Stardust Memories

Stardust Memories is a 1980 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper and Marie-Christine Barrault. Sharon Stone has a brief role, in her film debut. The film is about a filmmaker who recalls his life and his loves - the inspirations for his films - while attending a retrospective of his work. The film is shot in black and white and is reminiscent of Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963), which it parodies. Stardust Memories was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy written directly for screen, but was not warmly received by critics on its original release, and is not among the most renowned works in Allen's filmography. The film has nonetheless been re-evaluated to some extent, with modern reception more often positive than negative. Allen, who denies that the work is autobiographical and has expressed regret that audiences interpreted it as such, even considers it to be one of his finest, alongside The Purple Rose of Cairo and Match Point. Plot Sandy Bates is a director of comedy films. His latest film ends with a surreal sequence in which a character (played by Bates) is trapped on a train carriage surrounded by grotesque and unhappy figures. The character looks out the carriage window and sees another train filled with beautiful and happy people. Convinced he is on the wrong train, he tries unsuccessfully to get off the train before it speeds away. In the next scene, all the characters from the train wander aimlessly through an immense garbage dump. Bates’ character sees that the passengers from the other train have also ended up at the dump. Studio executives, having watched Bates’ film, complain that it is uncommercial and depressing. When this is conveyed to Bates, he insists that he no longer wants to make shallow comedy films, as this no longer feels honest to him. Bates' managers remind him that he is scheduled to appear at a weekend-long retrospective of his films at the Stardust Hotel on the Jersey Shore. He is reluctant but agrees to attend. Through the weekend, Bates is haunted by memories of Dorrie, a former lover with mental illness issues. He recalls his first meeting with Dorrie on the set of one of his films, the blossoming of their relationship, and its later deterioration through a combination of her insecurities and his philandering.