Zelig
is a 1983 American mockumentary written and directed by Woody Allen.
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Plot
Set in the 1920s and 1930s, the film focuses on Leonard Zelig, a nondescript man who has the ability to transform his appearance to that of the people who surround him. He is observed at a party by
F. Scott Fitzgerald, who notices that while mingling with the guests, Zelig sings the praises of the affluent classes in a refined, snobbish accent, but while in the kitchen with the servants, he seethes with rage at the
fat cats in a thick
proletarian voice. He soon gains international fame as a "human
chameleon".
Dr. Eudora Fletcher (
Mia Farrow) is a
psychiatrist who wants to help Zelig with this strange disorder when he is admitted to her hospital.
[1] Through the use of
hypnotism, she discovers Zelig yearns for approval so strongly he physically changes to fit in with those around him. Dr. Fletcher's determination allows her to cure Zelig, but not without complications; she lifts Zelig's self-esteem but much too high and thus he temporarily develops a personality which is violently intolerant of other people's opinions.
Dr. Fletcher realizes she is falling in love with Zelig. Because of the media coverage of the case, both patient and doctor become 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 returns, and he tries to fit in once more. Numerous women claim he married them, and he disappears. Dr. Fletcher finds him in
Germany working with the
Nazis before the outbreak of
World War II. Together they escape and return to America, where they are proclaimed heroes (after Zelig, using his ability to imitate one more time, mimics Fletcher's piloting skills and flies back home across the Atlantic upside down).
Production notes
Woody Allen used actual
newsreel footage and inserted himself and other actors into the footage using
bluescreen technology. To provide an authentic look to his scenes, Allen and cinematographer
Gordon Willis used a variety of techniques, including locating some of the actual antique film cameras and lenses used during the eras depicted in the film, and even going 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 was achieved almost a decade before digital filmmaking technology made such techniques in films like
Forrest Gump
and various
television commercials much easier to accomplish.
The film uses
cameo appearances by real figures from academia and other fields for comic effect. Contrasting the film's vintage black and white film footage, these persons appear in color segments as themselves, commenting in the present day on the Zelig phenomenon 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
Charles Lindbergh,
Al Capone,
William Randolph Hearst,
Marion Davies,
Charlie Chaplin,
Josephine Baker,
Fanny Brice,
Carole Lombard,
Dolores del Río,
Adolf Hitler,
Josef Goebbels,
Hermann Göring,
James Cagney,
Jimmy Walker,
Lou Gehrig,
Babe Ruth,
Bobby Jones, and
Pope Pius XI.
In the time it took to complete the film's special effects, Allen filmed
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
and
Broadway Danny Rose
.
The
soundtrack includes such period songs as "I'm Sitting on Top of the World" and "Five Feet Two, Eyes of Blue" by
Ray Henderson,
Sam Lewis, and
Joe Young; "Sunny Side Up" by Henderson,
Lew Brown, and
Buddy G. DeSylva; "Ain't We Got Fun" by
Richard A. Whiting, Ray Egan, and
Gus Kahn; "Charleston" by
James P. Johnson and
Cecil Mack; "I'll Get By" by
Fred E. Ahlert and
Roy Turk; "I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling"
by
Fats Waller,
Harry Link, and
Billy Rose; "I Love My Baby (My Baby Loves Me)" by
Harry Warren and
Bud Green; "A Sailboat in the Moonlight" by
Carmen Lombardo and John Jacob Loeb; "Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)" by
Fred Fisher; and "Anchors Aweigh" by
Charles A. Zimmerman and Alfred Hart Miles. In addition,
Dick Hyman composed a number of tunes allegedly inspired by the Zelig phenomenon, including "Leonard the Lizard," "Reptile Eyes," "You May Be Six People, But I Love You," "Doin' the Chameleon," ""The Changing Man Concerto," and "Chameleon Days," the latter performed by
Mae Questel, the voice of
Betty Boop.
Before being shown at the
Venice Film Festival, the film opened on six screens in the US and grossed $60,119 on its opening weekend. Its domestic revenue eventually totaled $11,798,616
[2].
Zelig has the distinction of being the last Orion Pictures film released by
Warner Bros. Unlike other Warner-released Orion films, whose rights were retained by its original theatrical distributor, this film is owned by Orion's successor
MGM.
Critical reaction
In his review in the
New York Times
,
Vincent Canby observed, "[Allen's] new, remarkably self-assured comedy is to his career what . . .
Berlin Alexanderplatz
is to
Rainer Werner Fassbinder's and . . .
Fanny and Alexander
is to
Ingmar Bergman's . . .
Zelig
is not only pricelessly funny, it's also, on occasion, very moving. It works simultaneously as social history, as a love story, as an examination of several different kinds of film narrative, as
satire and as
parody . . . [It] is a nearly perfect - and perfectly original - Woody Allen comedy."
[3]
Variety
said the film was "consistently funny, though more academic than boulevardier"
[4], and the
Christian Science Monitor
called it "amazingly funny and poignant"
[5].
Time Out New York
describes it as "mildly amusing"
[6], while
TV Guide
says, "Allen's ongoing struggles with psychoanalysis and his Jewish identity - stridently literal preoccupations in most of his work - are for once rendered allegorically. The result is deeply satisfying."
[7]
Awards and nominations
- Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Gordon Willis, nominee)
- Academy Award for Best Costume Design (Santo Loquasto, nominee)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy (nominee)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Woody Allen, nominee)
- BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay (nominee)
- BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography (nominee)
- BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects (nominee)
- BAFTA Award for Best Editing (nominee)
- BAFTA Award for Best Makeup (nominee)
- Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen (nominee)
- Saturn Award for Best Direction (nominee)
- New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematography (winner
)
- Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress (Mia Farrow, winner
; tied with Linda Hunt for The Year of Living Dangerously
)
- David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actor (Allen, winner
)
- Venice Film Festival Pasinetti Award for Best Film (winner
)
- Bodil Award for Best Non-European Film (winner
)
References
- Eudora Fletcher was the name of the principal of P.S. 99 in Brooklyn, NY, the elementary school Allen attended as a child.
- ''Zelig'' at BoxOfficeMojo.com
- ''New York Times'' review
- ''Variety'' review
- ''Christian Science Monitor'' review
- ''Time Out New York'' review
- ''TV Guide'' review