Woody Allen hasn’t been canceled

You won’t see Stroke of luckthe 50e feature film by Woody Allen, in a theater near you this weekend. Unless you live in New York or one of the 12 American cities where the film opens on April 5.




The North American distributor of Stroke of luckthe first film in French from the filmmaker Manhattan and of Midnight in Parishas not planned a theatrical release in Quebec of this dramatic comedy notably starring Franco-Québécois Niels Schneider.

The reputation of the 88-year-old filmmaker, who made one film a year for 35 years, has been tarnished to the point where the distribution of his films is now a trickle. In recent years, actresses such as Mira Sorvino (a Harvey Weinstein victim), Kate Winslet and Greta Gerwig have said they regret filming with Allen. Timothée Chalamet and Rebecca Hall, stars of A Rainy Day in New York (2019), who did not appear in Quebec, donated their salary.

In 2014, the filmmaker’s adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, reiterated in a blog from the New York Times having been attacked by Allen. In 1992, at the time of the alleged events, Dylan Farrow was 7 years old and Woody Allen had just left his mother, actress Mia Farrow, for the latter’s 21-year-old daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. The media reported the affair, but it had no immediate consequences on Woody Allen’s career. To this day, the filmmaker pleads parental alienation.

At the time, the filmmaker was not brought to justice after two investigations, including that of Child Protective Services at Yale University Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. But the #metoo movement and a recent documentary produced by HBO, Allen vs. Farrowshed new light on this story: the complacency of investigators towards Allen, the legal and public relations arsenal at his disposal, the prosecutor who believed Dylan Farrow’s version, but chose not to bring charges for protect her, etc.

Woody Allen hasn’t been “canceled” yet. The filmmaker continues, although more difficult, to find financing for his films, especially in Europe. This was already the case before the start of the #metoo movement, in 2017. Thanks to digital platforms, it is possible to see his works, even the most recent. In short, for the culture of cancellation, we will come back.


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