Screening room

When should you choose the audiobookover the printed version of a new memoir? When the author is Oscarwinner Diane Keaton. Reading her recently published “Then Again,” theendearing, feisty and sometimes remarkably frank star sounds as ifshe’s sharing these stories in an intimate conversation over tea andscones.

She’s an irresistibly charming narratoras she guides you through not only her own story but also the chronicleof her late mother. Dorothy Dean Hall Keaton kept dozens of privatejournals throughout her life, and Keaton uses excerpts from them tocontrast her own experiences. For example, by the time she was 60, hermother had seen her four children grow up and move on; just before her50th birthday, Keaton adopted her first baby, so by the time she is 60she’s only midway through the mothering years.

By any standards, Keaton’s life ischarmed. In the early 1960s, she admires Woody Allen while he performsstand-up comedy on TV and she swoons over Warren Beatty’s performancein “Splendor in the Grass.” Less than 20 years later, she will have hadlong-term relationships with both men, associations that brought outthe best in her as an actress as well: She won an Academy Award as bestactress in Allen’s 1977 hit "Annie Hall," then earned another Oscarnomination (and some of the best reviews of her career) playing theopportunistic would-be journalist Louise Bryant in “Reds,” Beatty’s1981 epic.

Keaton acknowledges these triumphs —and, lest she start to sound too egocentric, she also shares a telling,unflattering story about her aloof reaction to being praised by AudreyHepburn after collecting her Oscar for “Annie.” She’s equally willingto talk about her disappointments, bad reviews and her down periods inthe mid-1980s and mid-1990s in which she lost her box office appeal andfelt “washed up as an actress” and yearned to become a director or adocumentarian. Her turbulent affair with Beatty eventually collapsesbecause, she realizes, “I didn’t want to love Warren Beatty — I wantedto be Warren Beatty,” the self-assured, multi-talented artist who acts,produces and directs. 

As for Keaton’s mother, she balancesmaintaining a picture-perfect 1950s home with dabbling in photographyand art (she and her daughter are both collage enthusiasts),although there’s an undercurrent of dissatisfaction in her diaries.When she expresses admiration for her daughter’s accomplishments,there’s an inescapable hint of envy, as well. In the final chapters of“Then Again,” keaton provides a heart-wrenching study of her mom’s slowdeterioration as Alzheimer’s wipes away her memories and eventuallyforces her to stop writing because she can no longer put togethersentences. In a wickedly ironic twist, the maternal Dorothy fades awayjust as Diane is beginning to feel comfortable with her new role as aparent.

“Then Again” supplies some fascinatinganecdotes about moviemaking — including notes about Al Pacino’s love oflong, late-night conversations and an aside about “First Wives Club”co-star Goldie Hawn guzzling health-food shakes while she smoked — butit’s ultimately a wonderful mother/daughter story,

It would undoubtedly be a moving tale onthe page. But hearing it adds a completely different dimension. Keatonjokes, sings, sighs and sometimes sounds as if she can barely hold ittogether long enough to finish reading the sadder sections. It’s aknockout of a one-woman show, and if I hadn’t been listening to it inmy car, I would have gladly given her a standing ovation.