Wednesday

The ending of Woody Allen's Manhattan counts as perhaps some of the best five minutes in cinema. Suggested by Alex, David Cairns recently included it on his blog in his listing of euphoric cinematic moments. The sequence begins with Woody Allen listing the things that make life worth living. He lists actors, music, films, novels, works of art, food, and the face of the woman he loves. I have long thought that Allen's inspiration for this speech was the poem by W. B. Yeats 'Beautiful Lofty Things'. Here, Yeats, writing at the end of his life, lists moments that he'll never forget. Near the end he remembers the sight of the woman he loved, and wrote some of the best poetry ever written about. I don't know for sure that Allen was thinking of this poem whilst writing Manhattan, but for me the connection enriches the scene.