‘Allen v. Farrow’ gives Dylan Farrow last word
The accusations of sexual abuse against Woody Allen fall for many people into the “what you think you know” category.
On that front, “Allen v. Farrow” rights a lot of wrong impressions, particularly regarding the decision not to charge Allen with a crime. It’s a harrowing, four-part documentary directed by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering that will air on HBO beginning Sunday, Feb. 21.
It lays out a formidable case against Allen.
The use of court documents and recorded phone conversations between
Allen and his former partner and collaborator Mia Farrow are powerful. So are the interviews with Farrow and other family members, as well as with the prosecutor in the case.
But nothing in the film is as powerful as the interviews with Dylan Farrow, who has accused Allen of sexually assaulting her when she was 7 years old. She has told her story before, in pieces
she’s written for newspapers.
The HBO docuseries gives
Dylan Farrow time to tell her story
Not like this, though. Dick and Ziering take a patient approach to the story — possibly too patient; the docuseries would be more impactful with more focus. But it does give Dylan Farrow time to tell the whole story, not just of the day of the alleged abuse but of the years leading up to it.
And the years since. It’s devastating. Allen declined to be interviewed for the film, as did his wife, Soon-Yi Previn — Farrow’s adopted daughter with whom Allen had an affair and later married. Instead, the film uses audiobook excerpts from “Apropos of Nothing,” Allen’s 2020 memoir.
It’s impossible to know what Allen might have said in a new interview. In his memoir — dropped by its original publisher — he doesn’t make much of a case for himself. In the book he does refutes the claims both Dylan and Mia Farrow have made, regarding Dylan and Previn. It’s better than nothing, although maybe not for Allen.
Taped phone calls between Allen and Mia Farrow do him no favors, either, although the dueling conversations in which one or the other or both were recording each other serves as a chronicle of the deterioration of their relationship.
Allen and Mia Farrow never married and maintained separate residences across Central Park from each other. Farrow talks about how they met (Michael Caine introduced her to him) and their relationship, as well as Allen’s relationship with her children. The gist: Allen was delighted to date and work with Farrow, and wanted nothing to do with the kids.
That apparently changed with Dylan, whom Farrow (and eventually Allen) adopted. Allen from the start was unusually interested in Dylan, Mia Farrow and others say, so much so that Mia Farrow told him to see a clinical psychologist, who found Allen’s behavior “inappropriately intense” but not sexual.
Family friends talk about Allen’s seeming obsession with Dylan growing creepier. Then, on Aug. 4, 1992, Dylan says Allen sexually assaulted her in Farrow’s Connecticut home. A friend told Mia Farrow the next day that a babysitter had seen Allen earlier with his head in Dylan’s lap. Mia Farrow then videotaped, over a couple days, interviews with Dylan, who talked about what she says Allen did to her.
The police quickly become involved. The short version of this part of the saga is that the Yale-New Haven Hospital report on Dylan’s claims exonerated Allen. The report said there were inconsistencies in Dylan’s stories, that Farrow likely coached her. Allen gave a press conference in front of the hospital.
Why Woody Allen wasn’t charged with sexual assault is explained
But “Allen v. Farrow” looks more deeply into the report, and problems with it, including multiple interviews with Dylan (something not typically done, experts say) and the destroying of notes taken during the interviews with Dylan. A judge would later disparage the report.
Frank Maco, the prosecutor for the state of Connecticut, decided not to prosecute Allen. But not because of lack of evidence — indeed, investigators recommended charging Allen. Maco says in contemporary interviews that he wanted to spare Dylan the pain of testifying in a celebrity trial. Toward the end of the film, Maco and Dylan meet again and talk about his decision and how it has affected their lives.
We also hear Moses Farrow and Previn’s claims that Mia Farrow was abusive. But the filmmakers devote little time to the accusations. That neither Previn nor Moses Farrow agreed to interviews no doubt influences that. But so does the point of view of the film — the documentary is firmly in Mia Farrow’s camp, and provides hours of reasons explaining why.
The final hour delves into separating the art from the artist. Some actors have supported Allen against the claims. Others have stopped working with him; some have apologized for doing so in the first place.
Dylan Farrow gets the final word, which feels appropriate for the film. What strikes you throughout is that someone is lying, and “Allen v. Farrow” never wavers in building its case about who it is.