]
[[Category:Films about divorce]]
[[Category:Films about dysfunctional families]]
[[Category:Films about sisters]]
[[Category:Films about suicide]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Ingmar Bergman]]
[[Category:Films directed by Woody Allen]]
[[Category:Films produced by Charles H. Joffe]]
[[Category:Films set on Long Island]]
[[Category:Films set in New York City]]
[[Category:Films shot in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Films shot in New York City]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Woody Allen]]
[[Category:United Artists films]]