Released in 1995, Mighty Aphrodite was arguably Woody Allen's most successful film since Hannah and Her Sisters almost a decade earlier. The story follows Allen's neurotic New York sports writer Lenny, who becomes obsessed with tracking down his adopted son's birth mother, Linda. His odyssey is narrated and commented upon with coruscating wit by a Greek chorus led by F Murray Abraham. Despite their dire warnings at his rather ham-fisted attempts at hubris, there is nothing tragic in the ultimately uplifting tale. Lenny eventually locates Linda (an Oscar-winning performance... from the enchanting Mira Sorvino) and discovers that she's caught up in just about every aspect of the sex trade. Without revealing his reasons, he sets about improving her life with hilarious results. Sorvino is a wonder as the tall, alluring and vulnerable Linda, who talks with candid innocence of her adventures in vice (she offers a blow job as if it was a pound of apples) and clearly deserves a better hand than she has been dealt. Helena Bonham Carter, not entirely convincing as a driven Manahattanite, plays Allen's ambitious art dealer wife whom Lenny ultimately realises is the love of his life. And a host of stars including Claire Bloom, Gwenn Verdon and Olympia Dukakis (Jocasta) contribute shining moments to this intelligent and touching comedy. When the chorus bursts into "When You're Smiling" at the end, it's like the sun coming out. On the DVD: The widescreen (1.85:1) presentation gives the location-shot chorus scenes marvellous resonance, although the Dolby Digital mono soundtrack is occasionally rather flat. Both picture and sound quality, however, preserve the intimacy which is the trademark of Allen's finest work. There are no extras beyond a choice of subtitles and the usual scene selection menu.--Piers Ford [show more]
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A New York sports writer is obsessed with finding the natural mother of his highly-intelligent adopted son However when he finally meets her she's not at all how he imagined
Woody Allen stars in this comedy with Helena Bonham Carter and Mira Sorvino. When he discovers that his adopted child is a prodigy, Lenny (Allen) resolves to find out where the talent comes from and tracks down the child's real mother, Linda (Sorvino), who turns out to be a prostitute and porn actress. Meanwhile, Lenny's wife Amanda (Bonham Carter) is considering an affair with a business associate, but Lenny's attempts to help the struggling Linda blind him to this crisis in his own marriage.
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