Zelig
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| Zelig | |
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| Directed by | Woody Allen |
| Produced by | Charles Joffe |
| Written by | Woody Allen |
| Starring | Woody Allen Mia Farrow |
| Music by | Dick Hyman |
| Cinematography | Gordon Willis |
| Editing by | Susan E. Morse |
| Distributed by | Orion Pictures Corporation Warner Bros |
| Release date(s) | November, 1983 |
| Running time | 79 min |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Zelig is a 1983 mockumentary movie written and directed by Woody Allen. Vincent Canby of The New York Times hailed it as "remarkably self-assured" and "pricelessly funny..." "...one of those Allen comedies by which all his other films will be compared" and "a summation and a perfection of methods and ideas that have been turning up in all his films" — a "Woody Allen masterpiece."
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[edit] Plot
The film is set in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. The title character, Leonard Zelig (played by Woody Allen), is a man who has the ability to change his appearance to that of the people he is surrounded by. For example, if he is among doctors, he transforms into a doctor, if around overweight people, he quickly becomes heavy himself. Zelig is called the "human chameleon". He is first noticed at a party by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Dr. Eudora Fletcher (Mia Farrow) is a psychiatrist who wants to help this man with this strange disorder, when he is admitted to her hospital. With the use of hypnotic techniques, she discovers that Zelig aims for approval, so he changes to fit in. Dr. Fletcher's determination allows her to eventually cure Zelig, but not without complications; on the road to recovery, Zelig temporarily develops a personality which is intolerant of other people's opinions.
Dr. Fletcher becomes aware that she is falling in love with Zelig. Both patient and doctor, with the media coverage of the case, are part of the popular culture of their time. However, fame is the main cause of their division; the same society that made Zelig a hero destroys him.
Zelig's illness strikes back, he tries to fit in once more. With the accusations of women that claim to be married with him, he escapes where nobody can find him. Nevertheless, Dr. Fletcher doesn't give up on Zelig, and finds him in Germany before World War II inside the Nazi party. Together they escape in an airplane while being chased by the Nazis. After the adventure they experienced in Germany, they return to the USA as heroes.
Zelig used a very innovative and distinctive method to create the mockumentary feeling of this movie. For the film, Allen took real newsreel footage from the 1920s and 30s and inserted himself and other actors into the footage via bluescreen technology. To provide an authentic look to his scenes, Allen and his cinematographer used numerous techniques, including the arduous task of locating some of the actual antique film cameras and lenses used during the eras depicted in the film, and even went so far as to simulate damage, such as crinkles and scratches, on the negatives to make the finished product look more like vintage footage. The virtually seamless blending of old and new footage is highly notable in the fact that this was achieved almost a decade before digital filmmaking technology made such techniques easier, as in films like Forrest Gump and various television commercials.
[edit] Cameo appearances
The film uses cameo appearances by real figures from academia and other fields to great comic effect. Contrasting the film's vintage black and white film footage, these individuals appear in color segments, as themselves, commenting in the present day on the Zelig phenomenon with a straight face, as if it really happened. They include essayist Susan Sontag, psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Saul Bellow, political writer Irving Howe, historian John Morton Blum, and the Paris nightclub owner Bricktop.
Also appearing in the film's vintage footage are Adolf Hitler, Charles Lindbergh, Al Capone, William Randolph Hearst, Josephine Baker, Fanny Brice, Hermann Goering, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jimmy Walker, Lou Gehrig, Josef Goebbels, Charlie Chaplin, Bobby Jones, and many others.
[edit] Box Office
Zelig opened in North America on July 15, 1983 at 6 theatres. In its opening weekend, it grossed $60,119 ($10,019 per screen), and grossed $11,798,616 in its entire run, playing at 245 theatres at its widest point.[1]
