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"Melinda and Melinda" starts with four friends arguing over dinner if life is in its essence comic or tragic. One of them begins telling a story and two of the friends shape it in a comedy and in a
drama respectively. The movie is therefore half comedy, half drama.
The
movie seems to ask: is it possible to tell the same
story in both tragic and funny ways? And then, is it possible for any real life
event to be interpreted both as funny and sad?
“Melinda
and Melinda” seems intent upon answering “yes”. If you pay attention, you can
see how thorough Woody was in matching the two stories. The details,
circumstances and dialogues are indeed the same in both versions of the story. There
is only one small difference in the stories: Melinda, the main character, is
not the same.
“Tragic
Melinda” reacts and interprets everything around her in a much different way
than “comic Melinda”. Even though all the other details match, they
are two different people. “Tragic Melinda” even looks for more drama in
her life. Certain aspects of her life are indeed out of her control, but others
do seem to be her own doing like over-drinking, smoking, self medicating,
dumping the stable guy for a bohemian and so on. “Comic Melinda”
doesn’t make such risky choices.
In
the end, it is not so much a difference in genre or in the situations
themselves. There would be no intrinsically tragic or comic situation, but it
is all about the characters.
Aristotle’s
definition of comedy and tragedy makes perfect sense here. Comedy portrays
characters as worse than they really are, so we can actually laugh at their expense. Tragedy
has noble characters portrayed as better than in real life, so we take pity on their fall.
Notice the
choice of actors: Will Ferrell, Steve Carrell and Amanda Peet appear in the
comic version, Chloe Sevigny in the tragic version.
But
in the scenes with the four friends, our expectations are subverted. Ironically,
the drama director is more easy-going and laughs in funerals, and the comedy
producer is the closest to nihilism and a lack of belief in life (just like
Woody Allen himself seems to be).
Since
it is all a matter of characters, the question is which version you prefer. I
prefer the tragic story, despite my general dislike for the actress’
performance. I tend to have sympathy for tragic characters and a bigger
interest in their stories.
Plus,
at least in “Melinda and Melinda” the tragic dialogues and situations ring true
to everybody, they are universal, while the funny bits and jokes depend much
more on personal taste. An example: in a very sad scene towards the end of “tragic
Melinda’s” story, her friend says on the phone: “Let’s face it. Melinda
is one of those people who will always need help.” (I got goose bumps just by
typing that.)
The
comic parts are much more subjective. For starters, all Will Ferrell’s lines
come out of Woody Allen’s mouth and not from the character’s. The problem is that Woody Allen can play Woody Allen but Will Ferrell can’t. The scene
where they are playing basketball and he says he didn’t change podiatrists not
even when his podiatrist operated on the wrong foot is extremely funny - because of the joke
not the way he delivers it. It would come out naturally from Woody but not from
Ferrell. By the way, this strangeness happens throughout the movie in the
literary references that the characters use in a dialogue. It’s hard to imagine Ferrell quoting
Chekhov on a French bistro.
Going
back to the question the movie poses, it’s not really a matter of looking at
situations and asking if they are intrinsically sad or funny. It’s much more of a
matter of which Melinda you are.
Which
story did you prefer – tragic or funny? What about the actors' performances,
specially Ferrell's and Radha Mitchell's?
