The Pope? What Pope? Let’s talk instead about Woody Allen and his latest movie

WOODY Allen is 74. Gosh, how time marches on. Love him or loathe him, you have to admit that he’s given the world some of the best one-liners ever. Oh, and to my mind, some excellent movies.

One of my favourite Allen quotes is:

If it turns out that there is a God, I don’t think that he’s evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he’s an underachiever.

And another:

I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it’s the government.

Allen’s still making movies and being darkly amusing.

Interviewed by the New York Times’ Dave Itzkoff this week about his latest movie, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, he kicked off by asking not to be wished a happy Jewish New Year.

No, no, no I don’t follow it. I wish I could get with it. It would be a big help on those dark nights.

In the film, as the marriage of a London couple (Anthony Hopkins and Gemma Jones) unravels, the wife seeks comfort in the supernatural, which has unforeseen consequences on the marriage of her daughter (Naomi Watts) and her husband (Josh Brolin).  Said Allen:

To me, there’s no real difference between a fortune teller or a fortune cookie and any of the organized religions. They’re all equally valid or invalid, really. And equally helpful.

Here are some extracts from his interview.

Q. The ideas of psychic powers and past lives, or at least people who believe in them, are central to your latest film. What got you interested in writing about them?

A. I was interested in the concept of faith in something. This sounds so bleak when I say it, but we need some delusions to keep us going. And the people who successfully delude themselves seem happier than the people who can’t. I’ve known people who have put their faith in religion and in fortune tellers. So it occurred to me that that was a good character for a movie.

Q. What seems more plausible to you, that we’ve existed in past lives, or that there is a God?

A. Neither seems plausible to me. I have a grim, scientific assessment of it. I just feel, what you see is what you get.

Q. How do you feel about the aging process?

A. Well, I’m against it. [laughs] I think it has nothing to recommend it. You don’t gain any wisdom as the years go by. You fall apart, is what happens. People try and put a nice varnish on it, and say, well, you mellow. You come to understand life and accept things. But you’d trade all of that for being 35 again.

Pope Ratzinger is 83.