Farrows vs. Woody Allen

Mia and Ronan Farrow's comments trashing Woody Allen and accusing him of molesting his adopted daughter Dylan have been consistent over the years. I have never had any idea what to think about all that. Allen's behavior with respect to his quasi- but not legal stepdaughter Soon-Yi Previn is a matter of record, so he can be criticized readily on that score (although one notes, they are still married and by all accounts, have been happily together for more than 20 years). The rest of it is very muddy. It is interesting that Mia now admits that Ronan might actually be her ex Frank Sinatra's son, which I take to be an admission that in fact he IS. Ronan looks amazingly like a young Sinatra, and nothing at all like Allen.

If I'm Ronan Farrow, an extraordinarily ambitious young man, I might give it a rest before I'm primarily thought of as the guy who always disses his "dad" on Twitter.

Although Woody Allen isn't, even on the best construction, any gift to morality, I have also tended to look askance at Mia Farrow's "collecting" of children - four biological, 11 adopted. It seems excessive, as if she were the subject of a "hoarding" show on A&E or something. She adopted six (six!) of those children between 1992 and 1995, precisely the period of her personal and legal battles with Allen. Children as comfort food?

It is also interesting that Farrow's losing Allen to Soon-Yi Previn mirrors Dory Previn's losing her husband Andre to Farrow circa 1970, a subject about which Dory wrote a song, "Beware of Young Girls." What goes around comes around?

The humor website Cracked really lets Mia have it - not for the easily offended, or anyone who credits the Dylan Farrow accusations:

http://www.cracked.com/funny-1262-mia-farrow/

After making several mediocre films, Farrow went on a hunger strike to bring attention to herself and human rights problems in Darfur. The hunger strike didn't really work out and why should it? She weighs no more than a few pounds. Mia Farrow going on a hunger strike is like Kirstie Alley entering a Hot Dog Eating Contest. Wow, such sacrifice!

POSTSCRIPT: You can tell that I'm a bit of a Woodyologist. I never bought the idea of a post-Eighties Allen career swoon. He has continued to make great films, good films, and near-misses in about the same proportions as ever.

Mia did most of her best acting under Allen's direction. I think her two best non-Allen films are Rosemary's Baby (of course) and Joseph Losey's majestically nutty Secret Ceremony, co-starring with Elizabeth Taylor. (A film that Camille Paglia goes into raptures over, and I completely understand why.)

You know what's a great book? Eric Lax's Conversations with Woody Allen. Extremely thoughtful and fascinating from the first page to the last.