September (1987)

The past has a way of lingering in the places we call home, and sometimes the only way forward is to finally let it go. Woody Allen's "September," a Chekhovian chamber drama, unfolds over a single weekend at a Vermont country house as summer draws to a close. Lane (Mia Farrow), fragile and recovering from a breakdown, plans to sell the house and start over. Her friend Stephanie (Dianne Wiest) is staying with her, and Lane has fallen for Peter (Sam Waterston), a struggling writer renting the guest house - who is secretly drawn to Stephanie. Meanwhile, their lonely neighbor Howard (Denholm Elliott) quietly loves Lane. Then Lane's flamboyant mother, Diane (Elaine Stritch), a former movie star, arrives with her physicist husband (Jack Warden), stirring up an old family scandal that threatens to reopen painful wounds. You'll feel the weight of every unspoken word.