Mighty Aphrodite [19]

I recently saw Mighty Aphrodite after seeing Mira sorvino in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. I was curious to see the movie that gave Mira her Academy Award for best actress. It was pleasantly not what I expected. The movie opens up with a Chorus of Greek actors who introduce the movie and its theme of the perils of modern relationships, later they serve to espouse philosophical metaphors for Woody's conscience and even interact with him in several scenes. Woody's character plays the middle aged man in a relationship dominated by the ambitions of his wife. She wants it all. Career, baby, and a lover on the side. She quickly arranges the adoption of a baby boy. At first Woody disapproves, but when the boy displays genius/ prodigy traits he becomes obsessed with tracking down his birth mother. His findings surprise him as he discovers the mother is currently working as a call girl and occasional adult film actress. How such a smart boy came from a mother now working in such a "questionable" line of work sets the stage for Woody to befriend her and attempt to show her the way into more respectable career fields and traditional marriage roles. This is an intriguing commmentary given the events in Woody's personal life played out in the tabloids. This film is rough in subject matter at times (mostly due to the adult themes) and paces well. Woody makes amusing use of the Greek Chorus (headed by F. Murray Abraham) and I enjoyed their whimsacle additions to the film. Many of the social observations here reminded me of one of Woody's earlier works "Hannah and Her Sisters" mainly the themes of infidelity and the way people tend to complicate interpersonal communications in a marriage.

Strangely Woody excells in demonstrating the complexities of human relationships on the screen where he seems totally inept in real life. Perhaps that's one nuance of his genius? One reason I would reccommend this film is it does hit home on a few good points. It also was one of the few films where I had fun trying to guess the outcome. The ending is trite but not (entirely) formulaic which is why I liked it. {JB}

Added: April 7th 2004
Reviewer: JDB
29 Point Scale Score:    [19]

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