Woody Allen remains a controversial director. As a practitioner of film comedy he has progressed from the slapstick of "Take the Money and Run" to the sophisticated Freudian oneliners and existential pratfalls of "Manhatten" and "Annie Hall". This book discusses his life and work.

Woody Allen remains a controversial director. As a practitioner of film comedy he has progressed from the slapstick of "Take the Money and Run" and "Bananas" to the sophisticated Freudian to oneliners and existential pratfalls of "Manhatten" and "Annie Hall". Meanwhile, Allen's own screen persona has entered the folklore of the movies as Chaplin's tramp or Groucho Marx's cigar-toting know-it-all. More recently however, the director's work has shifted in tone if not in content, exploring the pains and complexities of contemporary urban life in dramas such as "Crimes and Misdemeanours" and "Husbands and Wives". Woody Allen discusses his motivation, his inspiration and the anxieties of the artist in the modern world.