IS WOODY ALLEN GUILTY?

It is a warm, spring day in 1973.  I was at the time a resident in pediatrics at Roosevelt Hospital, on 59th and 9th Avenue in New York City.  They worked interns and residents very hard back then; I rarely had time to venture out during a work day.  On this particular day, however, a clinic had been canceled, so I walked over to The Museum of Modern Art on 53rd near Fifth Avenue.   I had about fifteen minutes before I had to get back to the hospital.  I decided to spend it in the Sculpture Garden, since the day in question was one of the first warm days in spring.  While sitting at a garden table, staring at a sculpture by Rodin, I noticed that someone had just sat down at the table next to mine, only about three feet or so from me.  That person, as I looked closer, turned out to be Woody Allen.  He was casually dressed, and sat leaning a bit forward; he was looking down, lost in thought.  I respected Mr Allen's privacy and did not say a word to him.
I then noticed a woman at the back of the garden.  She had a big smile on her face and was shooing her reluctant son to go and speak to Mr. Allen.  The little boy, about eight, was hesitant and at one point decided to go back to his mother.  His mother gestured with her hands that her son proceed.  The dutiful son did as he was told.  I could hear everything.  "Are you Woody Allen?" he sheepishly asked.  Woody answered "Yes"--and did not say another word.  He did not even smile.  The child said, "Oh!" and returned to his triumphant mother.

Paris, about twenty years later.  My wife, son and I had just finished a busy day of touring.  I put on the TV.  There he was, Woody Allen with an indifferent expression on his face.  I understand French pretty well but couldn't believe what I had just heard.  A major scandal!  Woody Allen had run off with Mia Farrow's adopted daughter and was being accused of molesting a seven-year-old girl which they had adopted together!  This was French news, they have their standards, don't they?  Had they become as crazy as American grocery store tabloids?

Well, I heard correctly.  I later learned that, although it was true that Allen had had an affair with Soon Yi, the charges of child abuse had been dropped. There was no evidence.  That was that, for me.  I admired some of Allen's films, but I'm hardly a celebrity groupie and lost what little interest I had in this sordid tale.

Baltimore, twenty years later from that day in Paris, forty years later from that day in New York.  Woody Allen, a few weeks before, had received The Golden Globe Award for lifetime achievement.  In response, Dylan Farrow, who was allegedly abused by Allen, wrote an Open Letter to Woody Allen, printed in full on Nicholas Kristof's NY Times blog dated February 1, 2014.  (The respected journalist is a friend of the Farrow family and had been contacted by Dylan.) .  The letter portrays Allen as guilty of vicious, criminal behavior.  According to the letter, she remembers the abuse well.  Allen took her to the attic, made her lie on her stomach; she watched a toy train circle around and around, while he assaulted her.  He told her that this would be their secret, and, in return, he would let her act in his movies when she got older.  When she heard that her alleged abuser received an award twenty-one years later, "she curled up in a ball on her bed and cried hysterically."

Kristof weighed in in his column also dated February 1, 2104.   He objected to Hollywood's award to Allen--shouldn't someone who receives such an honor have an unimpeachable reputation, he opined.  He accused Allen of implying that Dylan is either lying or that she doesn't matter. Kristof writes, "When evidence is ambiguous, do we really need to leap to our feet and lionize an alleged monster?"  Mr. Kristof, a journalist whom I admire, who has done a lot to combat the abuse of women around the world, was clearly on the side of Dylan Farrow.

If this Dylan Farrow's allegations are  true, Allen is indeed a monster. But are they true? I decided to investigate.


2.

I have come to the conclusion that it highly unlikely that Woody Allen ever abused Dylan Farrow..  I will briefly give the reasons for this conclusion.

First, I assure you, I am not a Woody Allen supporter; he has made some great films, true, but that has nothing to do with my reasoning.  I certainly entertained the possibility of his guilt.  (If Woody Allen was guilty as charged, he should go to prison, no doubt about that.)

Even though I think he's innocent, I do not judge either Mia Farrow or her daughter.  (I think a quote from the winsome new pope applies here: Who am I to judge?)  Allen had an ongoing relationship with Mia Farrow.  Mia Farrow discovers nude pictures of her daughter, Soon Yi, that Allen had taken.  She learns that he has been having an affair with her.  Who could not understand her fury?  I can also understand that she might interpret the affair not only as a betrayal, but as child abuse.  If he abused one daughter, she might have thought, it is likely that he abused another.  That's how her suspicion about Dylan might have begun.  Allen sees it as pure malevolence, but Farrow certainly had reasons to be furious. Attraction to a seven year old and to a twenty year old, however, are not the same.

