Mighty Aphrodite
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Product details
Actor: Claire Bloom, F. Murray Abraham, Helena Bonham Carter, Karin Haidorfer, Olympia DukakisPrimary Contributor: Mira Sorvino
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Running Time: 95 minutes
Release Date: 1996-11-12
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: Walt Disney Video
Studio: Walt Disney Video
VHS Movie Reviews of Mighty Aphrodite
Movie Review: Oedipus, Schmoedipus
Summary: 3 Stars
Mighty Aphrodite (1995) won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for Mira Sorvino, and a nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Woody Allen. Sorvino, the Harvard educated daughter of actor Paul Sorvino, plays a squeaky-voiced, potty mouth hooker. Her character is none too bright, and though she aspires to be an actress, and has appeared in several pornographic films, she is terrible. Somewhat of a stretch, considering that Mira Sorvino is an Academy Award winner, and she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in East Asian Studies. While at Harvard, she helped found the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones, one of Harvard's premier co-ed a cappella groups, not to mention spending a year of study in Beijing. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and also speaks French. The Oscar win is even more impressive when you consider that she was up against Elisabeth Shue. Shue starred as a prostitute in the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas with Nicolas Cage. Cage won his Oscar, but I guess they liked Sorvino's hooker better. Perhaps because her film had a happy ending? Even if they did employ the 'deux ex machina' to achieve it. I compare her win to Alan Arkin's for his potty mouthed but loveable grandpa in Little Miss Sunshine. Though Sorvino's character, Linda Ash, wasn't too bright, she had a kind of Gracie Allen grace and logic. Like when sportswriter Lenny Weinrib (Woody Allen) asks her if she is ever worried that one of her clients will kill her, she replies that she always makes them pay in advance.
The plot of this movie is sportswriter Lenny Weinrib (Woody Allen) is married to art gallery owner Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter). She decides that she wants to adopt a child, and although reluctant at first, they do, and Lenny is thrilled with the results. Max Weinrib turns out to be such a wonderful kid that Lenny wonders who the really parents are, thinking they must be brilliant. He is obsessed with finding them, and does discover that Linda Ash is Max's biological mother. She is not the Mighty Aphrodite he expected, but once he gets to know her, he gets involved in helping her leave the oldest profession behind for a better life as wife, mother, and hairdresser.
The gimmick of this flick is the insertion of a whole Greek Chorus to comment on, question, and decry his choices. The juxtaposition of the ancient and modern is the source of much of the film's humor. At one point they want to call on Zeus for help, but get his answering machine. Another time they advise him, "Lenny, don't be a schmuck!" They really went all out, flying the Chorus to Italy to film scenes in actual Roman ruins. F. Murray Abraham is the Chorus leader; Jack Warden is Tiresias; David Ogden Stiers is Laius; and Olympia Dukakis is Jocasta. Olympia Dukakis! You can't get much Greeker than that.
Chorus: [referring to Oedipus] Look, here's a man who killed his father and slept with his mother.
Jocasta: [(Oedipus' mother)] I hate to tell you what they call my son in Harlem.
The parallel to Oedipus is that he was a man who also wanted to know who his real parents were--with disastrous results. But the main reason for this theatrical device is merely to show the inner voices that dialogue in Lenny Weinrib's head. They admonish him not to meddle, and predict disaster, yet he goes ahead anyway, and in spite of their dire warnings, everything seems to work out
What should have been the main story--the break down of his marriage and his wife's affair with Jerry Bender (Peter Weller) is more of an after thought. Jerry Bender would make a much better match for Amanda, and Woody/Lenny barely puts up a fight. Though only in a few scenes, I was curious about Jerry Bender/Peter Weller. Though best known as the title characters in Robocop and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Weller holds a Masters Degree in Roman and Renaissance art, and is an occasional lecturer at Syracuse University on the subjects of Hollywood and the Roman Empire. Weller's favorite musician is Miles Davis and he occasionally plays in a jazz band with Buckaroo Banzai costar Jeff Goldblum. Heck, he would be a better match for Mira Sorvino, even. The fact that his name is so similar to his character's name makes me wonder.
In a 2005 interview with "Vanity Fair", Woody Allen stated that even after their bitter and much-publicized breakup, he considered casting Mia Farrow as his wife Amanda, saying that he believed she would be the best actress for the role. In response to this, his casting director Juliet Taylor replied, "What, are you nuts?"
Though the role of Jerry Bender was practically a cameo, there are a few other actual cameos that I'd like to mention:
Paul Giamatti is effective as an Extras Guild Researcher, long before Sideways, and makes the most of his 15 seconds of screen time. Tony Sirico plays a Boxing Trainer, familiar from The Sopranos, and lately, Denny's commercials. One last cameo that wasn't credited, but I suspect, is Dick Hyman was playing the piano at one of the posh Manhattan parties Lenny and Amanda attended.
