Mighty Aphrodite
Encyclopedia
Mighty Aphrodite is a 1995 romantic
comedy film
written and directed by Woody Allen
. The screenplay
was inspired by the mythological
tale of Pygmalion
.
Allen co-stars with Mira Sorvino
, who received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
narrates and comments -- and Oedipus
, Jocasta
, Tiresias
, and Cassandra
sometimes directly intervene -- in this modern fable.
Sportswriter Lenny Weinrib (Woody Allen
) is married to career-driven wife Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter
). She wants a baby and, because she cannot afford to get pregnant due to her job, she says they will adopt. Lenny is opposed to this, but as always Amanda has her way. They adopt a baby boy, whom they name Max.
As the child grows up, it becomes clear he is highly intelligent. Lenny becomes obsessed with learning the identity of Max's biological parents. After great difficulty, Lenny finally locates Max's mother: prostitute and part-time porn star Linda Ash (Mira Sorvino
).
Lenny makes an "appointment" with her. At first, Linda appears to be a dumb blonde with a crude sense of humor, along with delusions of becoming an actress. Lenny does not sleep with her and urges her to stop being a prostitute. Linda becomes furious and throws him out.
It takes a while for Lenny to befriend Linda, but then he begins her lifestyle makeover. Lenny also tricks her into telling him about the child she gave up for adoption. He persuades Linda to quit her profession and even bribes her violent pimp with basketball tickets to let Linda go.
Lenny then sets Linda up with a boxer-turned-onion farmer Kevin (Michael Rappaport). It appears to be a perfect match, until Kevin discovers Linda's background and leaves her.
Meanwhile, Amanda has been having an affair with her colleague Jerry (Peter Weller
). Lenny finds out about it. Lenny and Linda console one another and sleep together. Lenny then reconciles with a guilt-ridden Amanda, realizing they are still in love.
Linda makes one last attempt to win back farm boy Kevin. But as she drives back to the city, a helicopter drops out of the sky. Linda gives the pilot Don a lift and, before you know it, they end up getting married.
The twist is that Linda is pregnant with Lenny's child. A year later, Lenny and Linda, with their individual children, meet in a toy store. They have each other's child, but they don't know it.
served as the film's music coordinator, arranger
, and conductor. The soundtrack
includes "Neo Minore" performed by Vassilis Tsitsanis
, "Horos Tou Sakena" by Stavros Xarchakos, "I've Found a New Baby
" by Wilbur de Paris
, "Whispering" by Benny Goodman
& His Orchestra, "Manhattan" by Carmen Cavallaro
, "When Your Lover Has Gone" by Ambrose
& His Orchestra, "L'il Darlin" by Count Basie
& His Orchestra, "Take Five" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, "Penthouse Serenade (When We're Alone)" and "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" by Erroll Garner
, "The In Crowd" by Ramsey Lewis
, and "You Do Something to Me" and "When You're Smiling" by the Dick Hyman Chorus & Orchestra. Graciela Daniele
choreographed
the dance routines.
The Greek chorus includes George de la Peña
and Pamela Blair
. Tony Sirico
and Paul Giamatti
make brief appearances in minor roles.
Manhattan
locations include Bowling Green
, Central Park
, and FAO Schwarz. Additional exteriors were filmed in North Tarrytown and Quogue. The Greek chorus scenes were filmed in the Teatro Greco in Taormina
on the island of Sicily
.
, Janet Maslin
said, "Even when it becomes unmistakably lightweight, Mighty Aphrodite remains witty, agile and handsomely made."
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
called the film "a sunny comedy" and added, "The movie's closing scene is quietly, sweetly ironic
, and the whole movie skirts the pitfalls of cynicism
and becomes something the Greeks could never quite manage, a potential tragedy
with a happy ending."
In the San Francisco Chronicle
, Leah Garchik said the film was "an inventive movie, imaginative and rich in detail" and added, "Woody Allen's incredible wit is at the heart of all that's wonderful in Mighty Aphrodite, and Woody Allen's incredible ego is at the core of its major flaw . . . He fails when he attempts . . . to get the audience to suspend its disbelief and accept Allen, a withered Romeo, as a sweet-natured naif. The crotchety charm of the shy and awkward characters he played as a young man has worn off; nowadays, he comes across as just plain crotchety."
