A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)

Fun Film

Charming, witty, light romp with a supernatural element. Adult but not too adult. In around 1900, an investment broker/part-time inventor and his wife host four guests for the weekend at their Victorian country home. A lot of romantic pursuit ensues. Beautiful scenery, photography, and classical music. This movie generates a nice mood. November 29, 2008

The Stuff Of Dreams

This is Woody's effort at pure camp, a spoof on Shakespeare's famous play, as he puts a group of three couples ( one of them being himself and his wife played by Mary Steenburgen) into the idyll of the countryside in the early 20th century. This little piece of fluff takes on the fickleness of human nature on the question of love or maybe just lust, at least the aspects of human nature that we have created since coming out of the caves. Naturally the center piece, as was almost always the case in early Woody movies, is the eternal question of love. Being in love, not being in love, longing for love, not longing for love and the endless waiting that goes on in between times. The action gets a little slow at times and the humor is not top notch as it is in such efforts as Manhattan and Annie Hall but it passes.

The story line is fairly simple. Through a quirk of fate an old flame of Woody's (Mia Farrow, a flame at this point in his real life) is getting married to an older man, a bombastic professor, (Jose Ferrer) in order to settle down and bring stability to her life and is escorted by him to Woody's country place in, well, mid-summer. Hold it, maybe it is easier to tell the story this way. Woody and his wife, sexually frustrated, nevertheless want to have sex. Enter Mia to scramble thing up. Woody now wants Mia, Mia wants, or think she wants Max (Woody's doctor friend). Max very definitely wants Mia. Professor wants nurse (doctor's escort) and so on. In the end everyone gets what they want even though it is less than they expected. Well, that is about it. The grand design of Shakespeare it is not but as a modern spoof on current sexual mores (at least as they were understood in the mid-1970's) it is a fairly funny exposition of that sensibility.
November 1, 2008

Midsummer magic

Following closely on "Stardust Memories," "Midsummer" seems to be a compromise piece of sorts: comedic enough to satisfy the fans of his earlier slapstick, but sweet and reflective enough to feed his own artistic hunger and satisfy the fans of his more serious cinematic turn. This is one of Allen's better films, although not of the first quality. In it, themes and comedy nicely complement one another, instead of the latter stepping all over the former.

I think that human yearning is the central theme explored in the film: yearning for deep meaning in life that transcends the here-and-now (everything that the hard-nosed materialist Leopold deplores), creative yearning (Andrew's inventiveness, Ariel's curiosity, Maxwell's love of nature), nostalgic yearning for lost opportunities (Ariel and Andrew's moment in the woods years earlier), for human intimacy (Adrian's frigidity), for mystery (the magic lantern), and most of all, yearning for love. None of these are exclusive of the others, and in "Midsummer" they cleverly twist and twine into one another to create a pleasing comedy of manners (and errors). The acting is exceptionally fine except for Mary Steenbergen's strangely subdued--as in drugged--performance. She's a good actor, but just can't get find her groove as Adrian.

In addition to its artistic merits, "Midsummer" is an interesting film for several reasons. Allen isn't the centerstage star he's been in most of his straightforwardly comedic pieces, but is now a member of an ensemble. The notoriously cosmopolitan Allen sets the film in the country around the turn of the 19th century. And it's the first (of many) of his movies in which Mia Farrow stars.

Enjoyable, sweet, soft, tender, happy, visually beautiful: these are the words that come to mind when thinking about "Midsummer." July 27, 2008

Great Woodsy Allen comedy!

I remember going, many years ago, to the movies, to see this one!
It's charming & funny!
I highly recomended! April 5, 2008

Light. But slight.

Extremely beautiful scenery. Amusing character parodies. Witty lines. Interesting actors. Based, more or less equally, on Shakespeare and Bergman. Several viewers don't seem to recognize the Bergman influence, which is at least 50% of this movie. Captures the enchantment which can occur, very occasionally, in youth, especially, when nature, sun and moon combine to create a sense that there is more, after all, to existence, than the daily grind. I feel guilty that I found my attention wandering every so often. I gave it an extra star when I wasn't thinking. September 26, 2007

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