The Woody-Mia Wilderness of Mirrors

Here we go again… in the never-ending psychodrama of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, we will now have a four-part HBO documentary series this month by filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering. This duo has been exploring the sexual exploitation of women for years now — in fact, I edited the companion book to their powerful 2015 documentary about abuse on campus (The Hunting Ground). I haven’t yet seen the Dick-Ziering dissection of Allen, who was accused of molesting 7-year-old Dylan, Mia’s and Woody’s adopted daughter when they were a couple. But based on news reports, it seems the HBO documentary, Allen v. Farrow, is weighted heavily in favor of Mia, who — along with Dylan and Ronan Farrow — have succeeded in purging the celebrated filmmaker from polite society and cost him book and movie deals.

Woody Allen, his wife Soon-Yi and his adopted son Moses Farrow — a family psychologist who has painted a very dark portrait of life in Mia’s home, especially for her adopted Asian children — declined to cooperate with Dick and Ziering. So none of their of them were interviewed for the HBO series.

Without their cooperation, I wonder how fair and balanced that Allen v. Farrow will be. We know how obsessive that Mia, Ronan and Dylan have been in their own anti-Woody hunting ground. (And, btw, can we stop repeating — as the New York Times’s Nicole Sperling does today — the obviously unlikely claim that Allen “sired” Ronan? Based on his looks, the young crusading reporter — whose #MeToo zeal has been questioned by a much better Times reporter, media columnist Ben Smith — was probably “sired” by Mia’s ex, Frank Sinatra, to whom she briefly returned during her relationship with Allen.)

Here’s the deeper point. Woody Allen was cleared of child molesting charges by two separate investigations — the Yale Child Sexual Abuse Clinic and the NYPD. He was also closely scrutinized and cleared to adopt two infant girls with his wife Soon-Yi — who have since grown up and apparently regard their father with great love and respect. Child molesters are typically driven to repeat their crimes. No such charges, besides Dylan’s (who was under Mia’s strong influence), have ever been leveled at Allen.

Perhaps Woody Allen is as deeply sinister and conniving as Mia Farrow and her offspring want us to believe. But so far there has been no compelling evidence of this. Nonetheless, his career and reputation have been severely damaged — undoubtedly for years to come. In his recent, compelling memoir — which had to be published by small, independent Skyhorse Books after Ronan Farrow pressured Hachette to cancel Allen’s contract — the filmmaker claimed he doesn’t care anymore about being blacklisted.

But we — the thinking public, the readers of books and fans of movies — must care. When people with the overflowing talent of Woody Allen are canceled from our culture — on no legal basis — then we all suffer. I don’t want to live in a society whose artists are fearful and cowed. I respect the work of Dick and Ziering, but they should not have the final word on this case. How many investigations must a man endure before he’s declared free of sin? Before we’re allowed to see his work?