Peter Travers
of Rolling Stone
said, "The film is a showcase for Sorvino, actor Paul
's Harvard
-grad daughter, who gives a sensational performance. She shows startling humor and heart without trading on sentiment."
In Variety
, Todd McCarthy described the film as "a zippy, frothy confection that emerges as agreeable middle-range Woody . . . There is perhaps a bit too much of the chorus galavanting about delivering their increasingly colloquial admonitions and too few convulsive laughs, but the writer-director has generally pitched the humor at a pleasing and relatively consistent level . . . The film's biggest surprise, and attraction, is Sorvino . . . [who] goes way beyond the whore-with-a-heart-of-gold externals of the part in developing a deeply sympathetic and appealing character. None of the diverse roles she has done to date would have suggested her for this part, but this gutsy performance will put her much more prominently on the map."
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
written and directed by Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
. The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
was inspired by the mythological
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
tale of Pygmalion
Pygmalion (mythology)
Pygmalion is a legendary figure of Cyprus. Though Pygmalion is the Greek version of the Phoenician royal name Pumayyaton, he is most familiar from Ovid's Metamorphoses, X, in which Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved.-In Ovid:In Ovid's narrative, Pygmalion was a...
.
Allen co-stars with Mira Sorvino
Mira Sorvino
Mira Katherine Sorvino is an American actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite and is also known for her role as Romy White in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.- Early life :Sorvino was born in Tenafly, New Jersey...
, who received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
Plot
A Greek chorusGreek chorus
A Greek chorus is a homogenous, non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action....
narrates and comments -- and Oedipus
Oedipus
Oedipus was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family...
, Jocasta
Jocasta
In Greek mythology, Jocasta, also known as Jocaste , Epikastê, or Iokastê was a daughter of Menoeceus and Queen consort of Thebes, Greece. She was the wife of Laius. Wife and mother of Oedipus by Laius, and both mother and grandmother of Antigone, Eteocles, Polynices and Ismene by Oedipus...
, Tiresias
Tiresias
In Greek mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet of Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo; Tiresias participated fully in seven generations at Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus...
, and Cassandra
Cassandra
In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy...
sometimes directly intervene -- in this modern fable.
Sportswriter Lenny Weinrib (Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
) is married to career-driven wife Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
). She wants a baby and, because she cannot afford to get pregnant due to her job, she says they will adopt. Lenny is opposed to this, but as always Amanda has her way. They adopt a baby boy, whom they name Max.
As the child grows up, it becomes clear he is highly intelligent. Lenny becomes obsessed with learning the identity of Max's biological parents. After great difficulty, Lenny finally locates Max's mother: prostitute and part-time porn star Linda Ash (Mira Sorvino
Mira Sorvino
Mira Katherine Sorvino is an American actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite and is also known for her role as Romy White in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.- Early life :Sorvino was born in Tenafly, New Jersey...
).
Lenny makes an "appointment" with her. At first, Linda appears to be a dumb blonde with a crude sense of humor, along with delusions of becoming an actress. Lenny does not sleep with her and urges her to stop being a prostitute. Linda becomes furious and throws him out.
It takes a while for Lenny to befriend Linda, but then he begins her lifestyle makeover. Lenny also tricks her into telling him about the child she gave up for adoption. He persuades Linda to quit her profession and even bribes her violent pimp with basketball tickets to let Linda go.
Lenny then sets Linda up with a boxer-turned-onion farmer Kevin (Michael Rappaport). It appears to be a perfect match, until Kevin discovers Linda's background and leaves her.
Meanwhile, Amanda has been having an affair with her colleague Jerry (Peter Weller
Peter Weller
Peter Frederick Weller is an American film and stage actor, director and lecturer.He is best known for his roles as the title character in the first two RoboCop films and Buckaroo Banzai in the cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension...
). Lenny finds out about it. Lenny and Linda console one another and sleep together. Lenny then reconciles with a guilt-ridden Amanda, realizing they are still in love.
