When Eve, an interior designer, is deserted by her husband of many years, Arthur, the emotionally glacial relationships of the three grown-up daughters are laid bare. Twisted by jealousy, insecurity and resentment, Renata, a successful writer; Joey, a woman crippled by indecision; and Flyn, a budding actress; struggle to communicate for the sake of their shattered mother. But when their father unexpectedly falls for another woman, his decision to remarry sets in motion a terrible twist of fate…
Ratings
Curator score: 6.4/10
IMDb: 7.3/10
Letterboxd: 3.75/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 78%
Metacritic: 67
TMDB: 6.8/10
Director
Woody Allen
Production
United Artists
Cast
Geraldine Page, Kristin Griffith, Mary Beth Hurt, Richard Jordan, Diane Keaton, E.G. Marshall, Maureen Stapleton, Sam Waterston, Missy Hope, Kerry Duffy, Nancy Collins, Penny Gaston, Roger Morden, Henderson Forsythe
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A severe, exquisitely controlled family drama that trades comedy for emotional excavation. Its chilly surfaces, precise performances, and Bergman-inflected mood make it a standout for viewers who like austere, psychologically acute cinema.
Best for
fans of intimate family dramas
viewers who like bleak, elegant 1970s art cinema
people interested in performance-driven chamber pieces
audiences drawn to emotional repression and domestic fracture
Skip if
you want warmth, humor, or plot momentum
you dislike emotionally cold or mannered dramas
you prefer broad, accessible family stories
you have little patience for ambiguity and restraint
Overview
Interiors is one of the boldest left turns in 1970s American cinema: a comic filmmaker stripping away wit and exposing a family system built on silence, resentment, and control. The result is severe but never sloppy, with every room, pause, and line reading designed to feel emotionally loaded. It is less interested in explanation than in the damage people do when they cannot speak plainly to one another.
Worth noting
The film’s biggest strength is its discipline. The performances are precise and often devastating, especially in scenes where grief and competition curdle into something almost unbearable. Gordon Willis’s cinematography gives the film a wintry, sculpted beauty that turns domestic spaces into psychological traps.
Bottom line
This is not an easy watch, and it is not meant to be. But if you respond to Bergman-like chamber dramas, elegant misery, and films that trust mood over catharsis, Interiors is a rich and haunting experience.
Top Letterboxd reviews
russman (3.5★) · 439 likes
What a lie. There were like 4 outdoor scenes
Sam (4★) · 247 likes
Allen’s so-called “attempt” at a dramatic feature isn’t just an attempt, it’s an entire success. Each character, scene and line of dialogue is just so raw and intimate, reaching a level of the darkest depths that few films explore. The depressing nature of such a family and their allegations, relationships and status is an incredibly demanding and damaging task from such a comedic director, yet it’s worthy of all the praise.
Geraldine Page absolutely ATE in that church scene, too. Wow.
Kylo (4.5★) · 173 likes
“I feel the real need to express something, but I don’t know what it is I want to express, or how to express it.”
Happy to say the interiors were sublime. I’ve definitely been depressed in worse aesthetics! Annoyed it took me so long to watch this—it was brilliant.
Will Sloan · 128 likes
He set out to be the American Bergman. He became the American Fassbinder.