For a while, I was sort of annoyed by Marion's tendency to narrate the events of her own life in such an on-the-nose manner. Then it hit me that OF COURSE Marion (Gena Rowlands, masterful) would do that- she's the sort of person who would want to neatly package all of her actions with a minimum of emotional fuss, just to "set the record straight," if only to herself. Once I got over that hump, the movie as a whole got pretty heartbreaking, being the story of a woman who deludes herself that everything's fine because her sense of balance depends on it. The packaging and available synopses for this make it sound like the "another woman" of the title is Mia Farrow, who Marion eavesdrops on while she visits her psychiatrist. But it's really Marion herself, the true Marion who stays hidden from the world behind the impeccable clothes and just-so lifestyle. And if that seems like something of a facile theme for a movie, Allen's writing is so finely wrought that he finds real truth in it, and does so in a way that's subtle yet highly satisfying.
