Themes: Romantic Betrayal, Infidelity, Age Disparity Romance
Main Cast: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, José Ferrer, Julie Hagerty, Tony Roberts
Release Year: 1982
Country: US
Run Time: 88 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Woody Allen brings a diverting whimsy and a hopeful innocence to this period roundelay, based upon Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer's Night and Jean Renoir's Rules of the Game. Allen plays Andrew, a Wall Street broker and eccentric inventor who is having frigidity problems with his wife Adrian (Mary Steenburgen). Adrian and Andrew are the hosts, at their summer house in the country, of a wedding party for Ariel (Mia Farrow) and Leopold (Jose Ferrer), a famed academic who is Andrew's cousin. Over the weekend, another couple converges at Andrew's summer home -- the sly, lady-killer of a doctor Maxwell (Tony Roberts) and his date, the deliciously ditzy nurse Dulcy (Julie Hagerty). Through the course of the weekend, sexual partners are exchanged and magical fairy tale moments are shared. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Mary Steenburgen - Adrian; Thomas Barbour - Blint; Sol Frieder - Carstairs; Michael Higgins - Reynolds; Timothy Jenkins - Mr. Thomson; Kate McGregor-Stewart - Mrs. Baker; Adam Redfield - Student Foxx; Moishe Rosenfeld - Mr. Hayes; Boris Zoubok - Purvis
Credit
Speed Hopkins - Art Director, Michael Peyser - Associate Producer, Juliet Taylor - Casting, Santo Loquasto - Costume Designer, Fredric B. Blankfein - First Assistant Director, Woody Allen - Director, Susan E. Morse - Editor, Charles H. Joffe - Executive Producer, Jack Rollins - Executive Producer, Fern Buchner - Makeup, Mel Bourne - Production Designer, Gordon Willis - Cinematographer, Robert Greenhut - Producer, Carol Joffe - Set Designer, James J. Sabat - Sound/Sound Designer, Frank Graziadei - Sound/Sound Designer, Woody Allen - Screenwriter, Felix Mendelssohn - Featured Music
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is a 1982 film written and directed by Woody Allen.
The plot is loosely based on Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night. This movie is notable for being the first of thirteen movies that Allen would make starring Mia Farrow. Farrow's role was originally written for another famous Allen lead actress, Diane Keaton, but she couldn't take the part because she was busy promoting her film Reds and preparing to begin production on the film Shoot the Moon. It also marks the first appearance of Allen as an ensemble performer in his own film, as previously he had either been the lead character or did not appear in his films.
The film was nominated for one Razzie Award, Worst Actress for Mia Farrow. This was the one and only time a Woody Allen film has ever been nominated for a Razzie.
It is the early 1900s. Distinguished philosopher Leopold (José Ferrer) and his younger fiance Ariel (Mia Farrow) are going to spend a weekend in the country with Leopold's cousin Adrian (Mary Steenburgen) and her crackpot inventor husband Andrew (Woody Allen). Also on the guest list is womanising doctor Maxwell (Tony Roberts) and his latest girlfriend, free-thinking nurse, Dulcy (Julie Hagerty). Over the course of the weekend, old romances reignite, new romances develop, and everyone ends up sneaking off behind everyone else's backs.
The film opened on July 16, 1982 at 501 North American theaters, and made $2,514,478 ($5,018 per screen) in its opening weekend. It grossed $9,077,269 in its entire run.
