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New York Stories
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Woody Allen Francis Ford Coppola Martin Scorsese
Produced by	Barbara De Fina Fred Fuchs Robert Greenhut Charles H. Joffe Jack Rollins Fred Roos
Written by	Woody Allen Francis Ford Coppola Sofia Coppola Richard Price
Starring	Woody Allen Mae Questel Mia Farrow Heather McComb Talia Shire Giancarlo Giannini Don Novello Julie Kavner Nick Nolte Rosanna Arquette Steve Buscemi Jesse Borrego
Music by	Kid Creole Carmine Coppola
Cinematography	Sven Nykvist Vittorio Storaro Néstor Almendros
Editing by	Susan E. Morse Barry Malkin Thelma Schoonmaker
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures American Zoetrope (Life without Zoe segment)
Release date(s)	March 10, 1989
Running time	124 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15,000,000

New York Stories is an anthology film which was released in the United States in March of 1989. The film consists of three shorts with the central theme being New York City. The first short is Life Lessons, directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Richard Price. The second is Life Without Zoë, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and written by Coppola and his daughter, Sofia. The last segment is Oedipus Wrecks, directed and written by Woody Allen. One actor, Paul Herman, has a bit part in each segment.

The reviews were generally positive for Life Lessons and Oedipus Wrecks, but generally negative for Life Without Zoë. ^[1] Hal Hinson of The Washington Post wrote that Coppola's segment was "by far the director's worst work yet." ^[2]

The film was screened out of competition at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.^[3] This was the film debut of actress Kirsten Dunst.

Plot

Life Lessons

In Life Lessons, written by Richard Price, and very loosely based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's short novel The Gambler, Nick Nolte plays Lionel Dobie, an acclaimed abstract painter who is unable to paint before a major gallery exhibition of his new work, and Rosanna Arquette is Paulette, his apprentice/assistant and former lover. Lionel is still infatuated with her, but Paulette wants only his tutelage, which makes things difficult since they live in the same studio-loft. While Lionel procrastinates, unable to complete the paintings that are scheduled for an upcoming solo exhibition of his, Paulette dates other people, including a performance artist (Steve Buscemi) and a painter (Jesse Borrego).

These deliberate provocations on Paulette's part make Lionel insanely jealous — and fuel his creativity. Both Lionel and Paulette, it becomes clear, have been using each other: Lionel using her sexually, Paulette using him as a means of entry to the higher spheres of the New York social and art scene. But now that their relationship is no longer sexual, Paulette wants to leave the mess that has become her life and move back in with her parents. Lionel, however, persuades her to stay because New York is where a painter needs to be, even though it is unclear whether Paulette is even a particularly good painter. Throughout this turmoil in their relationship, Lionel pours his anxiety and repressed passion into his work. Paintings around the studio show visual metaphors from relations past: stormy skies, burning bridges, and tormented clowns. There are several Pagliacci references if one looks closely. Lionel, although a lion in the art world, becomes a clown in the eyes of the women in his life. Eventually, Paulette leaves when she has had enough, but not before Lionel is on his way to completing all the paintings he needs for his exhibit.

As he is completing the final piece, Lionel suddenly realizes that he needs the emotional turmoil of his destructive relationships in order to fuel his art; without the one, he can't produce the other. In the last scene, while at the art exhibit, Lionel meets another attractive young woman, who is a struggling painter. By the end of the gallery opening, he has persuaded her to become his assistant, and potentially his lover, beginning the cycle anew.

Life Without Zoë

Life Without Zoë is about Zoë (Heather McComb), a young heiress who helps return to an Arab princess a valuable piece of jewelry that she had given to Zoë's father (Giancarlo Giannini) and had been subsequently stolen and recovered. At the same time she tries to reunite her divorced mother, a photographer (Talia Shire), and father, a flute soloist. The short also includes Adrien Brody in his first film role.

Oedipus Wrecks

Oedipus Wrecks is about New York lawyer Sheldon (Allen), who has problems with his overly critical Jewish mother (Mae Questel). Sheldon complains constantly to his therapist about her, eventually concluding he wished she would just disappear. He takes his fiancé, Lisa (Mia Farrow), to meet his mother and she disapproves. The three of them, as well as Lisa's children from a previous marriage, try to get to know each other better by going to a magic show. At the magic show, his mother is invited to be a part of the act. She is put in a box that has swords stuck through it and she disappears like she is supposed to, but then she never reappears. This turns out to be great for Sheldon because, with her out of his life, he can finally relax. But soon his mother reappears in the sky over New York City.

She annoys Sheldon and Lisa by constantly talking to strangers about embarrassing moments. This puts a strain on his relationship with Lisa and she separates from him. Sheldon is persuaded by his psychiatrist to see a psychic, Treva (Julie Kavner), to try to get his mother back to reality. Treva's experiments don't work, but Sheldon falls for her because she is very similar to his mother (see Oedipus complex). When he introduces Treva to his mother, she finally approves of his girlfriend and decides to come back to Earth.

Oedipus Wrecks is the debut of Kirsten Dunst in a bit part, and features Larry David as the club owner who explains to Allen that his mother is missing. It also features both Mae Questel and Julie Kavner.

References

External links

• New York Stories at the Internet Movie Database
• Vincent Canby review