Linda makes one last attempt to win back farm boy Kevin. But as she drives back to the city, a helicopter drops out of the sky. Linda gives the pilot Don a lift and, before you know it, they end up getting married.
The twist is that Linda is pregnant with Lenny's child. A year later, Lenny and Linda, with their individual children, meet in a toy store. They have each other's child, but they don't know it.
Cast
- Woody AllenWoody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
as Lenny Weinrib - Helena Bonham CarterHelena Bonham CarterHelena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
as Amanda Sloan Weinrib - Mira SorvinoMira SorvinoMira Katherine Sorvino is an American actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite and is also known for her role as Romy White in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.- Early life :Sorvino was born in Tenafly, New Jersey...
as Linda Ash - Michael RapaportMichael RapaportMichael David Rapaport is an American, actor, director and a comedian. He has acted in more than forty films since the early 1990s...
as Kevin - F. Murray AbrahamF. Murray AbrahamFahrid Murray Abraham is an American actor. He became known during the 1980s after winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus. He has appeared in many roles, both leading and supporting, in films such as All the President's Men and Scarface...
as Greek Chorus Leader - Olympia DukakisOlympia DukakisOlympia Dukakis is an American actress. In 1987, she won an Academy Award, BAFTA, and a Golden Globe for her performance in Moonstruck...
as JocastaJocastaIn Greek mythology, Jocasta, also known as Jocaste , Epikastê, or Iokastê was a daughter of Menoeceus and Queen consort of Thebes, Greece. She was the wife of Laius. Wife and mother of Oedipus by Laius, and both mother and grandmother of Antigone, Eteocles, Polynices and Ismene by Oedipus... - David Ogden StiersDavid Ogden StiersDavid Ogden Stiers is an American actor, director, vocal actor, and musician, noted for his roles in Disney movies, as well as his performances in the television series M*A*S*H as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III and the science fiction drama The Dead Zone as Reverend Gene Purdy...
as LaiusLaiusIn Greek mythology, King Laius, or Laios of Thebes was a divine hero and key personage in the Theban founding myth. Son of Labdacus, he was raised by the regent Lycus after the death of his father.-Abduction of Chrysippus:... - Jack WardenJack WardenJack Warden was an American character actor.-Early life:Warden was born John Warden Lebzelter in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Laura M. and John Warden Lebzelter, who was an engineer and technician. He was of Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry...
as TiresiasTiresiasIn Greek mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet of Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo; Tiresias participated fully in seven generations at Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus... - Danielle FerlandDanielle FerlandDanielle Ferland is an American actress and singer.-Career:Ferland attended Bunnell High School in Stratford, CT from 1983–1987 and attended New York University....
as CassandraCassandraIn Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy... - Peter WellerPeter WellerPeter Frederick Weller is an American film and stage actor, director and lecturer.He is best known for his roles as the title character in the first two RoboCop films and Buckaroo Banzai in the cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension...
as Jerry Bender - Claire BloomClaire BloomClaire Bloom is an English film and stage actress.-Early life:Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales...
as Mrs. Sloan
Production notes
Dick HymanDick Hyman
Richard “Dick” Hyman is an American jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer, best-known for his versatility with jazz piano styles. Over a 50 year career, he has functioned as pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and, increasingly, as composer...
served as the film's music coordinator, arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
, and conductor. The soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
includes "Neo Minore" performed by Vassilis Tsitsanis
Vassilis Tsitsanis
Vassilis Tsitsanis was a Greek songwriter and bouzouki player. He became one of the leading Greek composers of his time and is widely regarded as one of the founders of modern Rebetika. Tsitsanis wrote more than 500 songs and is still remembered as an extraordinary bouzouki...
, "Horos Tou Sakena" by Stavros Xarchakos, "I've Found a New Baby
I've Found a New Baby
"I've Found a New Baby", also known as "I Found a New Baby", is a popular song written by Jack Palmer and Spencer Williams. It was introduced by Clarence Williams' Blue Five in 1926 and has since been recorded by many artists, making it a popular jazz standard.Spencer Williams and Palmer had...
