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Numerous great actresses have appeared in rom-coms. Usually, should they desire to win an Oscar, they must turn for weightier characters. The late Diane Keaton, who passed away recently, took an opposite path and pulled it off with effortless grace. Her initial breakout part was in The Godfather, as dramatic an cinematic masterpiece as ever produced. Yet in the same year, she revisited the character of Linda, the focus of an awkward lead’s admiration, in a cinematic take of the theatrical production Play It Again, Sam. She continued to alternate serious dramas with funny love stories across the seventies, and the lighter fare that secured her the Oscar for outstanding actress, changing the genre permanently.

The Oscar-Winning Role

That Oscar was for Annie Hall, co-written and directed by Allen, with Keaton portraying Annie, part of the film’s broken romance. Woody and Diane dated previously before making the film, and continued as pals for the rest of her life; when speaking publicly, Keaton had characterized Annie as a perfect image of herself, from Allen’s perspective. One could assume, then, to think her acting involves doing what came naturally. Yet her breadth in Keaton’s work, contrasting her dramatic part and her funny films with Allen and inside Annie Hall alone, to dismiss her facility with rom-coms as simply turning on the charm – although she remained, of course, highly charismatic.

A Transition in Style

Annie Hall notably acted as Allen’s transition between slapstick-oriented movies and a authentic manner. As such, it has lots of humor, imaginative scenes, and a loose collage of a love story recollection alongside sharp observations into a fated love affair. Likewise, Keaton, presides over a transition in U.S. romantic comedies, embodying neither the screwball-era speed-talker or the bombshell ditz famous from the ’50s. Rather, she blends and combines elements from each to invent a novel style that seems current today, halting her assertiveness with uncertain moments.

Observe, for instance the scene where Annie and Alvy Singer first connect after a tennis game, awkwardly exchanging proposals for a ride (despite the fact that only one of them has a car). The exchange is rapid, but zig-zags around unpredictably, with Keaton maneuvering through her unease before ending up stuck of her whimsical line, a phrase that encapsulates her quirky unease. The movie physicalizes that tone in the next scene, as she makes blasé small talk while operating the car carelessly through Manhattan streets. Afterward, she composes herself performing the song in a cabaret.

Complexity and Freedom

This is not evidence of Annie acting erratic. Throughout the movie, there’s a depth to her playful craziness – her post-hippie openness to experiment with substances, her panic over lobsters and spiders, her unwillingness to be shaped by Alvy’s efforts to shape her into someone outwardly grave (for him, that implies focused on dying). At first, Annie could appear like an strange pick to receive acclaim; she’s the romantic lead in a film told from a male perspective, and the central couple’s arc fails to result in sufficient transformation to suit each other. However, she transforms, in manners visible and hidden. She merely avoids becoming a more suitable partner for the male lead. Numerous follow-up films borrowed the surface traits – nervous habits, odd clothing – not fully copying Annie’s ultimate independence.

Lasting Influence and Later Roles

Possibly she grew hesitant of that trend. Post her professional partnership with Allen ended, she took a break from rom-coms; Baby Boom is practically her single outing from the whole decade of the eighties. However, in her hiatus, the character Annie, the character perhaps moreso than the unconventional story, served as a blueprint for the genre. Actress Meg Ryan, for example, credits much of her love story success to Diane’s talent to play smart and flibbertigibbet simultaneously. This cast Keaton as like a timeless love story icon while she was in fact portraying matrimonial parts (be it joyfully, as in Father of the Bride, or less so, as in The First Wives Club) and/or parental figures (see that Christmas movie or that mother-daughter story) than independent ladies in love. Even in her reunion with the director, they’re a seasoned spouses brought closer together by comic amateur sleuthing – and she slips into that role easily, beautifully.

However, Keaton also enjoyed another major rom-com hit in two thousand three with the film Something’s Gotta Give, as a playwright in love with a younger-dating cad (actor Jack Nicholson, naturally). The result? One more Oscar recognition, and a complete niche of love stories where older women (usually played by movie stars, but still!) reassert their romantic and/or social agency. One factor her death seems like such a shock is that Diane continued creating such films just last year, a frequent big-screen star. Today viewers must shift from assuming her availability to realizing what an enormous influence she was on the romantic comedy as it is recognized. If it’s harder to think of modern equivalents of those earlier stars who walk in her shoes, that’s probably because it’s rare for a performer of Keaton’s skill to commit herself to a style that’s often just online content for a recent period.

A Special Contribution

Reflect: there are ten active actresses who received at least four best actress nominations. It’s unusual for a single part to start in a light love story, not to mention multiple, as was the case for Keaton. {Because her