Allen v. Farrow on HBO: Hearing Dylan Farrow

Perhaps you are wondering, is there anything more to say about this decades-old very public scandal? To recap, Woody Allen’s adult daughter Dylan has accused him of molestation when she was seven. Even in his most recent 2020 memoir, Apropos of Nothing, Allen proclaims innocence, affirmed in the courts and in a lie detector test. Allen writes that the charges against him were instigated by Mia Farrow, a woman scorned as Allen dumped her and married her daughter Soon-Yi, adopted with her husband Andre Previn. On the Allen side, many believe him. Yes, that story is now revived in a riveting 4-part documentary, Allen v. Farrow, to air on HBO. The filmmakers, Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, with Amy Herdy, contend that key voices were not heard, mainly Dylan’s. To agree with them, the assertion that the abused must be heard alone makes this documentary a compelling, must-see testament. In this era of reckoning: by revisiting allegations of abuse, the film shines a light on the psychological damage, the fragility of parenting, the processes of healing, and the tiresome nature of celebrity scandal--even if, especially if, you come away with the central issue of the abuse unresolved.

The filmmakers have done their homework interviewing family friends such as Carly Simon, family members such as Mia Farrow and her sons Ronan Farrow and Fletcher Farrow, and the chief prosecutor Frank Maco, who made a decision when Dylan was seven, vital to her gnawing need to have her say. Film critics weigh in on some of Allen’s classics and his obsession with young women. Has he been grooming his audiences to garner acceptance of December/May relationships? He and Soon-Yi declined invitations to participate, yet his voice can be heard in audio excerpts from his memoir, and taped phone conversations where he is clearly lying to Mia after she discovered nude Polaroids he took of teenaged Soon-Yi when they were secretly dating. Seen as a doting mother --to this day still loving Soon-Yi, she says, Mia is understandably crushed and protective of her children.

The film does not look good for Woody, who in his memoir shows a different side of Mia’s mothering skills, especially in her nurturing their son Satchel, renamed Ronan, encouraging the thought that he might in fact have been spawned by Sinatra. It makes no consequence of the lie detector test she refused to take, or the fate of other family members.

Timing is everything, as we know. The players in this saga move on with their lives and careers. Dylan finally gets what she needs to heal. What a relief to see her in a happy marriage, a mother, resolved with Mia, and with Frank Maco. Owning these events as a grownup, she has expressed herself not only in the film but in the media, Hollywood actresses like Natalie Portman and Reese Witherspoon stand by her, and many abuse victims have shared their stories with her. The pandemic year is flanked by these opposing accounts, Woody Allen’s memoir and this Farrow-centric HBO film, in a never-ending trial in the court of public opinion.