Rifkin’s Festival (Review)

Woody Allen’s 48th film marks his return to cinemas after renewed allegations of sexual harassment reported by his adopted daughter; complaints that have caused Allen the removal from the millionaire tours of American cinema. It is therefore perhaps that Allen has decided to shoot the film entirely in Europe, a region where he has always been more successful than at home, nemo profeta impatria est …

But let’s get to the film.

The protagonist, Rifkin, a film expert and neurotic writer, accompanies his wife Sue, who is in charge of communications for a successful young director, to the film festival in the beautiful Spanish town of San Sebastien. During the kermesse for cinephiles, Rifkin and Sue’s marriage faces a difficult moment because she loses her head for the director she assisted, while he deludes himself to be able to conquer a young cardiologist whom he fell in love with during a check-up visit.

The protagonist is none other than an alter ego of Woody Allen himself, a man who loves the cinema of the great directors of the last century, suspicious of the new fashions and currents of politically correct cinema. The most successful pieces of Allen’s latest divertissement are the dreams that haunt Rifkin in the night, strictly in black and white with clear references to the masterpieces of his favorite filmmakers.

Picture: Copyright Vision Distribution