To describe only one scene, the voiced-over flashback of the Dorrie character (Rampling) reading the newspaper while listening to Louis Armstrong on a calm Sunday morning is possibly the best that this minimalistic style of shot will ever get. Allen used a single, close minute-long shot of the partner looking back at him to illustrate the sweet spot of a relationship, in which a pair is seeing in each other mainly things that they like. That's the point for which the serious are always angling, and the point the romantically frivolous can never reach. Which one Allen is - that's left up to the viewer. Possibly he considers himself less than romantically serious, but fantastically lucky to have gotten to this moment.
Review of Stardust Memories
