Hannah and Her Sisters

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Woody Allen directs. Carlo Di Palma behind the camera. Susan E. Morse cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Made its money back 6.3× over at the box office.
• 240 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 3Directed by Woody Allen, shot by Carlo Di Palma. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Editor Susan E. Morse shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Mia Farrow and Barbara Hershey and Dianne Wiest carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "A story between two Thanksgivings.".
• 7IMDB entry: tt0091167 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Classified under 19 themes, including "new york city", "opera", "writing", "artist".
• 9Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Carlo Di Palma

Editing

Susan E. Morse

Production design

Stuart Wurtzel

Costume design

Jeffrey Kurland

Makeup / hair

Romaine Greene

Sound

Lee Dichter

Runtime

107 min · 1h 47m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$6,400,000

Box office

$40,084,041

Return

626% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG-13

IMDB

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) ↗

Also by

Woody Allen

• 
  Annie Hall

  1977 · ★ 7.7
• 
  Manhattan

  1979 · ★ 7.7
• 
  Midnight in Paris

  2011 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Crimes and Misdemeanors

  1989 · ★ 7.4
• 
  Zelig

  1983 · ★ 7.4
• 
  Love and Death

  1975 · ★ 7.4

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2025-05-30
  ★ 7/10

  “Hannah” (Mia Farrow) is ostensibly the luckier of the three daughters of an erstwhile actress who has a penchant for the bottle and deludes herself into thinking she is still a bit of a boy-magnet! It’s lucky for the family that she is there for her other sisters “Holly” (Dianne Wiest) and “Lee” (Barbara Hershey) don’t have their own problems to seek. The whole thing now plays out like a top-notch radio play with emotionally internecine personas played out to the full as the neuroses thrive, the stereotypes wrestle each other for prominence and poor old Michael Caine finds his “Elliot” - married to “Hannah” - character constantly scratching his head when he isn’t ducking it. Sister “Holly” is a bit of a loose cannon. An under-employed actress who thinks she would be better off catering instead. Just to make matters worse, she hooks up with “Mickey” (Woody Allen). Now here’s a fruit loop if ever you’ve seen one. He used to be married to “Hannah” but now lives day to day convinced that each one is going to be his last! Moreover, his (Jewish) faith has long since gone the way of the dodo, so what will happen to him afterwards? Meantime, “Lee” is sitting waiting to be discovered. A blank canvas of a woman who has no idea what she wants; whom she wants nor where she’s going and on whom “Elliot” is developing one hell of a crush. With all the ingredients of some intellectual slap-stick and a really quite striking cast, this manages to stay the right side of cringeworthy as it develops into an engagingly characterful and frequently quite witty maelstrom that borders, at times, on farce but that never quite takes that route. Caine is a good comedy actor and his laconic style works well as his relationships are put under a spotlight that extends to us questioning which, if any, of these folks could ever be lived with! Sure, there are certain identifiable threads that run through all of Allen’s works, and they are here too - but having assembled a cast that is able to deliver effortlessly and naturally like this allows this film to come across more distinctly than some of his other works. It’s also holding it’s value well. The story and it’s characters have lost little of their punch over the last forty years and this is proof positive that letting a story breathe can work wonders with a good cast. Now I have to go and watch “Jaws: The Revenge” which kept Caine away from the Oscars.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Orion Pictures

  US

• JA

  Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions

  US

Key crew

• Executive ProducerJack Rollins
• Costume DesignJeffrey Kurland
• EditorSusan E. Morse
• Executive ProducerCharles H. Joffe
• ProducerRobert Greenhut
• Set DecorationCarol Joffe
• Production DesignStuart Wurtzel
• CastingJuliet Taylor
• Sound RecordistTod A. Maitland
• Set DresserDave Weinman
• Second Assistant CameraBob Paone
• Location ScoutDana Robin
• Location ScoutBarbara Heller
• Production CoordinatorHelen Robin
• Assistant CameraDouglas C. Hart
• Location ScoutOra Ramat
• Second Assistant DirectorKen Ornstein
• Script SupervisorKay Chapin
• Camera OperatorDick Mingalone
• Assistant EditorRichard Nord
• Production Sound MixerLes Lazarowitz
• Location ScoutNicholas Bernstein
• First Assistant DirectorThomas A. Reilly
• Boom OperatorLinda Murphy

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• new york city
• opera
• writing
• artist
• thanksgiving
• hypochondriac
• dysfunctional family
• langham
• television producer
• architecture
• singing
• writer
• relationship
• love affair
• art
• extramarital affair
• fear of dying
• sisters
• three sisters

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere1986-01-25· U.S. Film Festival
• Theatrical (limited)1986-02-07PG-13
• Theatrical1986-03-14PG-13

Also known as

International titles

• Hannah e le sue sorelleIT
• Hannah och hennes systrarSE
• Hannah og hendes søstreDK
• Hannah e suas IrmãsBR
• Hannah et ses soeursFR
• Hanna y sus hermanasES
• 姊妹情深HK
• 한나와 그 자매들KR
• 한나와 그자매들KR
• Hannah və BacılarıAZ