Woody Allen’s 1978 movie Interiors – his first serious drama – opens with shots of interiors of homes, just sparse, empty rooms.

A woman we soon come to know as Joey (Mary Beth Hurt, 1948- ) appears and walks over to window. She stands, silently, peering out.

Then, a woman named Renata (Diane Keaton, 1946- ) appears on screen. She, too, looks out a window. She raises her hand to gingerly touch the glass. It’s a pretentious gesture that is hard for me to accept coming from Keaton, who I had just seen as Annie, a ditzy actress, in Annie Hall.

Then, a man we later learn is named Arthur (E.G. Marshall, 1914–1998) is seen from behind. He’s wearing a suit and he’s looking out a window in a high-rise office building. He’s speaking.

The overall effect of all of these images and scenes is one of loneliness, alienation.

Then, a man we later learn is named Mike (Sam Waterston, 1940- ) appears on screen. He’s sitting, alone, at a kitchen table speaking into a tape recording, saying something about Marxist-Leninist ideologies. We later discover he is married to Joey.

A woman named Eve (Geraldine Page, 1924-1987), whom we later learn is an interior designer married to Arthur, rings the doorbell, interrupting Mike. She enters the apartment and they talk. Eve seems pushy and judgmental.

Eventually, another woman whom we later learn is named, Flyn (Kristin Griffith, 1953- ), shows up.

The movie is about three sisters (Joey, Renata, and Flyn) as they struggle with the sudden divorce of their parents, which Arthur springs on everyone – including Eve – one night over dinner.

A depressed Eve attempts suicide, which sets everyone on edge. They begin arguing more often.Their remarks are cutting and hurtful.

Things get more intense when Arthur brings Pearl (Maureen Stapleton, 1925-2006), a woman he has started dating, to a family dinner party. Afterwards, Arthur, Joey, and Renata, argue. The last thing we hear is Arthur saying, “It’s time you thought of of me!”

That’s the second time someone asks that others think of himself. Earlier in the movie, nearly that same phrase was shouted in an argument between Frederick (Richard Jordan, 1937-1993) and his wife Renata. I don’t remember who shouted it.

This movie also features many of Woody’s familiar themes: quirky and/or depressed people in psychoanalysis, relationships, death, love, jazz music, using drugs or alcohol to cope with the weight of life, etc.

I prefer Woody’s comedies. His dramas are too biting, intense, dark. If I wanted that, I’d simply listen to the neighbors fight. Or pick up a newspaper.

By the way, Interiors is aptly named because everyone in this movie is empty inside. In other words, their “interiors” are as empty as the opening shots of the rooms. Every person lacks something to make him/her whole – and seeks it in something, or someone, else. The irony is Eve, the interior designer, is the emptiest of all.

Subtle, Woody isn’t.