Diane Keaton, the ethereally self-aware comedy genius, has left us devastated. She was more than America's sweetheart; she was a sophisticated, sweet-natured, and unaffectedly sensual woman with whom America was unrequitedly in love. Her millpond calm face, its beauty and gentleness, became even more heart-stopping when she laughed or cried.
In the golden age of the American New Wave in the 1970s, Keaton was at the centre of great comedy and tragedy. As Kay in Coppola's The Godfather (1972), she was the aghast witness to mob toxicity, and later revealed the awful truth about her miscarriage to Michael Corleone. But it was as a comic performer that she became most known, starring opposite Woody Allen in films like Sleeper, Play It Again Sam, Love and Death, Manhattan, and most gloriously in Annie Hall (1977), for which she won an Oscar.
Keaton's performance in Annie Hall transcended the 'manic pixie dream girl' trope. Her elegant, bohemian single woman possessed a heedless eccentricity, sweetness, and vulnerability that went far beyond 'kooky' or 'ditsy'. The chaotic live lobster scene remains sublimely romantic and funny. She also excelled in straight roles, as in Love and Death, where her line 'Sex without love is an empty experience' set up Allen's immortal retort.
Keaton also took on serious roles, such as in Looking for Mr Goodbar (1977), where she played a schoolteacher exploring casual sexuality, a through-the-looking-glass Annie Hall. In Reds (1981), she starred as feminist activist Louise Bryant alongside Warren Beatty. Later films like Shoot the Moon (1982) saw her go head-to-head with Albert Finney in a powerful performance.
As the decades passed, directors struggled to capture Keaton's distrait style. Yet she continued to perform in Allen movies like Manhattan Murder Mystery and in lesser films. Her legacy as a comedy genius and dramatic actor of astonishing singularity remains unmatched.
