New York Stories

1989 film by Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese

New York Stories is a 1989 American anthology film consisting of three segments with the central theme being New York City. The first is Life Lessons, directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Richard Price and starring Nick Nolte. The second is Life Without Zoë, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and written by Coppola with his daughter, Sofia Coppola. The last is Oedipus Wrecks, directed, written by and starring Woody Allen. In foreign theatrical releases, the order of the three films was altered, Coppola's being first, followed by Allen's, and finishing with Scorsese's. This movie also marks the film debuts of Adrien Brody and Kirsten Dunst. The film was screened out of competition at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.

Lionel Dobie is an acclaimed abstract artist who finds himself unable to paint during the days before a scheduled gallery exhibition of his new work. Paulette is Lionel's 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. Paulette dates other people, including a performance artist and a painter. These deliberate provocations on Paulette's part make Lionel insanely jealous—and fuel his creativity. Lionel and Paulette, it becomes clear, have been using each other: Lionel using her sexually, Paulette using him as a means of entry into the higher spheres of the New York social and art scene. Paulette wants to give up and go home to her parents but Lionel persuades her to stay because New York is where a painter needs to be. 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. Lionel realizes that he needs the emotional turmoil of his destructive relationships in order to fuel his art. At the art exhibit, Lionel meets another attractive young woman, a struggling painter. He persuades her to become his assistant and potentially his lover, beginning the cycle anew.

Zöe is a 12 year old schoolgirl who lives in a luxury hotel. She helps return to an Arab princess a valuable piece of jewelry that the princess had given to Zöe's father and had been subsequently stolen and recovered. Zöe tries to reconcile her divorced mother, a photographer, and father, a flautist.

New York lawyer Sheldon Mills has problems with his overly critical mother Sadie Millstein. Sheldon complains constantly to his therapist about her, wishing aloud that she would just disappear. Sheldon takes his shiksa fiancée, Lisa, to meet his mother, who immediately embarrasses him. The three, as well as Lisa's children from a previous marriage, go to a magic show. His mother is invited on stage to be a part of the magician's act. She is put inside a box that has swords stuck through it and she disappears, just as she is supposed to, but then she never reappears. Although he is furious at first, this development turns out to be great for Sheldon because, with her out of his life, he can finally relax. But soon, to his horror, his mother reappears in the sky over New York City. She begins to annoy Sheldon and Lisa (with the whole city now watching) by constantly talking to strangers about his most embarrassing moments. This puts a strain on his relationship with Lisa, who leaves him. Sheldon is persuaded by his psychiatrist to see a psychic, Treva, to try to get his mother back to reality. Treva's experiments fail, but Sheldon falls for her. When he introduces Treva to his mother, she approves and comes back to Earth.

New York Stories opened on March 10, 1989, earning $432,337 in 12 theaters over its opening weekend. The film went on to gross $10,763,469 domestically playing in 514 theaters.

New York Stories holds a 75% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 24 reviews. Hal Hinson, writing in The Washington Post felt that Coppola's segment was "by far the director's worst work yet." Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun Times gave the film two and a half stars, saying "New York Stories consists of three films, one good, one bad, one disappointing." He further explained, "Of the three films, the only really successful one is Life Lessons, the Scorsese story of a middle age painter and his young, discontented girlfriend. The Coppola, an updated version of the story of Eloise, the little girl who lived in the Plaza Hotel, is surprisingly thin and unfocused. And the Allen, about a 50 year old man still dominated by his mother, starts well but then takes a wrong turn about halfway through." Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote The first segment is the best; then comes a sagging second part, during which hope is a thing with ilutieiing feathers; then hope is rewarded—the third part picks up smartly, if not to the level of the first