Zelig

This is a film about America of the 1920s -1930s , which tells about an unusual Jew by the name of Zelig, who can transform into people with whom he communicates. With blacks, he becomes an African-American, at a republican party he gives speeches that the assembled society approves of, and with psychiatrists he is able to keep up the conversation on professional topics without betraying his amateurishness.

The film, which is considered to be one of the best paintings by Woody Allen, was shot in the music genre and is one of the most interesting experiments in this direction ^[1] .

Such famous people as Susan Sontag , Saul Bellow , Irving Howe , Bruno Bettelheim , Ada "Bricktop" Smith , John Morton Blum ( John Morton Blum ) are involved in the film as "experts" . Allen wanted to call Greta Garbo , but he failed.

The filmmakers used a number of techniques to create the impression of the realism of the whole story. So, in the tape used footage of old newsreels with famous characters of the 1920s and 30s: Charlie Chaplin , Charles Lindberg , Alphonse Capone , William Hearst , Marion Davis , Josephine Baker , Fanny Bryce , Adolf Hitler , Joseph Goebbels , German Germany , German Heer , Fanny Bryce , Adolf Hitler , Joseph Goebbels , German Germany , German Heer , Fanny Bryce , Adolf Hitler , Joseph Goebbels , German Germany , Germany Heerbeer , Fanny Bryce , Adolf Hitler , Joseph Goebbels , German Germany , Germany Heerbeer , Fanny Bryce , Adolf Hitler , Joseph Goebbels , German Heer , Germ Heerber , Jimmy Walker , Lou Gehrig , Babe Ruth , Bobby Jones and others. Authentic music from the 1920s was used; In addition, composer Dick Hyman ( Dick Hyman ) wrote a few songs about the chameleon "in the old style." Cameraman Gordon Willis used old lenses, movie cameras, sound and lighting accompaniment. Moreover, he trampled on the tape with his feet to age it.

Shooting the film took 12 weeks, but after that another year took the process of studio processing and editing ^[1] . While Allen was preparing this film, he managed to work on two more - “A Sexy Midsummer Night Comedy” and “ Broadway Danny Rose ”.

Personality changes that occur with Zelig during his adaptations, in which his vocabulary and deep habits change, are characteristic of people suffering from dissociative identity disorder (for example, one person of such a person may be right-handed and the second left-handed ) ^[2] .

In 2007, Italian psychiatrists led by Giovanni Conchilia discovered a rare violation of brain activity, whose victims behave in the same way as the title character of this film (from a psychological but not physical point of view). They proposed to call this violation "Zelig syndrome." This effect is used, by the way, in the fifth series of the fourth season (or the 75th series from the beginning) of the well-known television series Doctor House .

• Woody Allen - Leonard Zelig, the human "chameleon"
• Mia Farrow - Eudora Fletcher, Psychoanalyst
• Patrick Horgan - narrator
• Mary Louise Wilson - Sister Ruth
• Saul Lomita - Martin Geist
• Richard Litte - Charles Koslow
• John Rothman - Paul Degu
• Stephanie Farrow - Meryl Fletcher
• John Bacoulter - Dr. Sindell
• Paul Nevens - Dr. Birsky
• Gail Hansen
• Deborah Rush

• 1983 - Pasinetti Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival (Woody Allen)
• 1984 - Two Oscar nominations : Best Cinematography (Gordon Willis) and Best Costumes (Santo Lokasto)
• 1984 - Saturn Award nomination for Best Director (Woody Allen)
• 1984 - 5 nominations for the BAFTA Award : Best Original Screenplay (Woody Allen), Best Cinematography (Gordon Willis), Best Editing (Susan Morse), Best Make-Up (Fern Buckner, John Calone), Best Visual Effects (Gordon Willis, Joel Heineck , Stuart Robertson, Richard Greenberg)
• 1984 - two nominations for the Golden Globe Award: best film - comedy or musical, best actor in a comedy or musical (Woody Allen)
• 1984 - Bodil Award (Denmark) for Best Non-European Film (Woody Allen)
• 1984 - “ David di Donatello ” award to the best foreign actor (Woody Allen)
• 1984 - nomination for the Writers Guild of USA Prize for Best Original Comedy (Woody Allen)

• Zelig (English) on the Internet Movie Database  
• Zelig (eng.) On the site allmovie