Some of the facts that indicate Allen's innocence are as follows:  (I assume them to be facts, they have not been challenged as far as I know.)

--Allen took a like detector test and passed.  Mia Farrow refused to take one

--Dr. Leventhal of the Yale-New Haven abuse unit thoroughly investigated the case and came to the conclusion that no abuse occurred.  He believed it was possibly the impressions of a disturbed child, or that the child had been coaxed.  He concluded that it was probably a combination of the two.

--Dylan Farrow indicated that she was assaulted while she lay on her stomach.  Examinations revealed that there was no injury to the genitalia or to the anal area.

--Mia Farrow had a motive; she apparently wanted to get even.  "He took my daughter, now I'll take his," she allegedly said.

--She taped Dylan's initial confession.  There was evidence that the recording was paused and then continued several times. "What did Daddy do" Mia asked.  This seems to indicate that Dylan was being directed to state what her mother wanted to hear.

--An adopted son, Moses, who was 15 at the time of the alleged abuse, has since come to the realization that nothing happened and accuses his mother of using him and several other of the children as  pawns in her battle with Allen.

--Woody Allen had never been accused of pedophilia before or after.  How many abusive priests have abused only one boy?  How many boys did Sandusky, the notorious Penn State coach,  abuse?  Usually, if one is a pedophile, there will be more than one incidence of depravity.

Dylan accuses Allen of taking her to the cramped attic of the house for the abuse.  Allen is a known claustrophobe.

--Allen and Soon Yi  have adopted two daughters.  They were vetted during the adoption process and no objections were found.

--Woody Allen has been in a stable marriage with Soon Yi for sixteen years.

What about Dylan Farrow's letter?   I am convinced she believes she's telling the truth.  Kristof's allegation that the alternatives are either she is either lying or that she doesn't matter is not valid, since the third possibility, that Dylan is convinced that something happened which didn't, is not included. .  He is implying that a powerful man has drowned out the confession of a vulnerable woman, suggesting that Allen is like the many abusers of women he has written about.  This is irresponsible journalism.  It is well known that some memories, while passionately believed, are not accurate.  This does not make the person in question a liar.  Let me give an example.

I remember being bathed in the sink.  I can see the side of the sink where I was sitting up.  I was sitting on a tin plate over which a dish rack is usually kept; in this case, I replaced the rack.  I was about eight months old.  I could sit, but could not walk.  I remember being picked up, placed under the tap and washed.  Then the image disappears.  It is a very vivid recollection.

It is also patently false.  You don't remember things that happened at such an early age.  I interpret this as a dream I had a few years later,  a dream so vivid that I became convinced that it actually occurred.  Although I believed this for a long time, I certainly wasn't lying.

Could this not have happened with Dylan?  The alleged abuse was accepted as fact, and insisted upon, by her mother and other family members.  The abuse became a central part of her existence; it is quite possible that she had had a vivid dream  and is now absolutely convinced that dream actually occurred . It would have been different if she had said these things when she was seven.  Remember, in her initial report to the authorities, she said that her dad touched her on the shoulder--it was a very inconsistent confession.

Remember the McMartin case ?  Mother and son owners of a day care were sent to jail for a long period for abuse that never occurred.

Abuse is heinous; all such reports should be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated..  Most, I would guess, are based on facts.  But some are not.

I don't judge Mia Farrow.  I don't judge Dylan Farrow.  I don't judge Woody Allen.  But I do judge Nicholas Kristof's column..  His suggestion that persons should not be honored solely on the basis of unfounded accusations of a crime, however heinous, is ludicrous.  (He cites "ambiguous evidence" for the reason Allen should not be "lionized" with an award--the evidence, however, is far from ambiguous.)  He well knows, or should know, that if there had been any real evidence of abuse, Allen's reputation would not have protected him.

Moral of the story: things aren't always what they seem.  Conclusions, especially regarding serious accusations,  should be made in accordance with the facts.

Enough is enough!  Like Mr. Allen, I will never write on this subject again. If I become aware of another episode of this American telenovela twenty years hence, making it a full sixty years since I sat next to Woody Allen in the MOMA sculpture garden, I assure you that I will not write a word, even in the unlikely event that I will still be breathing.