What is your favourite Woody Allen movie? On most occasions that question would descend into the merits and demerits of Annie Hall’s epic indecision and Jasmine’s grand neurosis. But since Saturday it has taken on a far more sinister aspect. It’s with the same question that Dylan Farrow begins her open letter. Over the weekend, anyone with access to a computer and 140 characters to spare had voiced their opinion on the alleged assault. Twenty-eight-year-old Farrow’s letter makes for a harrowing read, as would any account of sexual assault of a seven-year-old. More so when the alleged perpetrator is your mother’s boyfriend and a celebrity of no mean measure. In the early 1990s Allen had denied all allegations and no charges were brought against him. But the prosecutor said he suspected abuse had taken place.
But this time the online world went into a tizzy questioning whether the artist can be separated from the art. Thousands expressed their support for Farrow. “Woody Allen is a living testament to the way our society fails the survivors of sexual assault and abuse,” writes Farrow. With such accusations hanging in the air, could you still be a Woody Allen fan? Did being a Woody Allen fan now make complicit, or worse still, a co-conspirator in the crime? Had Hollywood humiliated all victims of abuse by giving him the Golden Globe lifetime achievement award two weeks ago?
Only filmmaker Robert B Weide, who made a documentary on Allen, dared raise some questions on the case. Weide reminded us of the fickle ways of social media . In today’s media saturated world, accusations become facts, opinions become reconstructions and stories become reports. If Allen indeed did what Farrow accuses him of, he deserves to be sent to jail. That would be a genius in jail, but one less molester on the street. Allen is an artist par excellence, but that doesn’t mean he should be exonerated or condemned without due process.
What is your favourite Woody Allen movie is still a question worth asking. He will always be the unparalleled film director and actor who celebrated the dysfunctional, examined the modern and highlighted the impossibility of lasting happiness. You might feel there is reason to dislike him as man, but you can always watch his films, again and again.