" by Wilbur de Paris
Wilbur de Paris
Wilbur de Paris was a trombone player and band leader, especially known for mixing New Orleans jazz style with Swing.De Paris was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where his father, Sidney G...
, "Whispering" by Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
& His Orchestra, "Manhattan" by Carmen Cavallaro
Carmen Cavallaro
Carmen Cavallaro was an American pianist. He established himself as one of the most accomplished and admired light music pianists of his generation.-Music career:...
, "When Your Lover Has Gone" by Ambrose
Ambrose (bandleader)
Benjamin Baruch Ambrose , known professionally as Ambrose or Bert Ambrose, was an English bandleader and violinist. Ambrose become the leader of a highly acclaimed English dance band, the Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra, in the 1930s.-Early life:Ambrose was born in the East End of London; his father...
& His Orchestra, "L'il Darlin" by Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
& His Orchestra, "Take Five" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, "Penthouse Serenade (When We're Alone)" and "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" by Erroll Garner
Erroll Garner
Erroll Louis Garner was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad "Misty", has become a jazz standard...
, "The In Crowd" by Ramsey Lewis
Ramsey Lewis
Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis, Jr. is an American jazz composer, pianist and radio personality. Ramsey Lewis has recorded over 80 albums and has received seven gold records and three Grammy Awards so far in his career.-Biography:...
, and "You Do Something to Me" and "When You're Smiling" by the Dick Hyman Chorus & Orchestra. Graciela Daniele
Graciela Daniele
Graciela Daniele is an Argentine-American dancer, choreographer, and theatre director.-Biography:Born at Buenos Aires, Daniele began her dance training at the age of seven at Teatro Colón, Argentina's equivalent of Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre...
choreographed
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
the dance routines.
The Greek chorus includes George de la Peña
George de la Peña
George de la Peña is an American ballet dancer, musical theatre performer, choreographer, actor, and teacher. He was born in New York City, New York, U.S....
and Pamela Blair
Pamela Blair
Pamela Blair , known as Pam, is an American actress, singer, and dancer best known for originating the role of "Val" in the musical A Chorus Line and several appearances on American soap operas.-Early life and career:...
. Tony Sirico
Tony Sirico
Genaro Anthony "Tony" Sirico, Jr. is an American character actor who is most famous for his role as Paulie Gualtieri in the television series The Sopranos.- Background and career :Sirico was born in Midwood, Brooklyn...
and Paul Giamatti
Paul Giamatti
Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti is an American actor. Giamatti began his career as a supporting actor in several films produced during the 1990s including Private Parts, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, The Negotiator, and Man on the Moon, before earning lead roles in several projects in the...
make brief appearances in minor roles.
Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
locations include Bowling Green
Bowling Green (New York City)
Bowling Green is a small public park in Lower Manhattan at the foot of Broadway next to the site of the original Dutch fort of New Amsterdam. Built in 1733, originally including a bowling green, it is the oldest public park in New York City and is surrounded by its original 18th century fence. At...
, Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, and FAO Schwarz. Additional exteriors were filmed in North Tarrytown and Quogue. The Greek chorus scenes were filmed in the Teatro Greco in Taormina
Taormina
Taormina is a comune and small town on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy, in the Province of Messina, about midway between Messina and Catania. Taormina has been a very popular tourist destination since the 19th century...
on the island of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
.
Release
The film debuted at the Toronto Film Festival before going into limited release in the US. It opened on 19 screens and earned $326,494 its opening weekend. It eventually grossed $6,401,297 in the US and $19,598,703 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office of $26,000,000.Critical response
In her review in The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
said, "Even when it becomes unmistakably lightweight, Mighty Aphrodite remains witty, agile and handsomely made."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
called the film "a sunny comedy" and added, "The movie's closing scene is quietly, sweetly ironic
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
, and the whole movie skirts the pitfalls of cynicism
Cynicism
Cynicism , in its original form, refers to the beliefs of an ancient school of Greek philosophers known as the Cynics . Their philosophy was that the purpose of life was to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature. This meant rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and...
and becomes something the Greeks could never quite manage, a potential tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
with a happy ending."
