'It’s a lifelong sentence': 'Allen v. Farrow' finale depicts wreckage of alleged assault on Dylan

Sunday's fourth and final installment of HBO's bombshell docuseries, "Allen v. Farrow," conveyed the lingering affects of filmmaker Woody Allen's alleged sexual assault of his daughter, writer Dylan Farrow, and explored society's hesitation to knock accused celebrities from their pedestals.

Dylan's mom, actress Mia Farrow, says she never brought another man home to her family after Allen.

"If I couldn't trust Woody after 12 years, how would I – I would never take another risk on anybody else," she says in the docuseries. "I don't trust myself to know."

Mia, 76, says she's fearful of Allen and consequences of the project. "A person who has no allegiance to truth will do anything," she says. "A person who will do anything, is somebody to be scared of."

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Dylan, now 35, starts to shake when talking about her experience during the finale, her jaw trembling uncontrollably.

Her stance is that Allen, 85, exhibited inappropriate behavior throughout their relationship, recalling in the series' premiere that "he was always hunting" her. In August of 1992, he sexually assaulted her in the attic of Mia's Connecticut home, she says. Allen has repeatedly denied the allegation and never been charged with a crime. He and wife, Soon-Yi Previn (whose adoptive mother is Mia) have dismissed "Allen v. Farrow" as "a hatchet job riddled with falsehoods."

Today, Dylan is still dealing with the consequences of her father's alleged actions, which she predicts will last as long as she lives.

"It doesn’t go away. It doesn’t vanish overnight," she says. "It’s a lifelong sentence."

Following Sunday's finale, "The View" co-host Meghan McCain tweeted praise for the Farrows and condemned Allen. "@MiaFarrow, Dylan Farrow,@RonanFarrow have showcased such incredible bravery, strength and fortitude sharing their stories in this HBO documentary..." she posted. "Society and the legal system truly failed Dylan. Woody Allen should be in jail. Period."

"Too Much and Never Enough" author Mary L. Trump also saluted Dylan. "I believe Dylan Farrow," she tweeted. "Thank you @RealDylanFarrow for your extraordinary courage. I am so sorry the system failed you and your family so horribly. #MeToo"

Not being able to testify against Allen gnaws at Dylan. In 1993, former Connecticut state attorney Frank Maco decided against prosecuting Allen, saying that although he had probable cause, he did not wish to inflict any further anguish on Dylan by making her testify. In "Allen v. Farrow," Maco remembers a young Dylan was "totally unresponsive" to his questions about Allen.

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"I don't wish that Frank Maco had disregarded my mental health, but I wish that I had been stronger, that I hadn't crumpled so much under the pressure," Dylan shares. "I, to this day, feel like I was given an opportunity to be brave, and I turned it down."

She finds some relief in her meeting with Maco, their first since he decided not to proceed with a case against Allen. She tells him she wishes she could've testified to which he responds, in part, "I never want to hear you blame yourself. I made the decision."

It's what Dylan needed to let go of her regret.

“I guess I just needed to hear that,” she says. “Thank you, for everything.”

For years, Allen was able to move past the allegation and proceed with his career (until recently.) In his 2020 memoir "Apropos of Nothing," he wrote, "Being innocent, I felt it’s not my problem. I can carry on.”

Carrying on included receiving the Golden Globes' Cecil B. deMille Award in 2014, during which Diane Keaton gushed over her frequent collaborator and his writing of "unforgettable female characters." That night, Dylan says she had a panic attack and recalled feeling "so small."

In response to Allen's accolade, Dylan's brother, journalist Ronan Farrow, tried to pull the spotlight to Dylan's allegation in a tweet: "Missed the Woody Allen tribute – did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before of after Annie Hall?"

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The move touched Dylan, as Ronan didn't always support her speaking out about the alleged assault. "This is not worth it. You are going to make your entire life and identity about this one thing that happened to you as a kid," he previously told his sister. He said, "I hadn't yet thoroughly interviewed her or looked at the facts. I just wanted to run away from this."

Ronan remembers the two having "knockdown, drag-out fights about this, where I essentially told her to shut up." Dylan eventually detailed her experience to Ronan and pointed him to court documents.

"For the first time, as an adult, as a journalist, as an attorney, I read the court documents," he says, "and my reaction was, 'Well, holy (expletive). I've been turning away from a real (mischaracterization) of justice here.'"

Dylan wrote essays of Allen's alleged abuse in 2014 and, again in 2017, following a groundswell of the #MeToo movement. Celebrities began paying attention to her, and actors who worked with Allen were outspoken about their regret in doing so. Some even donated their salary amounts.

"When the first messages of support actually came, I was kind of shocked," says Dylan in "Allen v. Farrow." "I think what they did took a lot of bravery in and of itself, and it's really helped me to reclaim some of my own sense of self-worth. And every message of support that I've received has been a gift."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: HBO's Allen v. Farrow: Dylan's alleged abuse marks 'lifelong sentence'