The second chapter of Sam B. Girgus’s The Films of Woody Allen provides an interesting perspective on one of Allen’s most renowned films, Annie Hall.  Chapter 2, entitled “Desire and Narrativity in Annie Hall,” addresses the relationship between desire and narrative and the role of this relationship in Annie Hall.  Girgus relies on the philosophical and theoretical studies of Roland Barthes and Teresa de Lauretis to express the way in which desire serves as a function of narrativity and therefore asserts that desire and narrativity are inextricably intertwined.  According to this theory, narrativity stems from the Oedipal experience that occurs in the search for one’s identity and sexuality.  The first evidence of this relationship between desire and narrativity in Annie Hall occurs through Woody Allen’s manipulation of time and space, which he achieves by juxtaposing Alvy Singer’s opening speech with multiple scenes that display drastic shifts in temporal order.  This chronological distortion explicitly demonstrates the complex nature of narrativity within this film and its tendency to then process desire.  In addition, Girgus introduces language into the relationship between desire and narrativity.  He argues that this intricate relationship between desire, narrative, and language is exemplified through the humor of Annie Hall, both visually as well as verbally.  Inherent in this analysis of the narrative content of the film is the issue of Allen’s stereotypical and narcissistic narrative desires.  Allen dilutes the potential for negative backlash from such narrative desires by directly confronting his manipulation and use of narrative desire within the film with direct references to Freud and psychoanalysis.  The inclusion of such references creates a unique sense of metacommentary, which contributes to the humor of the film and allows Allen to get away with his use of narrative desire.  The chapter also addresses Allen’s portrayal of the impossible nature of human desire for complete harmony and satisfaction.  This chapter provides a very dense and theoretical analysis of Annie Hall in terms of both content and visual depiction in the context of narrative desire.