Woody Allen, July 2, 2019 in Milan.
-
AFP
After Michael Jackson and the
Leaving Neverland
shock
, HBO takes on Woody Allen with
Allen v.
Farrow
.
This documentary series in four episodes, broadcast from Sunday on the American cable channel, should complete torpedoing the reputation of the New York director, implicated by a series of testimonies in the case of the alleged assault of his adopted daughter Dylan.
Dylan Farrow accused Woody Allen of sexually assaulting her in August 1992 when she was 7 years old, which the director has always denied.
The directors Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, renowned documentary filmmakers, deliver here a presentation which takes up the investigation, with testimonies and supporting documents, some of which are unpublished, but goes well beyond.
The culture of pre-MeToo male domination
The connection is made between the alleged sexual assault of Dylan, and the relationship of Woody Allen with the adopted daughter of his companion Mia Farrow, Soon-Yi Previn, who became his wife, with the Oscar-winning director's taste for young girls.
Documents and testimonies show that the director had sex with Soon-Yi long before he came of age.
To these disturbing elements, Allen v.
Farrow overlay Woody Allen's supposed propensity for manipulation, particularly of the press, to lessen the scope of the accusations and discredit Mia Farrow.
The film implies that he may have derailed the two official investigations into the case, neither of which resulted in prosecution.
This documentary denounces the culture of pre-MeToo male domination.
Allen v.
Farrow, broadcast in March on OCS in France, will have a particular resonance in France, at a time when the Duhamel affair has sparked a series of accusations targeting public figures.
The authors show in particular how Allan Konigsberg, of his real name, continued to benefit from the unwavering support of the world of cinema after his implication, while Mia Farrow, deprived of roles, became persona non grata in Hollywood.
"It speaks of a system"
It was not until 2017, thanks to a column by Dylan Farrow, and the renewed public support of his brother Ronan, a journalist turned hero of the #MeToo movement, that actors and actresses publicly distanced themselves from the 'octogenarian, very isolated since.
For Kirby Dick, the subject is broadened to the point that this documentary, which bears the name of Woody Allen, “is not really about him,” he said in an interview with the
Washington Post
.
"It speaks of a system," confirmed Amy Ziering.
“This film touches on complicity, the power of celebrity, the power of manipulation, the way in which we are going to believe something that will be repeated enough.
"
Allen v.
Farrow is also a dive into the universe of Dylan Farrow, who delivers herself here as she can never do before, still visibly defined, almost 30 years later, by a deep trauma.
"I was put under a microscope, I was humiliated"
“There has been so much disinformation, (…) lies,” says the one who is now a mother herself.
"They doubted me, they put me under a microscope, I was humiliated", while her adoptive father "was freewheeling".
Woody Allen, himself, is absent, although excerpts from the audio book, read by the director, of his recent autobiography, By the way (2020) are integrated.
No testimony comes to bring the contradiction, his wife Soon-Yi and his adopted son Moïse, public support of his father in the past, having refused to collaborate in the project.
Asked by AFP, Woody Allen did not follow up.
“I think a lot of people who will see” the documentary, said Kirby Dick, “including people who defend Woody Allen today, are going to change their minds or see it in a very different way.
"
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