Dick Hyman (I'll bet they teased him about his name a lot in Junior High) has served as composer/arranger/conductor/pianist for the Woody Allen films Zelig, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Broadway Danny Rose, Stardust Memories, Hannah and Her Sisters, Radio Days, Bullets Over Broadway, Mighty Aphrodite, Everyone Says "I Love You", Sweet and Lowdown, The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion and Melinda and Melinda. He has been music director of the production The Movie Music of Woody Allen, which premiered at the Hollywood Bowl. The Greek Chorus gave Hyman the opportunity to arrange a fantastic a capella arrangement of Cole Porter's "You Do Something to Me" for them in the movie's love scene.
Sophocles, The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone: If you want to bone up on your Greek tragedies, here is a good place to start.
Euripides V: Electra, The Phoenician Women, The Bacchae (The Complete Greek Tragedies): The Bacchae, by Euripides also features the character of blind soothsayer, Tiresias.
Aeschylus: Seven Against Thebes (Duckworth Comapnins to Greek and Roman Tragedy): Tiresias also appears in this little ditty by Aeschylus.
Iliad and Odyssey boxed set: Tiresias also appears in blind Greek bard Homer's epic tales to give advice to Ulysses.
The Divine Comedy (The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso): In The Divine Comedy (Inferno, Canto XX), Dante sees Tiresias in the fourth pit of the eighth circle of Hell (the circle is for perpetrators of fraud and the fourth pit being the location for soothsayers or diviners.)
Complete Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson. (100+ Works) FREE Author's biography and poems in the trial version: "Tiresias" is the title of a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
The Waste Land: A Facsimile and Transcript of the Original Drafts Including the Annotations of Ezra Pound: Tiresias is an integral voice in T. S. Eliot's poem, The Waste Land.
Joyce: Ulysses (Landmarks of World Literature (New)): This work by James Joyce is said to parallel the Odyssey by Homer.
O Brother, Where Art Thou?: During the opening scenes of O Brother Where Art Thou, a derivative of Odyssey, Tiresias is introduced as an old black man on a railroad handcar. Although when asked his name he states "I have no name."
All the Right Changes: Pianist Dick Hyman is a master of many musical styles, from early to modern jazz. No wonder Woody Allen uses him so frequently. If you want to consult an authority on chord changes, try this or other books by Dick Hyman.
Movie Review: Uplifting comedy
Summary: 3 Stars
Mighty Aphrodite is hardly Allen at his best. The gags are mostly second rate, some of his devices in his 27th movie come across as second or third rehashes of things he has used before - neurotic middle aged guy involved with whores, ditzy woman who can't get her life in order. Even the original tropes such as the Greek chorus I didn't find particularly funny. It is an uplifting comedy though, very much different from the bleak masterpieces of films such as Crimes and Misdermeanours, and by the end the plot is slickly wrapped up to show how human actions can unforseeably change circumstances for the better. Movie Review: "Of all human weaknesses, obsession is the most dangerous, and the silliest!"
Summary: 4 Stars
"Mighty Aphrodite" (1995), Woody Allen's hilarious yet moving and surprisingly optimistic film can be viewed as a modern retelling of the ancient tragedy "Oedipus". Like Oedipus in Sophocles's play who became obsessed with discovering identity of his real parents which led to the most horrifying results, Lenny Weinrib (Allen) wants to find the real mother of his and his wife Amanda's adopted son Max who turned to be a brilliant and incredibly gifted boy. The search brings him to Linda, a small time porn star and a hooker with whom Lenny becomes friends and tries to persuade her to change her life. Mira Sorvino as a naive dumb blonde with a high pitch voice is mighty fine and she more than deserved the Oscar for Best Supporting role. She is convincing and very sweet, and there is not a single wrong note in her acting. Once again, I am fascinated by Allen's ability to work with his actors and to bring the best in them when they perform in his movies. Allen was hilarious trying to resist Sorvino's advances in their first scene together. Not to let us forget that we are in the realm of Greek tra-medy, Allen employs the characters from Greek mythology who comment on and even participate in the events. Among then, the blind seer Tiresias who can see the developing problems in Lenny's marriage better than Lenny himself, "Miss Party Pooper", Cassandra who was cursed to always predict the truth but no one would ever believe her, and the ancient chorus whose leader (Murray Abraham) desperately tries to stop Lenny from finding the truth by begging him in the best traditions of Greek tragedy, "Lenny please don't be a schmuck!" :)
Movie Review: Absolutely boring and pointless
Summary: 1 Stars
I had higher expectations of the film. Usually when an actor or actress wins an academy award, I expect their performance to be oscar worthy. Mira Sorvino's performance was anything but, oscar worthy. I guess she just got lucky, and the academy gave her the oscar for best supporting actress( over Elisabeth Shue, who actually deserved to win for her performance in "Leaving Las Vegas").
