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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rated by buyers R (Restricted)
Type of bind: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN num: 9780767848770
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN number: 0767848772
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Quantity: 1
Publishing house: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: April 16, 2002
Running Time: 108 minutes
Sale Popularity Level: 11268
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: September 18, 1992
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Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/27/2008 Run time: 108 minutes Rated by buyers R
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In 1992, Woody Allen and Mia Farrow--heretofore the Lunt and Fontanne of Hollywood on the Hudson--went public with a media-saturated battle over Allen's affair with Farrow's adopted daughter. Only a few months later, Allen released this film, starring himself and Farrow acting out a virtually identical plot line: an unhappy marriage begins to crumble when the husband strays with a much younger woman (in this case, one of his students, played by Juliette Lewis). It turned out to be one of Allen's most lacerating comedies, a story about the fragility of relationships and the foolishness of older men seeking to recapture their youth with younger women. It features strong performances by Judy Davis, Liam Neeson, and director Sydney Pollack, as a friend of Allen's who chucks his longtime wife for an aerobics instructor, thus planting seeds of marital dissolution in all of his friends' heads. Husbands and Wives provided an uncanny peek into Allen's image of himself and his personal life, despite all of his protestations to the contrary. --Marshall Fine
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Rated by buyers 
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This is my favorite of all of the films that Allen directed in the '90s, so my expectations for this disc were a bit high, and not quite satisfied.
Both widescreen (1.85:1) and fullscreen (1.33:1) versions of the film are available, and can be selected on the disc's opening screen. The sound mix is fine, but this was taken from a very grainy print. "Husbands and Wives" isn't a beautiful film and much of its photography is dark and/or softly lit, but I find it hard to believe that a clearer print of this wasn't available for transfer.
The dubbed French dialogue track isn't as good as it could be, either. It's well voiced, but as out of sync as a '70s B-movie dub. These faults are compensated by excellent subtitles in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
A pair of entertaining theatrical trailers for both "Husbands and Wives" and "Manhattan Murder Mystery" are included.
While this isn't as good as I'd hoped it would be, it'll do for now. I'd really like to see Sony release another DVD edition of this movie with a transfer from a cleaner print, but given the limited commercial appeal of this title, I don't know that they've the impetus to do so.
Rated by buyers -
Husbands and Wives was released in 1992, and it is the last movie Woody Allen made with Mia Farrow--their unlucky thirteenth. It was released just in time to benefit from intense interest in the courtroom stand off between Woody and Mia over Woody's relationship with Mia's adopted daughter, Soon-Yi. Not to say that this was a calculated career move, but the film did better at the box office than any of his other films. It offered uncanny parallels into the real life drama, but it also differed in many respects. Still, it was weird how life imitated art, or vice versa.
As the opening credits roll, we hear a vintage recording of Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love?" The very first scene shows Creative Writing Professor Gabe Roth (Woody Allen) watching a documentary on Einstein where the great thinker is quoted saying "God doesn't throw dice with the universe." Gabe quips, "No, he only plays Hide & Seek."
Gabe and Judy Roth (Mia Farrow) are going to dinner with another married couple, Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis). They arrive and announce they are separating before going out for Chinese food. Judy is the most upset, but Jack and Sally claim it was a mutual decision, and they are fine with it. Meanwhile Gabe, who is a writing professor, is becoming interested in one of his students (Juliette Lewis). Jack starts seeing an aerobics instructor (Lysette Anthony), and Sally tries to date, but they both become extremely jealous of each other when they find out they're seeing other people. Judy has set up Sally with a colleague, (Liam Neeson) who is interested in her, but Sally is now too preoccupied with her husband to notice. Judy regrets setting Sally up, because she is starting to fall for him herself.
