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Annie Hall (1977), as described by famed thumbed critic Roger Ebert, is mostly a movie about people talking in various locations and scenarios. Notable film critic David Bordwell has pointed out that the average take in Annie Hall lasts for 14.5 seconds, compared to the 1977 average of 3.5 seconds. The lengthier film take time allows the characters to develop rhythm and pacing on screen rather than just having the camera cut to each person when it is their time to speak. Check it out in this scene early in the film:

In a modern Hollywood studio film, the scene would begin with Alvy “Max” Singer (Woody Allen) and Rob (Tony Roberts) already in the foreground of the shot while the camera follows them walking, occasionally cutting to each character to say a bit of a line. (Then a bunch of transformers would break out and Alvy and Rob would find themselves caught in the middle of an ancient war between good and evil that’s been ongoing for thousands of years.) Here, the unique long take lets both conversation and pacing grow between the characters while adding a sense of realism to the scene (plus it omits the evil robots that Hollywood loves so much). Alvy and Rob are talking to each other and not to a cameraman or the audience. There is a lived-in quality to the shot that most pictures are not able to boast. Their relationship is fleshed out in a long discussion and the audience knows immediately where each character stands. The dialogue flows naturally and becomes even more important than the characters themselves.

The frequent long takes help to establish the anthology feel of the movie. Annie Hall is broken up into different snapshots of the relationship between the titular character and Alvy Singer, while also delving into Singer’s past, which can make the film feel like a collection of short stories. The long takes develop each character by having them play off one another more often and, as a result, gives the audience a larger connection to what they are viewing on screen. We care about the characters because they have been presented to us in their honest and genuine moments. This is possible because of the long take’s focus on dialogue and character development. A series of action/reaction shots take away the authenticity of these moments because the characters would be reacting to the audience and the camera instead of each other. The long takes keep the characters in focus as the audience becomes nothing more than a curious onlooker or voyeur in the proceedings.