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Annie Hall (1977)

By Andrew Stires · April 25, 2011

Screenplay Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance

Movie Time: 93 minutes

1. INCITING INCIDENT

Neurotic New Yorker and up-and-coming comedian Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) meets Annie Hall (Diane Keaton), a quirky yet charming woman with a unique fashion sense and a penchant for using phrases like, “La-di-da, la-di-da, la la.” Their initial encounter results in a nerve-wracking car ride to Annie's house, followed by a superfluous conversation where subtitles show us what they're really thinking as Alvy comments on Annie's photography. This leads to their first date. (00:25:10)

2. LOCK IN (End of Act One)

During an evening stroll, Annie and Alvy finally express their love for each other. Alvy jokes, “Love is too weak a word for what I feel – I luuurve you, you know, I loave you, I luff you, two F's…”With the Brooklyn Bride stretching magnificently in the background, they kiss solidifying their relationship. (00:38:07)

3. FIRST CULMINATION (Midpoint)

After Alvy secretly follows Annie one day because he thinks she's having an affair with one of her college professors, Annie decides she has had enough and wants to break up. Alvy obliges and then approaches random strangers on the street to get their views on relationships. The first woman he speaks to tells him, “It's never something you do. That's how people are. Love fades.” This foreshadows how Alvy and Annie's relationship might end. (52:46)

4. MAIN CULMINATION (End of Act Two)

Together again, Annie and Alvy are on a flight back from Los Angeles, each thinking to themselves that they want to break up again. Annie broaches the subject, “Alvy, let's face it, I don't think our relationship is working,” to which Alvy hilariously replies, “I know. A relationship, I think, is like a shark. You know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark.” They decide to part ways amiably, vowing to remain friends.(1:18:57)

5. THIRD ACT TWIST

Alvy flies to Los Angeles in a last ditch effort to win her back, and over lunch at an outdoor cafe, Alvy asks Annie to marry him and come back to New York. Annie declines his proposal but tells him she wants to remain friends, thereby turning the traditional notion of a romantic comedy on its head. Alvy might not get the girl in the end, but he does learn a bittersweet lesson about relationships: “This guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, 'Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken.' And, uh, the doctor says, 'Well, why don't you turn him in?' The guy says, 'I would, but I need the eggs.' Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and… but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us… need the eggs.”(1:24:30)