A truly great director could make a great film of all this but he wouldn’t, Woody

There are two kinds of children, those who have been adopted by Mia Farrow and those who haven’t yet. Daily Mail, September 18, 2018:

Mia Farrow has raised 14 children over her lifetime, four biological and 10 that she adopted from around the world.

But it is her former partner who grabs the headlines. The Australian, March 10:

As far as memoirs go, it would be hard to find a more contentious chronicler than Woody Allen … The saga began last week when Grand Central Publishing … announced it would publish Allen’s memoir on April 7. The backlash was immediate, and the decision was reversed four days later following a staff protest.

That’s because he is odd. New York Magazine, September 19, 2018:

In January of 1992, when Allen and Farrow had been together for 12 years, Farrow found nude photos of (their adopted daughter) Soon-Yi, who was 21 at the time, in Allen’s house. When confronted by Farrow, Allen, then 57, said that he had sex with Soon-Yi for the first time two weeks before … Allen released a statement that he was “in love” with Soon-Yi.

He has even been accused of abusing one of Mia’s children, which he ­denies. The New York Times, Jan­uary 31, 2018:

Earlier this year, Mr Allen encountered fresh criticism … over alle­gations by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow that he molested her in 1992 when she was a child.

But Mia’s odd too. New York Post, Sunday:

Woody Allen sensationally paints Mia Farrow as a controlling and troubled mother who slept naked in bed with her “prized” son Ronan until he was 11 … and says that he still believes that Ronan … is his biological son, despite Farrow’s suggestion he could be the child of her ex-husband Frank Sinatra.

These are two awkward families. New York Post:

Allen described Mia’s family as “rife with extremely ominous behaviour that swelled in the years I knew her”. The star’s brother, John Charles ­Villiers-Farrow was sentenced to 10 years’ prison in 2013 for molesting boys.

The notorious custody battle. The New York Times, July 3, 2002:

In finding in favour of Ms Farrow, (judge Elliott Wilk) dryly noted Mr Allen did not know the names of his children’s friends or pets, nor which of the children slept in the same room.

At least Allen makes good films, right? The Atlantic, October 2017:

… Allen’s moviemaking technique (is) something more akin to an assembly line. From beginning to end, the ­enterprise is designed to maximise ­efficiency, all but inevitably at the cost of quality. Allen’s oft-quoted dictum that “80 per cent of success is showing up” seems to apply to almost every ­aspect of the endeavour.

Taste of Cinema reviews Allen’s Anything Else, 2003:

Allen recycles so many themes in this film, it’s like he took all of the bad and annoying plot points from others and stuck them together … there are few redeeming qualities about this one. It’s neither funny nor inspiring.

The Boston Globe, July 19, 2016:

Whether or not he’s the devil incarnate off screen I simply don’t feel I can say. But I can say this: He’s likely the most overrated film director working … I truly believe that in 50 years audiences will look at most of these ­movies and wonder what in hell we were thinking.