Allen v. Farrow

Ultimately, it’s an intriguing docuseries that will interest those invested in the case to reexamine it through the lens of four compelling, often uncomfortable episodes.

HBO’s powerful four-part series “Allen v. Farrow,” from investigative filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, is a comprehensive, convincing and ultimately devastating documentary that threatens to burn what’s left of his career and legacy to the ground.

Despite what some future headlines about this docuseries might say, there is nothing particularly explosive about "Allen v. Farrow," so much as profoundly humanizing.

The new four-part documentary series Allen v. Farrow makes a thoroughly convincing argument that Allen indeed molested his 7-year-old daughter, Dylan Farrow, that fateful day in their Connecticut home.

While it's not the most avant-guard of pieces, that straightforward approach helps elevate the wealth of first-hand materials included, some of which proves genuinely haunting.

Here’s a documentary about a writer-director who’s already been cast aside, showing both how he overcame it once and even more rigorously arguing why he, and others like him, can’t be allowed to do it again. In short, it works. After this documentary, no one should want to hear from Allen for a very, very long time.

Seen as a family quilt sewn with cherished home movies and old photos, placed next to recently filmed shots of Farrow sequestered at the family's Connecticut retreat, the series is a devastating tragedy. ... A few production aspects of "Allen v. Farrow" are questionable. ... But you can't deny the reality of the adult Dylan Farrow's uncontrollable shuddering at the memory of her abuse.

Allen v. Farrow is a fascinating deep dive into a case that has been all over the news media for almost 30 years now, even if it’s admittedly a one-sided account.

Extensive access to the Farrows makes this an intimate look at that history, while renewing questions about separating art from the artist and Hollywood's embrace of problematic figures.

“Allen v. Farrow” is often most compelling when it focuses on the specificities of the testimony it has elicited — something HBO’s Michael Jackson documentary “Leaving Neverland” also did with chilling results. ... The segments featuring critics talking about Allen’s professional obsession with young women in sexual relationships with older men raise more questions than they answer. ... But these are cavils about what is a compassionate portrait of a woman, once a girl, who we only thought we knew.

The breadth of what the series tackles makes it much more compelling and thought-provoking than it would have been as a strict rehash of the Farrow-Allen split. On that more basic level, the doc does a solid job of recontextualizing our understanding of the details surrounding that breakup, as well as Dylan’s relationship with Allen.

What “Allen v. Farrow” does most effectively is illustrate how what happened – or didn’t happen – can make us examine our own preconceived notions. As with the HBO documentary, “Leaving Neverland,” which explored allegations of sexual abuse leveled against the late Michael Jackson, “Allen v Farrow” makes you think about who you believe, what you believe, and why.

Even as a critic, it feels impossible to consider this series as a piece of art. It’s journalism, because it goes to great lengths to place much-obscured facts at the forefront of a story that has long been told through the lens of P.R. spin.

What makes Allen v. Farrow all the more devastating is that it isn't packed with explosive revelations — it just puts all the evidence together and lays it at our feet. At times the series meanders and would have benefitted from a tighter edit.

Much of “Allen v. Farrow” serves as an extensive refresher course of a stunning series of events that played out in very public fashion. ... Dylan comes across as someone who is still feeling the after-effects of her childhood trauma and always will — but refuses to let that define her. She’s warm and smart and brave and strong, and we feel such hope for her to have a lovely and complete life with her family.

Bloated or streamlined, unbalanced or “She said, he said,” and even with a “Let culture off the hook” equivocated ending, “Allen v. Farrow” still manages to do what Connecticut and New York justice didn’t. The provable lies we hear Allen tell, the evidence that we either never heard or don’t remember reading about, leave no doubt.

Even within its limitations of scope, “Allen v. Farrow” is compellingly argued.