usually when woody borrow an idea from bergman he make that idea his own and and turn it into something that clever yet funny and entertain . it be definitely not the case here . this look like a woody allen parody and make by an unskilled director and totally unrealistic since x love y who love z who love a and who in turn love x to make the circle complete . we have a bunch of clichés throw in among which the poor little daughter who live her whole life in the mother shadow be already brilliantly analyze on screen by bergman autumn sonata ( with ingrid bergman not this crazy old hag with artistic claim ) . the actor be for the most part quite ok and but what the use of that . this be a gimmick meant for the soap opera admirer . the postmodern and intertextual stuff that work incredibly well in movie such a love and death and deconstructing harry and hannah and her sister etc . completely fail here make the character appear like frustrated moron too intelligent to be clever . in the end nothing happens and we find ourselves after an hour and a half of murky bore at an abrupt end that take u nowhere . the music be the only thing that save this movie from a total disaster and art tatum work good anywhere and but again and what the use . boring cinematography and all dark and uninspired and too claustrophobic and i really do not care it what they intend . check nykvist cinematography in the aforementioned autumn sonata and or the same nykvist in woody crime and misdemenaors .