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How and Why Holly Got Pregnant - The definite and unabridged explanation

posted 19 years ago by atrius450
33 replies | jump to latest

I saw a few threads with numerous assumptions of the reason behind Holly's pregnancy. Well, here is mine, which was not mentioned in any of those threads. Just let me point out that even though I believe this is the correct one, the ending, as much as the whole movie, is multi-layered and can me interpreted in many, many ways.

Well, here it goes:

The movie is called Hannah and Her Sisters. Allen discussed religion in this movie and his choice of that name is not random at all. The reason behind this selection can be found in the first book of Shmuel, in which there's the story of Hannah, who is infertile and begs to god to give her, in return of her belief, a child. Finally, miracle happens and Hannah got pregnant. Her new-born is named Shmuel, and she decides to put him (from a young age) to work in the temple, and by that giving him back to god.

Now, you probably see the resemblance between the two stories, the Biblical one and Allen's. In his movie, Hannah and Mickey can't have any children. The problem is with Mickey, low sperm count that is. After some time they're getting divorced, and Mickey and Holly (Hannah's sister) are brought together, by Hannah. That doesn't work out and life goes on for the two of them. After some time they meet again, but this time it works - they fall in love, get married, Holly gets pregnant.

Between the two meetings Mickey went through a process - He thought he's dying, he tried to convert his religion (born a Jew), tried various religions, and finally gave up, deciding to enjoy his life as long as he lives it.

The relationship between Holly and Hannah is an interesting one and a pivotal point of this explanation: Hannah is a giving person. She likes to give, and doesn't ask much for return. All her life she gave everything her younger sister Holly asked for - usually money, but also support and some good advice. Despite that, Holly becomes vulnerable when talking with or just being near Hannah (The reason for that is for another topic). In conclusion, Hannah gives everything she has to Holly's slightest request, while not wanting anything in return but the one thing Holly doesn't give her - real love, without the slightest of envy.

Irony has a big part in this relationship: while Holly is a despertate bachelor, Hannah is married for the second time. Despite of that, Hannah's four children (!) are all adopted. Her current and second husband, Elliot (who's cheating on her with her sister, Lee), refuses to get her pregnant.

The solution to this quite complex situation is almost impossible, but it happens, and its a holy (aha! HOLLY, get it?) solution alright: Hannah gives Holly the only thing she didn't give her thus far, which is the only thing Hannah had and Holly didn't - a true love. That love brings her the only thing Hannah didn't have - a baby. The baby is brought to Holly by Mickey, but only after his affair with God and beliefs.

Biblical Hannah (we can call her that can't we?) wants a baby, as does Allen's Hannah. Biblical Hannah gets it, a miracle from God, and gives it back to God, as a token of appreciation and belief. Allen's Hannah wants a baby, and she gets it, a miracle from God, through her sister Holly. The pregnancy of Holly resembles two stages of the Biblical story - the pregnancy, ofcourse, and the giving of the child to god.

Mickey, who almost killed himself, needed an answer, an answer with certainty, to his questions. To get his belief back, his trust in God (does it exist or not?), or his trust in life (What does it mean?), he needed a definite answer. Hannah, a giving person, gave Holly the only thing Holly really wanted from Hannah - a baby. By that baby, this pregnancy, Mickey goes back to God, to life. The missing part in the two sisters relationship is put: Holly gets what she wanted, love and family, and I guess Hannah will get what she wanted - a trusting and truly loving sister.

The baby, well, they just might call him Shmuel.

and an extra comment: even thought I'm very pleased with my explanation, some might disagree. I'm not a religious person , but people might find my explanation too spiritual to their taste. With their disagreement taken into consideration, you just can't avoid the utterly definite resemblence between the biblical story and this. Your intrepration to this resemblence is as good as mine, but ignoring it would be missing a huge layer of this movie.

Hope you enjoyed this one, and are more than welcome to reply.

[–] natedaug-1 17 years ago

Wow, that is a great theory on the movie. That is really interesting and likely correct. It makes sense, because of all the talk about religion. That was really interesting atrius.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] zephyr-123 17 years ago

I think the OP theory is too involved and just thinking too much about the plotline and "hidden" meanings. It sounds like it's just their personal interpretation. I don't think there are a whole lot of hidden meanings or metaphors about the pregnancies or lack thereof. I also don't think Holly screwed around on Mickey. Sometimes doctors (especially with fertility issues) aren't always right. I've seen quite a few times in my lifetime woman being told by their doctors that they could never get pregnant and did when they gave up and stopped trying so hard (sometimes even after already adopting a child).

