We’ve had the title, the two-line synopsis, and the first photo – the usual drip-feed method with which the world becomes acquainted with a new Woody Allen film. But now – ta-da! – the trailer for Irrational Man has arrived, and there’s a substantial amount of flesh on the bones. What will the combination of Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and existential philosophy bring into being?
Well, to all intents and purposes, it looks as if Irrational Man is in familiar “serious” Woody Allen territory. Phoenix plays a “very radical, very original” philosophy professor who says things like: “I can’t write, I can’t breathe, I couldn’t remember the reason for living.” Stone, as we know, is the female half of one of those dubious older-man-younger-woman relationships that Allen cannot seem to stop depicting; she says stuff like: “You suffer from despair.” (Phoenix’s zingy comeback: “How comforting that would be!”)
However, the trailer gets pretty interesting in the second half. Prof Phoenix appears to undergo a radical transformation, an uplift in mood – accompanied by “caveman” sex (presumably with the Parker Posey character, who seems like an ex-wife or former girlfriend) and chamber-spinning gun fun. Now, could there be something a little Crimes and Misdemeanors going on here? There has been talk that Irrational Man contains a murder-mystery element, but if so, it isn’t on display here. There is, however, definitely something reminiscent of the portentous killing at the heart of C&M; the one that delivers to Martin Landau’s Judah Rosenthal the knowledge that there is no such thing as an ordered universe. Could this be “the meaningful act” prof Phoenix says he “was searching for”?
Well, Allen has flattered to deceive before, and the results have sometimes been awful. But I’ve got a good feeling about this one.
