Ted and Billy, the Allegro from Vivaldi’s Concerto for Mandolin, Strings,
and Continuo creates a degree of detachment, suggesting that these char-
acters will not self-destruct. Also, when the Vivaldi piece is suddenly per-
formed by two street musicians onscreen (playing mandolin and guitar),
Benton seems to be refusing the bathos of tragic realism and suggesting
that it’s only a movie. A wonderful thematic use of music occurs later in
the film when Billy, after long separation, runs to his mother in Central
Park, and the light Allegro from the film’s opening returns. The suggestion
here is that, yes, Billy might be happy, but why not happy with his
mother? This nonverbal plot suggestion turns out to be a fascinating red
herring. The final resolution occurs without music, but then, in another
masterful touch, the solemn Rondeau Minuet from Purcell’s The Gordian
Knot Untied, a more serious and formal piece than we have heard so far,
appears over the end credits. It reminds us of Joanna’s pain, and also sug-
gests that despite the resolution of Ted’s problem, his life and all our lives
will be tinged with sorrow.
Kramer vs. Kramer is self-consciously small and focused. No other char-
acters, no other issues intervene in the story of Ted, Joanna, Billy, and Mar-
garet. Margaret’s divorce adds a bit of counterpoint to the main story, but
we never meet her ex-husband and her kids appear only briefly (in the
playground scene a baby sits on Margaret’s lap, and her older child is
nearby). Ted’s work problems are significant but nevertheless secondary to
the family drama. Small is beautiful—nothing matters except the solvable
issue of child custody. Though this emphasis seems to work psychologically
and artistically, one wonders if shutting out all the other issues of the
decade is itself a response to Vietnam, Watergate, and the other cultural
traumas of the era. Kramer vs. Kramer is a film about small choices and
reduced spheres of consciousness.
Woody Allen’s Manhattan is, like Kramer vs. Kramer, a film about a small
group of characters set in New York City. Isaac Davis (Allen), a successful
television writer, is having an affair with Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), a
seventeen-year-old high school student. Isaac’s best friend, Yale (Michael
Murphy), is married to Emily (Anne Byrne), but he is falling in love with
Mary (Diane Keaton). Yale stops seeing Mary to protect his marriage, and
Isaac leaves Tracy for Mary, but eventually Mary goes back to Yale, who
then leaves his wife. Isaac then pleads his case with Tracy. In a small but
interesting subplot, Isaac’s ex-wife, Jill (Meryl Streep), is now raising their
son with her female lover and has written a memoir about Isaac’s failings.
1
In contrast to Kramer vs. Kramer, which is all about the fracturing of the
nuclear family, Manhattan shows Isaac accepting the breakup of his family—
1979 — MOVIES AND THE END OF AN ERA 235