You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)

Plot of You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger: This is family affair. Alfie Shepridge and his wife of 40 years divorce and he takes up with a call girl and marries her.  His former wife Helena, who the divorce has left well off consults a fortune teller who makes her see that life could be OK. Their daughter Sally is an assistant to Greg Clemente advising his on art purchases, and wishing to open her own gallery with a loan from her mum. Her husband Roy is a novelist whose second novel is not hitting the spot, but who accidentally becomes the custodian of a friend’s novel after his is apparently killed in a car accident. He also takes up with a lady of Indian heritage, causing her to cancel her intended wedding much to the distress of her parents. Also he and Sally move towards divorce and she begins to have feelings for her boss with whom she goes to a jewellers to help him buy earrings for his wife – apparently. However when she meets with an artist, Iris, favoured by Greg she sees that Iris is wearing the earrings. And there is disappointment to come for everybody except Helena who puts her faith in the fortune teller.

Content: There is no nudity but a bit of grappling fully clothed, and a couple of flashes of ladies in their underwear. Also quite a bit of social drinking but no drunkenness. The couples feature throughout. Alfie and Charmaine and she being a bit sexy with her trainer in the gym. Sally and Roy in conversation and then Roy getting close to Dia who he first sees playing a guitar in an adjacent apartment. He also meets his friends and learns that Henry, whose manuscript he has stolen is actually recovering from being in a coma rather than being dead. Sally interacts with Greg and the artist Iris. Helena spends time with Crystal the fortune teller, and begins a romance with Jonathan, a bookseller, and also refuses to lend her daughter money because Crystal has said that the stars do not favour it at the moment.

A View: This is one of several films made by Woody Allen in London, although it does not seem to make the best of the city. The closest we get to the glamour of the place is Alfie’s flat which has a view of the Albert Bridge. Like all Allen’s films there is a degree of whimsy, but he’s not in it and even his character is missing. In the end I was slightly irritated, although I can’t say exactly why. You’d have to watch it to find out. I have watched a lot of Woody Allen films both in the cinema and on line and I would put this outing fairly low in my hit list.

Fun Fact: I notice that this was Theo James’s first cinematic outing and that The Monkey in which he stars has been the latest.