Film4 Summer Screen at Somerset House

Sunday 1 August

A rapturous love letter to New York from its most famous fan, Woody Allen. This wise and witty comedy brings you romance, heartbreak and fireworks in luminous black-and-white - a perfectly orchestrated city symphony

The film

Stars: Woody Allen, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton
Director: Woody Allen

Woody Allen plays a hopeless - but somehow serially successful - romantic who is coping with divorce from his waspish wife Jill (Meryl Streep), while being torn between two lovers, one the innocent and adoring teenager Tracy (Mariel Hemingway) - and the other, Mary (Diane Keaton), the sometime lover of his best pal Yale (Michael Murphy).

The theme, as in so many Allen movies, is the impermanence of everything, chiefly life and love, but more importantly the film is an extended love letter to Woody's home town. In the famous opening sequence, accompanied by Isaac's stuttering tribute and the strains of Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue', the New York cityscape is captured by cinematographer Gordon Willis (renowned for, among other things, his work on the Godfather films) in a stunning black-and-white montage and has rarely looked so good. Arguably Woody Allen's greatest film.

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The screening

Manhattan screens on Sunday 1 August at Somerset House, the UK's largest outdoor cinema. Somerset House is a spectacular neo-classical building in the heart of London, sitting between the Strand and the River Thames. Doors open 18.30, DJs from 19.30 and films start at 21.15. You are welcome to bring your own rugs, blankets and cushions to sit on (sorry no chairs, or portable furniture - inflatable or otherwise). Rugs will also be available to buy.

To purchase tickets to Film4 Summer Screen at Somerset House, click here
To view the list of films screening at Film4 Summer Screen 2010, click here