A doodle. I do doodle. You too! You do doodle too! --Willow(Buffytvs)

[–] iscbrooks 16 years ago

Sorry to bring up a closed thread, but having just seen it yesterday, I'm deeply unsettled by the ending. It seems clear to me that the pregnancy is the result of cheating. It's made clear earlier on that Woody can't have children; no room is left for doubt. Any exceptions in real life are irrelevant in the idealized world of a movie. As for a miracle, I have a hard time believing Woody intended to out a religious message in this film.
Holly might not know/remember that Woody is infertile; he had to ask if she "remembered him" when the met each other in the record store, and even then it was as an old date, not an ex-brother-in-law. The importance of her pregnancy, IMO, is his reaction - he knows she cheated on him, but accepts this anyway and kisses her. This is in keeping with his "forget the big questions, just enjoy life" epiphany. It also matches Eliot's choice to remain with Hannah.

[–] everlone_2000 15 years ago

Holly might not know/remember that Woody is infertile; he had to ask if she "remembered him" when the met each other in the record store, and even then it was as an old date, not an ex-brother-in-law.

They've been married for a year by the end of the film. Do you think maybe they've learnt a little more about each other in that time? Given that he already had one marriage fall apart with the shock revelation that he was unlikely to have kids, surely he would have told Holly before they got married. Anything else would make him a cruel, coldhearted monster.

It's made clear earlier on that Woody can't have children; no room is left for doubt.

We're given quite a bit of information about the nature of his infertility. We're told he's infertile because he has a low sperm count. Anyone with a basic grasp of biology knows that this means that the chances of him getting someone pregnant are very slim. So the information we're given in this scene does tell us that the nature of his infertility is such that the chances of him getting someone pregnant are very, very small, but we do know there is a chance.

[–] bookscatsetc 15 years ago

I think the OP theory is too involved and just thinking too much about the plotline and "hidden" meanings. It sounds like it's just their personal interpretation. I don't think there are a whole lot of hidden meanings or metaphors about the pregnancies or lack thereof. I also don't think Holly screwed around on Mickey. Sometimes doctors (especially with fertility issues) aren't always right. I've seen quite a few times in my lifetime woman being told by their doctors that they could never get pregnant and did when they gave up and stopped trying so hard (sometimes even after already adopting a child).

There are some factual errors in the OP that make me wonder how long ago they saw this movie -- for instance, that Hannah had 4 adopted children, rather than the 2 invitro-conceived children the movie showed us.

I agree that there's no reason to suspect infidelity on Holly's part for the pregnancy, as common as it is for doctors to be wrong with a "can't possibly have kids" diagnosis. My mother had a friend who ovulated so rarely and erratically that she was told she'd never conceive, and she eventually had 2 kids. She had them 11 years apart, but she had them.

I think this is one of Allen's sweetest, most upbeat movies, affirming the "resiliancy of the heart" despite all obstacles and ending with a minor, commonplace "miracle". Nothing more than that.

[–] paleolith 15 years ago

Very interesting commentary, though I think the main reason she got pregnant is that it was such a good response to Mickey's preceding line, "how you gonna top that?".

Several people have said it, but it's worth repeating: Mickey's diagnosis was not a "absolutely cannot get her pregnant", even if the doctor presented it that way. Many pregnancies have arisen despite low sperm counts. Low is not none, and the level isn't always uniformly low.

Edward

[–] fidelio1980 14 years ago

I definitely agree that Woody Allen's had no intention of leading the audience the audience to the conclusion that Holly must have had an affair. The happy ending of this movie was a change from the originally planned ending, which was much more of a downer. (I know that version ended with Michael Caine's character unhappy, because he waited too long to approach Lee and he missed his chance, and he still feels unfulfilled with Hannah. I don't know how the Mickey storyline ended in that version.)

Since Woody Allen's intention was to make the ending more upbeat, it hardly makes sense for him to end it with a revelation that Holly cheated on Mickey, and she's now pregnant with another man's child.

[–] generalusgrant 14 years ago

The original thesis expressed by the original poster is dead wrong. Allen himself has said so in an interview with Der Spiegel, a German magazine, from 2009. He said Mickey was being cheated on when his wife got pregnant, he knew it, and didn't want to upset a family gathering by getting upset about it. He knew HE was not the father, obviously. He added he thought of the ending while playing his clarinet in NYC because the studio was pushing him for a more "punchy" ending.

So Allen himself knows what his intent was in this scene.

In addition, Allen is completely anti-religious. The OP is obviously religious and putting their spin on the movie, which has nothing to do with that the movie was actually about.

[–] matt2h 11 years ago

I agree with Don and Isc. Although open to interpretation, I took the final line to imply the possibility that Holly had cheated on him, as it is made clear earlier in the film that Mickey CANNOT have children. The ambiguousness may key on Allen's themes of both the religious "Do you believe in miracles?" sort and the theme of people changing throughout their lives and everyone being in love with someone else. I took it as a final, cliffhanging, shocking laugh line.