Crimes and Misdemeanors, the 1989 film directed by Woody Allen, is a
heartbreaking, chilling and cynical look at a group of intersecting individuals
within New York City. The film follows Judah Rosenthal an ophthalmologist who
is torn after murdering his mistress Dolores Paley, and Cliff Stern, a documentary film maker trapped in a loveless marriage. Stern pines
after Halley Reed, a producer, while sabotaging a documentary based on the
successful T.V producer Lester who also happens to be his brother-in-law. The film
manages to pervert and contradict the messages within the novel Crime and
Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. These messages include the central
existentialist point of bad faith and contextualizing it in a rapidly
progressing capitalist and materialistic America lead by Ronald Reagan. This
essay will look at bad faith exhibited through the characters of Judah
Rosenthal, Dolores Paley, and Cliff Stern. The bad faith riddled throughout
this film heavily pertains towards bad judgement and non-traditional moral
ethics. Additionally, we will explore how bad faith is presented through Judah's
persistent sense of guilt and his conversations with a Rabbi who is a patient that is going blind and fictional bantering with his deceased family . Cliff's bad faith musings comes through his younger niece, and the
Professor Louis Levy a brilliant philosopher who is the subject of his
documentary. Crimes and Misdemeanors subjects the audience to Woody
Allen's view of bad faith, that God is a moral burden we put on ourselves. While
Crime and Punishment echoes the
central theme that moral salvation and redemption could be found
within God, Crimes and Misdemeanors approaches the theme from the opposite direction. Moral
integrity and faith no longer can come from the message of God but rather
material wealth, social status, and brevity. The individuals who pursue their
own selfish actions and dismiss a religious rhetoric or a traditional moral
philosophical view of life prosper. But those who cling on fate and religious
beliefs are blinded or left wearing glasses, unaware and unable to see this
rapidly changing world.