The movie is about an old man named Lenny (played by Woody Allen), he is a sportswriter as well. He is married to a younger woman named Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter), they decide to adopt a son. As the son grows older he turns out to be a genius. Lenny soon becomes determined to find out who the birth parents are. He goes through hell to get to it, finally he finds Linda Ash(Mira Sorvino), she is actually a porn-star and a prostitute with a squeaky voice. He can't believe it at first, but as he gets to know her he forms a deep connection with her.
The story also in a way is told in the form of the greek play "Oedipus". I kind of felt that Allen was mocking the greek tragedy and adding his own twist to it. Lenny starts to discuss his options with the people who are acting in the play, it is extremely stupid. Meanwhile, Lenny's marriage is falling apart, as Amanda is cheating on him with another man. Their sexual life is drying up as well. The movie turns out to be pointless, Lenny just tries to get Linda out of her prostitution and into a better life, in a way he succeeds.
The movie was just really pointless. Sorry, but it just a coincedence that I just don't like any movie that Woody Allen stars in, because he is just not a good actor. The only good movie that Woody Allen has ever done-that I think so, is "Match Point". I don't understand why all the top critics such as Roger Ebert, and Los Angeles times, are raving about Sorvino's performance in the film. It wasn't that great. There are so many other memorable performances of actresses that portray prostitutes such as Elisabeth Shue in "Leaving Las Vegas", who lost the oscar for best supporting actress to Sorvino. Kim Basinger's performance in "L.A. Confidential" was great and it was scene stealing as well. She played a prostitute who had a warm heart, she deserved the oscar. Woody Allen, I'm sorry to say is just losing his touch in directing. I don't feel that he was any good to begin with. "Annie Hall", was pretty boring I gotta say. As was several of his other films. Personally, if you're a die-hard Allen fan go for this film. But if you like comedies, and you are curious about how the performance of an oscar winner is, don't see this film. Trust me, it isn't worth it.
Movie Review: One of the Best Later Comedies
Summary: 4 Stars
It's easy to break Woody's directing career into three phases. Early career, which would be the seventies movies with Diane Keaton. The mid-career phase was the eighties and early-nineties, including all of the films with Mia Farrow. And late career would be everything after that, up through the latest films with Scarlett Johansson.
Of the later films, this one is often considered the best--though you could certainly make a case for "Deconstructing Harry," or even "Sweet and Lowdown." This one is certainly the best of his later films that might be called a straight comedy.
Woody's experimented with almost every type of movie: slap stick (Bananas), musical (Everyone Says I Love you), fake biopic (Zelig), Fellini inspired (Stardust Memories), Bergman inspired (Another woman), whodunnit (Manhattan Murder Mystery), etc, etc, etc. On this one he found something truly inspired--he blended the elements of Greek tragedy with a Woody Allen comedy--and it worked.
The story here doesn't have the layers of a film like "Hannah and Her Sisters." It's a comedy about a couple who adopt a child. Woody plays the father, and he becomes obsessed with learning about the child's real mother. After building her up in his mind, he's let down to discover she's a call girl, so he takes it upon himself to make her life better, and comedy ensues.
Mira Sorvino won an Oscar for her role, and there is good supporting performances from F. Murray Abraham and Helena Bonham Carter, but what really makes this movie is the idea of a Greek Chorus narrating the tale and gradually taking a larger role then you'll ever find in "Oedipus" as they become more and more involved in Allen's decision making. The movie even ends with the Greek element of a deux ex machina.
Like most of Allen's movies, this may not appeal to everyone, but if you're a fan then you will really enjoy this movie and you need to see it.
Summary of Mighty Aphrodite
Mira Sorvino won an Oscar for her performance as a bubbleheaded hooker and porn star who happens to be the mother of a bright young boy adopted by a Manhattan couple (Woody Allen and Helena Bonham Carter). The story finds Allen's sportswriter character becoming curious about the identity of his son's biological mom, and he strikes up a relationship with her without revealing why. This 27th feature written and directed by Allen is a nice combination of smart comedy and some of the wackier energy of his earliest movies. (Between scenes, there's a running gag involving a Greek chorus--actually filmed among some real Greek ruins--who do song-and-dance interpretations of the script's events.) This isn't Allen at his best, but it is a fine minor work graced by Sorvino's spin on the cinema's archetypal dumb blonde. --Tom KeoghInfidelity Video
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