At 88, Woody Allen premiered his 50th film in just 13 theaters in the United States: the fall of an icon with a terrible reputation

Thirteen theaters across the United States will be screening this weekend Flukea lively French-language thriller about a bored Parisian wife who cheats on her rich, distant husband with an old high school classmate, leading to fatal consequences.

Without the opening credits and some characteristic elements (jazz soundtrack, rich atmosphere, themes of murder and luck, dry and cosmopolitan jokes), the average spectator could watch this film without knowing that it is the fiftieth film directed by Woody Allen.

The foreign language (which Allen does not master: his original screenplay was translated for the filming), the absence of the American stars who usually make up Allen’s cast, the discreet reception this milestone has received: everything suggests the discomfort surrounding this new release from a director as distinguished as he is controversial.

“We continue to do what we’ve been doing, and we’re happy that it’s coming out,” Letty Aronson, Allen’s sister and producer of his films since 1994, said in an interview.

He added it Fluke was financed in Europe, but he refused to reveal who supported the project.

The first accusations

To the 88 years old, Woody Allen has been in his career for more than half a century. He is a writer and director of influential classics such as Two strange lovers (1977) e Crimes and sins (1989). His career was already advanced, in a period that began with the 2005 film The provocationhas seen collaborations with stars such as Scarlett Johansson, Timothée Chalamet and Cate Blanchett, who won an Oscar for Blue jasmine (2013).

Midnight in Paristhe 2011 comedy earned him his fourth Oscar for original screenplay and grossed more than $150 million worldwide, a mega-hit by independent film standards.

But for many viewers, The affection for his films has been overshadowed by the controversial accusations against the director.

In 1992 his daughter Dylan Farrow, then 7, said Allen had done it he sexually abused her, months after starting a relationship with Soon-Yi Previn, the teenage daughter of Mia Farrow, his ex-partner and Dylan’s mother. Previn has currently been married to Woody Allen for 26 years.

Allen he was never prosecuted for these charges, despite investigations conducted at Yale-New Haven Hospital. The director denies abusing Dylan. He and his lawyers have suggested that Mia Farrow influenced her daughter.

The downfall of his reputation

For decades, neither Dylan Farrow’s accusation nor Allen and Pervin’s relationship hindered the director’s ability to make films. Between 1982 and 2017 there was no year in which a new feature film directed by Allen was not released.

His reputation remained largely intact until 2014, when an adult Dylan Farrow reiterated his accusation (which was published on a New York Times columnist’s blog) shortly after Allen received a lifetime achievement award at the Globes Gold.

“What’s your favorite Woody Allen movie?” Farrow wrote. “Before you answer, you should know: When I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me to a dark, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house. He told me to lie on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train. Then he sexually abused me.”

In the middle of the movement #Me too Three years later, Farrow published another essay asking, “Why did the #MeToo revolution save Woody Allen?” Many film critics have pointed to Allen as the quintessential example of the emerging question: How do we view the work and legacy of an important, even beloved artist accused of unforgivable acts?

Actors Timothée Chalamet and Rebecca Hall have announced that they will donate their salaries A rainy day in New York (2019) and other previous collaborators including Kate Winslet, Mira Sorvino, Colin Firth and Greta Gerwig have publicly expressed regret about working with Allen. (But others, like Diane Keaton, who acted Annie Salathey continued to defend him).

In 2018, Amazon terminated a multimillion-dollar movie deal with Allen, citing renewed attention to the allegations, and the following year he dropped out. A rainy day in New York.

It is not at all clear whether the public turned decisively against Allen or not. A rainy day in New Yorka romantic comedy starring Chalamet, Elle Fanning and Selena Gomez, with a different distributor, grossed nearly $25 million at the box office outside the U.S., where its footprint was much smaller.

His last premiere

Fluke (the original title is Coupe de Chance) premiered in September at the Venice Film Festival with a seven-minute standing ovation and protests outside. It opened months ago in France, Spain and a dozen other countries.

This Friday it will be shown in theaters in seven US states, including the Quad Cinema in Manhattan, Allen’s adopted neighborhood. It will be visible starting April 12th.

Allen’s fiftieth film may not even be his last. A new film, Aronson said, “is in the process of being negotiated.” He added: “Woody is working on a script. “Then we’ll see what happens.”