Woody Allen
Mighty Aphrodite

Linda: "Every now and then I did some odd jobs to make some money... But one day my friend Susy called me and asked if I wanted to make a movie. It was called The Happy Vulva and I said «Sure!». I remember I was very nervous because I had never done it in front of a camera before, okay? And so I arrive on set on the first day and... there was a guy doing me from behind and two huge guys in police uniforms putting it in my mouth. And I remember saying to myself: «I like acting! ». I want to study"

A crude, direct language, with explicit sexual references enhance "Mighty Aphrodite", a film directed, written, and starred by Woody Allen in 1995. This comedy from the '90s marks a new way of making people laugh for the New York director, using a deliberately vulgar language which is not meant, mind you, to give the film a vulgar connotation, but is essential to more decisively characterize the incredible protagonist of this film.

Linda (Mira Sorvino) is a ditzy girl from the American countryside, airhead, from a disastrous family, she survives in New York by making porn films and prostituting herself, but her dream is to become an actress, "But how? Doing it with a woman in front of the camera is a great experience? This will make you a star on Broadway?!". Lenny (Woody Allen) is a sports journalist married to an art gallery owner (Helena Bonham Carter), the couple decides to adopt a child, and as the boy grows it turns out he is a genius. Lenny, in crisis with his wife, decides he must find the real mother of the son because he is sure he can have a perfect understanding with her, and unexpected fate will put Lenny on Linda's path. An unusual work by Allen, conceived as a Greek tragedy (complete with a chorus that, in the setting of the Greek amphitheater of Taormina, emphasizes the pivotal moments of the story with songs and dances), initially brings nothing new to Woody's cinema, intense character analysis, always immersed in metropolitan reality, and sophisticated dialogues. But the entry of Judy Orgasm (Linda) disrupts the film which from that point on becomes overwhelming.

Some visual gags return, Linda's apartment is an exposition of very improbable and decidedly vulgar erotic art, the jokes take on bold colors, "I had a small part in Angela Dawson's movie. I have to pile on with her", but the essence of Allen's art remains unchanged. The scenes are accurate, the pace exhilarating, the comedic inventions all enhanced by the right timing, a mature Allen always seeking something new and who between grotesque and very light moments manages to delve into very serious themes like maternity and women's independence in contemporary society. Perhaps not an exceptional film, but among Allen's productions, it certainly deserves a place of prominence because it is a comedy that stands out from his early '90s work and opens up to light and delightful tones, Mira Sorvino's performance is memorable, a successful choice that will earn the actress a well-deserved Oscar.