Stardust Memories (1980) Blu-ray

Often cited by Woody Allen as one of the films of which he s proudest, Stardust Memories is both a homage to Federico Fellini s 8½ and what many people assumed (although Allen denied) was a much closer-to-home portrait of a great comic filmmaker fearing creative burnout.

Sandy Bates (Allen) is not only tired of being funny, he may even be teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown. At a retrospective of his films, in between toe-curlingly stupid questions from his audiences, he s forced to confront not only the meaning of his work but also past and present relationships with Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling), Daisy (Jessica Harper) and Isobel (Marie-Christine Barrault). Plagued by hallucinations, alien visitations and philistine studio executives trying to change his bleak new film into something more conventionally crowd-pleasing, Sandy struggles to find a reason to go on living.

This howl of rage against the price of fame and the pressures of creative expectations is one of Allen s most complex and challenging films and one that richly rewards repeated viewing.