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Until I was 11 years old, I thought Annie Hall<\/a> was a close personal friend of my father. He would talk about her constantly, quoting things she said, and telling me that I should meet her \u2014 at least that\u2019s what I thought he meant. I eventually realized that our introduction would be through a television screen.<\/p>\n When my dad decided the time was right, he sat me down in front of the TV, and said, \u201cOkay, you\u2019re going to watch this with me? We\u2019re renting it for $3.99.\u201d \u201cThis is Annie Hall<\/em>?\u201d I asked, stunned. \u201cShe\u2019s a movie??\u201d<\/p>\n More from SheKnows<\/strong><\/p>\n Annie Hall<\/em> was a staple of my childhood, a lifelong connection that I have to my father, even before I could remotely understand the film. It meant something deep and personal to my dad, like it was a memory from a moment in his own life. The movie is a part of him, an on-screen display of the way he thinks, a representation of how he looks back on his own past. Like the characters played by Woody Allen and Tony Roberts in the movie, my dad and his friend used to call each other Max, and no matter how many times he explained, I never got the reference.<\/p>\n After watching the movie for the first time, I immediately understood why it touched my father in the way it did. When the credits started rolling, I asked my dad how the critics could call this a rom-com. \u201cIt\u2019s so sad,\u201d I told him. \u201cYes, but so is life,\u201d he said. \u201cJust because something is sad does not mean it\u2019s devoid of romance or comedy. In fact, you usually can\u2019t have any one of those three things without the other two.\u201d<\/p>\n A few months later, I watched the movie again, on my own accord, before going on a sixth grade date. I ran out of time before the scene where Alvy (Allen) gets on a plane, despite a fear of flying, to propose to Annie (Diane Keaton), despite a fear of marriage. Later that year, once the romance with my sixth grade love died away \u2014 not due to grand heartbreak, but simply because of tumultuous times in middle school \u2014 I watched the movie\u2019s ending again.<\/p>\n At my young age, I still could not quite grasp the final sequence; I didn\u2019t understand why the romantic leads could not end up together.<\/p>\n For years, I\u2019ve turned on Annie Hall<\/em> every October, not because it\u2019s an imperative tradition, but because autumn demands the sort of melancholic, nostalgic reflection that the movie provides. But sometimes I can\u2019t wait till October. When my first real high school boyfriend broke my heart \u2014 I mean really, truly broke my heart, a feeling so all-consuming that I did not know it was even possible \u2014 my parents beckoned me to the couch, put their arms around me, and turned on Annie Hall<\/em>.<\/p>\n At the very end of the movie, when Alvy writes a play to change the ending of his own life and portray a couple that stays together, I cried uncontrollably. It was too profound for me to bear, too human; at the time, alternative endings were what I wished on every eyelash, and what I wrote into every one of my own short stories.<\/p>\n Annie Hall would not be Annie Hall if anyone but Diane Keaton had played her. There\u2019s something about her voice, whether she was singing or simply saying \u201cla-dee-da,\u201d something about her uncomfortable laugh, something about her wonderfully comical, awkward body language, something about her trademark shirt-and-tie. No one else could have pulled that off. Keaton\u2019s performance endures, touching even my generation, some fifty years later. All of my friends seem to love Annie Hall<\/em>, even my guy friends appreciate the movie in a way I would not have expected but completely understand. And when she passed away last week, the news touched people I didn\u2019t realize even knew who she was.<\/p>\n But the way I found out about Diane Keaton\u2019s death<\/a> seemed only fitting. I got a call from my dad, who was audibly upset. And I\u2019d have expected no lesser reaction. Annie Hall was, after all, his close, personal friend.<\/p>\n Before you go, click here<\/a> to see the cast of \u2018Annie Hall\u2019.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n