Annie Hall Scene 9 Summary

  • It's Easter at the Hall house. The whole gang's gathered around the table for a delicious ham: Annie's parents; her younger brother, Duane; and even the infamous Grammy Hall, who eyes Alvy suspiciously and then, in one shot, pictures him as a Hassidic Jew.
  • When Annie's mom talks to Alvy, Alvy replies directly to the camera, placing the audience in the mother's position across the table. She doesn't get Alvy's humor.
  • In the middle of the meal, Alvy turns away from the table and confides in the audience directly. He basically says Annie's family is healthy-looking and super boring—in other words, nothing like his family.
  • Then, in a split screen, we see Annie's very tame family alongside Alvy's boisterous brood as they were when Alvy was a kid. Alvy's family is so overbearing that they take up 75% of the screen.
  • Then they cross the streams: Annie's mom asks Alvy's mom—across the split screen and across time—what the Singers are doing for the holidays. (Spoiler alert: They're fasting.)
  • Post-ham, Alvy comes across Annie's brother Duane in his room. Duane tells Alvy that sometimes when he's driving at night, he has an impulse to drive right into oncoming traffic.
  • Yikes. Alvy's understandably creeped out and tells Duane he has to go because he's "due back on the planet Earth."
  • Cut to Duane giving Annie and Alvy a lift to the airport. In the car. At night. Alvy looks terrified.