A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)
Directed by Woody Allen – Starring Mia Farrow – Julie Hagerty
May 22, 2009
The great cinematographer Gordon Willis (The Godfather) photographed the one purely pastoral film directed by the urban auteur Woody Allen; the lush and gorgeous A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy. But, as most film-goers will discover some years later, with Woody Allen's expansion into Europe with Match Point (2005), the film maker's unique style, is a movable feast.
Woody Allen Moves Sex in the City to the Country
Woody Allen plays Andrew, a bumbling inventor living in a farm house with his beautiful but frigid wife, Adrian (Mary Steenburgen), nestled within a picturesque forest in upstate New York.
The urban transplants are soon joined for the weekend by an old friend from the city, Maxwell (Tony Roberts), a libidinous doctor, who arrives with a sexy nurse in tow, Dulcy (Julie Hagerty).
Followed closely behind by Adrian's cousin, an Empiricist philosopher named Leopold (Jose Ferrer), who presents his enchanting fiancee, Ariel (Mia Farrow) to the thunderstruck Andrew and Maxwell.
The three couples will come together in a forest, that may or may not be magically enchanted, by the spirits of past lovers; and as all the couples are only flirting with the notion of monogamy, it takes very little to unhinge the lovers’ commitments.
If part of what a director does, is to set a mood, or strike a specific keynote, then Woody Allen does that beautifully with A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy; by casting an ensemble that works in harmony; and/or the incredible photography; matched with the music of Mendellson; the film feels good, like a summer retreat, away from the harshness of the real world.
The light and airy tone of A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, is aided by the perfect casting of the brilliant comedic actress Julie Hagerty. Hagerty, most famous for her role in Airplane! (1980), is so funny, and sexy in a most peculiar way, that she threatens to steal the picture in nearly every scene.
Woody Allen’s patented romantic and sexual entanglements are transferred from street corners and apartments to brook sides and barns; giving the familiar, and strangely comforting scenarios a freshness and liveliness, that sets A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy apart from all other Woody Allen films.
Woody Allen's Continuing Dialogue With His Fans
In one of Woody Allen’s many digressions on the subject of love, sex, and marriage; his character Andrew posits the following bit of wisdom: Sex alleviates tension and love causes it. This one line could serve as a roux by which Woody Allen has made a career.
There's something nourishing and life-affirming in the dialogue written by Woody Allen; no matter the movie, to simply listen to the actors deliver lines that seem hand-crafted; lines that some may find too refined, or unnatural; to the rabid fans of Mr. Allen's work, his dialogue is poetry.
In the same way Martin Scorsese fans watch his films in anticipation of the stylist's break-neck jump-cuts and balletic displays of violence; Woody Allen fans watch, or rather, listen in anticipation for the next witty one-liner, or culture-rich reference to whatever writer, film maker, or artist may be occupying Mr. Allen's mind.
So, while the recurrent themes of infidelity, misanthropy, and artistic impotence continually frustrate the public at large; it is Woody Allen's incalculable ability to feed his small, but immovable fan base with funny, thought-provoking, and sharp dialogue, that remains true.
Leopold: I had the privilege of escorting Ariel through the Sistine Chapel for the first time in her life and explaining to her exactly why Michelangelo's ceiling was indeed great.
Ariel: When Raphael first laid eyes on it, he fainted.
Andrew: Had he eaten?
For further consideration of Woody Allen's past and present films, read Woody Allen's Four Decades In Film.
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