The only gimmick used in this film is a kind of documentary style, with wobbly hand held camera, sometimes following characters as they dart from the room, barely catching a glimpse as they leave. Some shots are purposely obscured, to give it a gritty look, as if you are a casual observer, or a fly-on-the-wall. Other times characters are grilled by an off camera voice--presumably their analyst--giving them a chance to reveal their innermost thoughts talking directly to the camera. This technique is now used on the sit com The Office, by the way.
As a rumination on Married Life, a response to Cole Porter's question, what is this thing called love? Woody is surprisingly insightful. Sally and Jack have the ring of truth, especially when they are responding with jealousy. Great performances by Judy Davis and Sydney Pollack. Mia is great and believable as Judy Roth, and Liam Neeson plays his part well. Juliette Lewis is fantastic as Gabe's young student, Rain.
My only quibble is with Woody's character, Gabe Roth. I feel like Woody, as writer and director, deliberately stacked the deck, almost as if he was already preparing his defense for the upcoming Soon-Yi showdown. He has every reason to justify a fling with Rain, but the most he will allow himself is a kiss in the rain. Like, he COULD have had a fling with her, but he CHOSE not to. Even though her parents idolize him for his writing, and practically beg him to go to her birthday party, and she has already had a string of older lovers, culminating in her therapist, who confronts Gabe as he drops her off prior to meeting her parents. He asks him if he seduces all of his students, giving Gabe the chance to squirm uncomfortably, playing the innocent martyr. This scene was made even creepier by a slight misunderstanding and confusion of mine--that I thought Juliette Lewis was Rachel Griffiths, because Rain's therapist was played by Ron Rifkin, who plays Rachel's Uncle Saul on the television show: Brothers & Sisters.
But Juliette Lewis is great as Rain, named after poet Rainer Maria Rilke by her poetry lovin' mom (Blythe Danner). The student/teacher exchanges function as a parody of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet. She is just talented enough to justify Gabe's interest, while blinded by his mid-life infatuation, and she has the good sense to lose Gabe's novel in a taxi cab. Plus, she looks great in her Catholic School Girl pleated plaid skirt.
Rain: I spent five days searching for the perfect word to describe the husband and that's when I came up with "apucious".
Gabe: Apucious. I looked it up in the dictionary but I couldn't find it.
Rain: Yeah, I know. I made it up.
Gabe: Oh, really.
Rain: Yeah. I thought it described him perfectly.
Though neither character's writing is actually very good, the script and writing of Husbands and Wives is another story--apart from the one "aupucious" lapse due to Woody's need to rationalize and justify his own "aupucious" lapse.
Some other films by Woody Allen Featuring Mia Farrow (with fun facts and trivia courtesy of imdb dot com):
A Midsummer Night's ... Read More
Rated by buyers 
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Complicated relationships (Annie Hall) and the romantic folly of May-December relationships (Manhattan) are familiar themes in Woody Allen's movies. His films confront the subject relationships with a depth not typically found in Hollywood releases. Allen's 1992 film, Husbands and Wives is a perfect example. Shot in cinéma-vérité-style, the film tells the "bleakly nihilistic" story of two long-married couples, Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis), and Gabe (Allen) and Judy (Mia Farrow). When Jack and Sally announce their plans to divorce, Gabe is shocked and Judy is devastated with the news. They assumed their friends were happy in their marriage, but soon discover that many "rational" relationships are not as perfect as they seem on the surface. As a result of their friends' separation, Judy asks Gabe if he ever fantasizes about other women. Truth be told, Gabe is an English professor, who admires one of his 20-year-old students, Rain (Juliette Lewis). They develop a friendship. Jack begins a relationship with Sam, a hard-bodied aerobics trainer, who is perfect except for the fact that she believes in astrology (much to Jack's embarrasment). Gabe confesses to Jack that his new girlfriend is a "cocktail waitress." Meanwhile, Sally meets Michael (Liam Neeson). The ultimate wisdom of Allen's brilliant film is that life is filled with endless romantic dreams and possibilities, but only real love allows us to see through all the illusions and to accept another's imperfections. This is one of my favorite Woody Allen films.
