Touches You

Sorry, this movie sucks

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This movie makes me happy. The humor seems not at all forced as I feel it sometimes is in Woody Allen movies. The battles of all the participants is fun to watch. It is set in the time of early Freud, and everyone displays their inner turmoils in various and entertaining ways.I have read several of viewer's reviews and I would recommend reading them. I will not do a synopsis nor a paraphrased review.I just watched this film's ending again and the slowly rising, bubbling "firefly" joyful ending is one that sends me from the viewing room out into real life with a renewed interest in things (aka "Stuff"). Movies are cool.

Falling between films such as "Manhattan" (1979), "Stardust Memories" (1980), "Zelig" (1983), "Broadway Danny Rose" (1984), and "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (1985), "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" (1982) might come off as a mediocre minor work in the oeuvre of director Woody Allen. The film presents the director's usual themes, style, and narrative without developing them into anywhere near the insights of, say, the subsequent "Zelig". Nonetheless, "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" offers a pleasant viewing experience for any Woody Allen fan as well as those who appreciate subtle comedy which puts more emphasis on the matters of the heart and the intellect rather than those of mere physique. The story, lending little more than the idea of blending relationships from William Shakespeare's most-celebrated comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1590-7), concerns an inventor (Woody Allen) and his wife (Mary Steenburgen), whose sex life has been suffering recently, who invite two couples to their summer residence: a professor who despises metaphysics and theology (Jose Ferrer) and his wife-to-be (Mia Farrow), who had a budding relationship with the inventor in the past, and a physician who is more open-minded when it comes to philosophical questions (Tony Roberts) and his young expendable sweetheart (Julie Hagerty). This simple set-up offers many directions for a comedy of errors, misunderstandings, and changes of heart which Allen develops in his usually amusing and stimulating fashion. Although the story and its events may not bear that many resemblances to those of Shakespeare's play, one is enticed to look for them from the moment one hears the music of Felix Mendelssohn, who composed the most famous music for the play in question in the 19th century. The most striking similarity is that both the film and the play portray characters who escape into nature where they are subjected to the powers of the heart or, alternatively, of the subconscious. What is more, both the play and the film juxtapose reason and emotion (or imagination) in the drama. In Shakespeare's play, the city which the lovers escape from represents reason and its domination over emotion, whereas the forest with fairies and magic represents emotion and its freedom from or, possibly, domination over reason. In Allen's film, this juxtaposition is captured by the character of the arrogant, naturalist-minded professor (whose counterpart in Shakespeare's play might be Egeus or Theseus), representing reason, and the other characters and the surrounding natural milieu, representing the powers of emotion. As Allen's narrative playfully takes sides with the latter, the spectator witnesses the inventor's discovery of a machine which allows to peek into the super-sensible world with spirits from the past. Above all, Allen's "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" tackles the ancient theme of lust versus love. Other characters contemplate whether love without lust is possible, others whether lust without love is. This theme can, obviously, be seen as a development on the theme from Shakespeare's play. One of the film's greatest strengths is its subtlety which is a common denominator in Allen's comedy. Allen's extensive use of the off-screen space, the long take, and the mobile camera constantly imply that there is more than the eye can see. This gives elegance to the cinematic expression while also articulating the central theme of the film. Overall, like Shakespeare, Allen is able to use multiple sources, ideas, and themes to concoct an amusing and intellectually as well as emotionally stimulating piece of cinema which lasts with its viewer. Maybe not as sharply and distinctly as "Zelig" or "Manhattan", but it can be dug up every once in a while.

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy takes a bit of time to get into(though you can sort of say the same thing about Smiles of a Summer Night, a Bergman masterpieces, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, one of Shakespeare's best-known plays for a reason), and while it is not one of Woody Allen's absolute best it is still a great film and one of his most overlooked(fairly accessible too). While not as gorgeous-looking as Manhattan for example, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is beautifully filmed, in keeping with the whimsical tone the film has and the scenery is magical with lots of character and colour as well as a real fantasy vibe. The music is fabulous, no big surprises there as it is Mendelssohn, not only that but the music fits absolutely perfectly, as soon as I saw this title Mendelssohn's music immediately came to mind. The script mayn't be one of his most sophisticated or quotable, that shouldn't be expected though because the dialogue is still very funny with a chockfull of witty and snappy lines that has Allen's writing all over, and all done in a subtle and slightly endearingly silly way. The story is one of the most whimsical and charming of any Woody Allen film(very light in tone as well), while maintaining a good amount of realism. The characters are well-written, not the most likable but a long way from detestable as well. The performances from all 6 of the lead ensemble are just great, especially from a hilarious and suave Tony Roberts and Mary Steenburgen. Woody Allen has some fine comic moments too, Jose Ferrer relishes some of the film's best lines, Julie Haggerty is charming and always amuses and Mia Farrow does show some ease in comedy despite it being different to what she's known for(I don't think she deserved that Razzie nomination). The chemistry between all 6 is believable. So overall, a great and overlooked film. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This movie features shallow characters, mildly amusing shtick, and early 1980s New York acting school pseudo-intellectuals placed back in 1900 for a weak parody of Bergman's "Smiles of Summer Night. " The title, score, and some silly supernatural effects suggest fairies or spirits to add a nod to Shakespeare, but the themes that both Shakespeare and Bergman delineate in their wonderful works are not even remotely touched on by Allen, who turns the magic of sex and love and its attendant pain into...shtick. Allen once admitted that in his lifetime he would never make a film as good as any film Bergman made; at least he knew his limitations. Allen was a comedian working in a post sexual revolution era where sex had to be covered up by jokes and special effects, the way it's been for any mainstream American movie of the past 35 years. This parody of Bergman thinly disguises a love of Bergman, and only serves to highlight the glaring differences in scope between Bergman's film and Allen's film. It follows in a Hollywood and vaudeville comic tradition of mocking the highbrow for the benefit of middlebrow tastes, but is not irreverent or incisive enough to produce real laughs. This may be partly because it's so one-sided, with all of the fantasies and neuroses coming from a male consciousness, whereas Bergman and Shakespeare (not to mention the great farce writers, such as Feydeau), always gave men and women equal representation.