I wouldn’t normally pick up a Hollywood film star’s autobiography, but despite appearing in one of the most feted films of all time as the titular Annie Hall, Diane Keaton’s isn’t your average starry memoir released just in time for Christmas. In fact, there are parts of the book where she almost seems embarrassed of her profession, blushing through the page as she admits that she and Warren Beatty once had a thing, and barely paying lip service to her involvement in Allen’s films apart from Annie Hall. As a massive fan of Father Of The Bride 1 and 2 and Baby Boom (highbrow to the max), I was sad that she didn’t go into detail about them! But it’s understandable why she doesn’t – in entirely non-self-pitying fashion, Keaton is open about the lack of success in her later years, the failure of certain projects, and puts her role as an actress secondary to that as her role as the daughter of Dorothy Hall, whose lifelong-kept diaries are included throughout to provide a counter-point of view to Diane’s. If these often ring sad or raw for the reader, it’s important to remember that that’s entirely secondary to the effect they have on her daughter, whose own recollections are equally frank – revealing that she suffered from bulimia, for example. To a certain extent, it almost doesn’t matter that Then Again was written by a famous film star – it’s fascinating as a look at the art of keeping a journal (particularly as someone who’s never kept one), and the contrast of Dorothy and Diane’s parts allows mother and daughter to exist on their own terms, not remembered through the other’s filter. The use of Dorothy’s diaries is particularly moving given that she succumbs to Alzheimers in later life, with her final hours recounted by Diane in detail that’s horrifying and heartbreaking, but told with trademark dignity.

Tags: Diane Keaton, Then Again