G. Merritt
Rated by buyers -
Woody Allen makes good, very good, and excellent films.
Husbands and Wives is a very good film with excellent performances. It is not a comedy but rather a dramedy that explores marriages and relationships of four main characters. It has several funny moments and dialogs (it is Allen after all) but it has disturbing and sad scenes, too.
When Jack and Sally (Sidney Pollack and Judy Davis) announce that they're separating, this comes as a shock to their best friends Gabe and Judy (Allen and Farrow). They start to reevaluate their own marriage only to find out that it is not as perfect as they thought. Very soon Jack and Sally, and then Gabe and Judy start to meet new people - young, bright, and attractive. They all hope that new is better, and for some of them it is true while the others come to understanding that true love involves loving another's imperfections even when very well aware of them.
This film is for all husbands and wives, lovers, and partners around the world. It is for couples who've been in a relationship for a month, a year, or decades. It is for singles who are ready or who think they want to enter a relationship. It is also for people who don't. All of us have been or may find ourselves in a situation or relationship or having a conversation like the ones in the Allen's film. All of us think and talk about love, trust, understanding, fidelity, sex, and yes - marriage.
The best scenes of the film belong to Allen and Farrow. Some of their conversations in the movie probably reflect the situation in their own relationship that ended soon after the film was made. It is the last film Allen made with Farrow.
Judy Davis played the role of her carrier practically stealing the film. I was shocked to find out that she received all possible Critics Awards that year and lost Best Supporting Oscar to Marisa Tomei. I love Tomei's performance in My Cousin Vinny (1992) but nomination itself would've been enough. Davis was the Best Supporting actress (I saw all films with nominated performances). Sidney Pollack (The Oscar winning director of Out of Africa and two times nominee for Tootsie and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?) and Liam Nisson were wonderful. I did not like Juliet Lewis at all. What she did adorably in Cape Fear with De Niro for ten minutes scene, she tried to stretch for over an hour here - did not work, IMO.
I like "Husbands and Wives" - it was interesting to watch, and it left me thinking if such thing as perfect relationship is ever possible, and what it would take to not only find it but to keep it.
4.5/5
Rated by buyers -
Woody Allen's 1992 film "Husbands and Wives" was released around the time we very first heard the words Soon-Yi, which is ironic considering the subject matter of the film. "Husbands and Wives" is billed as a comedy, but is more of a drama. There are a few jokes, but there's nothing incredibly funny in the film. The movie is told like a documentary, featuring interviews with the characters and handheld cinematography. Allen and Mia Farrow play Gabe and Judy Roth, a couple who have been married for ten years and think everything is well. Then their two friends Jack and Sally (Sydney Pollack & Judy Davis) announce they are getting divorced, which causes Gabe and Judy to question the validity of their own marriage. As Jack and Sally move on (with Jack getting a much hotter younger woman and Sally lusting after Michael, played by Liam Neeson), Gabe and Judy begin to move farther apart. Gabe, a college professor, finds himself falling for a 20-year-old student named Rain (Juliette Lewis) and Judy finds herself, also, lusting after Michael. The movie is 106 minutes, but a lot of stuff happens in the film. This is not one of Woody Allen's best; it's not in the top 5 anyway. It's overwrought and is not his most entertaining. The performances are very good, especially Farrow, Pollack, and Davis. Juliette Lewis, meanwhile, has echoes of Mariel Hemingway in "Manhattan" in her performance. The cinematography and mock-documentary style of the film gets old after a while, with the former getting headache-inducing after a while. "Husbands and Wives" is a good study of marriage and infidelity. One critic (I don't recall which one it was) said that "Husbands and Wives" seemed like Allen trying to come to grips with the Soon-Yi debacle, but the ending here is quite different. "Husbands and Wives" has its merits, it's demerits...But it's a worthy Woody Allen film that's definitely worth watching.
GRADE: B-
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