Three adult sisters are having trouble coping with the sudden separation of
their parents. The split shouldn't have come as a surprise since the mother has
ruled the family with an iron fist for a number of years, but it did comes as a
surprise. To make matters worse the mother has a history of mental illness and
now, in her denial, she's become suicidal. Added to this crisis is the personal
life drama (husband/boyfriend, job, family history etc.) of each of the
sisters.With his previous film (ANNIE HALL) Allen proved that he was capable of more than just broad comedies by introducing a level of seriousness never seen before in his films, but with INTERIORS he takes it to the next level: the pacing is purposely slow; there's no music for nearly the entire film; the colors are all subdued and bleak; zero laughs; hardly any action beyond talking. INTERIORS is most decidedly not what audiences were expecting from the guy who brought them TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN and SLEEPER, but if they had an open mind about it they ended up being treated to one of the best films of the 1970's.
A number of critics simply dismiss INTERIORS as an "homage to Ingmar Bergman" (what's wrong with that?!), even so it's still a powerful and emotionally moving film that should not only be seen but studied...especially the script and the set decoration. I cannot recommend it enough. It's a masterpiece. I'm very surprised that Geraldine Page didn't win the Oscar for Best Actress.
