A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is a 1982 American sex comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen, starring Allen and Mia Farrow.
The plot is loosely based on Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman's 1955 comedy film Smiles of a Summer Night. It was the first of thirteen films that Allen would make starring Farrow. Her role of Ariel Weymouth was originally written for Diane Keaton, another Allen collaborator, but Keaton was preoccupied promoting Reds and preparing production on Shoot the Moon. Julie Hagerty, Mary Steenburgen, Tony Roberts and Jose Ferrer co-star. It also marks the first appearance of Allen as an ensemble performer in his own film. Previously, he had either been the lead character or did not appear at all.
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy received positive reviews and was a minor commercial success. However, it was nominated for one Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress, for Farrow at the 3rd Golden Raspberry Awards - the only time an Allen film has been nominated for a Razzie.

Plot

It is 1906 in upstate New York. Distinguished philosopher Leopold Sturges and his much younger fiancée, Ariel Weymouth, are going to spend a weekend in the country with Leopold's cousin Adrian, and her crackpot inventor husband Andrew. Also on the guest list is womanizing doctor Maxwell Jordan and his latest girlfriend, free-thinking nurse Dulcy Ford. Over the course of the weekend, old romances reignite, new romances develop, and everyone ends up sneaking off behind everyone else's backs.

Background

Woody Allen explained the inspiration for the film:

Soundtrack

Symphony No.3 in A Minor - Written by Felix Mendelssohn - Performed by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic
Violin Concerto in E Minor, Opus 64 - Written by Felix Mendelssohn - Performed by Vasil Stefanov and the TVR Symphony Orchestra
Piano Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, Opus 40 - Written by Felix Mendelssohn - Performed by Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia OrchestraA Midsummer Night's Dream - Written by Felix Mendelssohn - Performed by Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra
Die schöne Müllerin, D795 No.2: 'Wohin? - Written by Franz Schubert - Played on piano by Mary Steenburgen
Dichterliebe, Opus 48, No.7: Ich grolle nicht - Written by Robert Schumann - Played on piano by Mary Steenburgen
"The Lord's Prayer" - music by Albert Hay Malotte - Played on piano by Mia Farrow

Release

The film opened on July 16, 1982, at 501 North American theaters, and made $2,514,478 in its opening weekend. It grossed $9,077,269 in its entire run.

Reception

Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "Whatever Mr. Allen is doing in constructing this pretty, slight, gently entertaining movie, he isn't doing the thing he does best. A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy gives the impression of someone speaking fluently but formally in a language not his own." Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four and explained, "I don't object to A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy on grounds that it's different from his earlier films, but on the more fundamental ground that it's adrift. There doesn't seem to be a driving idea behind it, a confident tone to give us the sure notion that Allen knows what he wants to do here." Gene Siskel awarded two-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "a nice picture, but insubstantial." Variety called the film "a pleasant disappointment, pleasant because gets all the laughs he goes for in a visually charming, sweetly paced picture, a disappointment because he doesn't go for more." Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "What's most disappointing about Sex Comedy is that for all its incessant—and anachronistic—talk, there's a serious shortage of new ideas from writer-director Allen. The film's fullest idea is that opportunity, once lost, can never again be recaptured. We might have hoped for this bittersweetness and a great deal more from one of the screen's nerviest innovators." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post stated, "The crucial problem with Sex Comedy is that one detects no persuasive sexual chemistry in any of the alleged, three-cornered mating games. It's impossible to believe that anyone's susceptibilities are deeply stirred or anyone's feelings likely to be hurt. Allen can't establish the basic sense of attraction and the emotional gravity that underscores the frivolity of the romantic hide-and-seek." Pauline Kael of The New Yorker wrote, "The group is rather amusing, and for a while the film seems saucy and fairly promising. Viewers may feel that everything must be building toward a big, explosive joke. But nothing really develops—not even the clashes that are prepared for. Nothing busts loose."