In the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, Leah Garchik said the film was "an inventive movie, imaginative and rich in detail" and added, "Woody Allen's incredible wit is at the heart of all that's wonderful in Mighty Aphrodite, and Woody Allen's incredible ego is at the core of its major flaw . . . He fails when he attempts . . . to get the audience to suspend its disbelief and accept Allen, a withered Romeo, as a sweet-natured naif. The crotchety charm of the shy and awkward characters he played as a young man has worn off; nowadays, he comes across as just plain crotchety."
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
said, "The film is a showcase for Sorvino, actor Paul
Paul Sorvino
Paul Anthony Sorvino is an American actor. He often portrays authority figures on both sides of the law, and is possibly best known for his roles as Paulie Cicero, a portrayal of Paul Vario in the film Goodfellas and Sgt. Phil Cerreta on the police procedural and legal drama television series Law...
's Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
-grad daughter, who gives a sensational performance. She shows startling humor and heart without trading on sentiment."
In Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, Todd McCarthy described the film as "a zippy, frothy confection that emerges as agreeable middle-range Woody . . . There is perhaps a bit too much of the chorus galavanting about delivering their increasingly colloquial admonitions and too few convulsive laughs, but the writer-director has generally pitched the humor at a pleasing and relatively consistent level . . . The film's biggest surprise, and attraction, is Sorvino . . . [who] goes way beyond the whore-with-a-heart-of-gold externals of the part in developing a deeply sympathetic and appealing character. None of the diverse roles she has done to date would have suggested her for this part, but this gutsy performance will put her much more prominently on the map."
Awards and nominations
| Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Award | Best Original Screenplay | Mighty Aphrodite | |
| Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the... |
Mira Sorvino Mira Sorvino Mira Katherine Sorvino is an American actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite and is also known for her role as Romy White in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.- Early life :Sorvino was born in Tenafly, New Jersey... |
||
| Golden Globe | Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year.... |
||
| New York Film Critics Circle Award | Best Supporting Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress The New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award given by the New York Film Critics Circle, honoring the finest achievements in filmmaking.... |
||
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Award | Best Supporting Actress | ||
| National Board of Review Award National Board of Review of Motion Pictures The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures was founded in 1909 in New York City, just 13 years after the birth of cinema, to protest New York City Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr.'s revocation of moving-picture exhibition licenses on Christmas Eve 1908. The mayor believed that the new medium... |
Best Supporting Actress National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress The National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress is one of the annual film awards given by the National Board of Review.-1950s:-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:... |
||
| Chlotrudis Award Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film The Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film is a Boston-area non-profit organization that teaches audiences to view films actively through discussion, formal and informal education, discourse, film festivals, special screenings and collaboration. Their focus is on international and independent film... |
Best Supporting Actress Chlotrudis Awards 1996 The 2nd Annual Chlotrudis Awards were presented in 1996 by the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film.-Best Movie:Dead Man Walking* Amateur* Babe* Jeffrey* The Secret of Roan Inish* Sense and Sensibility-Best Actress:... |
||
| Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award | Best Supporting Actress Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 1995 The 2nd Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards, given in 1996, honored the best filmmaking of 1995.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue - Leaving Las Vegas*Best Director:**Mike Figgis - Leaving Las Vegas... |
||
| Southeastern Film Critics Association Award | Best Supporting Actress Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards 1995 The 4th Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best in film for 1995, were held in January 1996.-Top 10 films:#Apollo 13#Braveheart *Academy Award for Best Picture*#Crumb#Get Shorty#Once Were Warriors... |
||
| BAFTA Award | Best Actress in a Supporting Role BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Best Actress in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film... |
||
| Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role | ||
| Writers Guild of America Award Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949... |
Best Original Screenplay Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay The Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay is one of the three film writing awards given by the Writers Guild of America Award.... |
Mighty Aphrodite | |
| Nastro d'Argento Silver Ribbon Nastro d'Argento The Nastro d'Argento is a movie award assigned each year, since 1946, for cinematic performances and production by Sindacato Nazionale dei Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani, the association of Italian film critics... |
Best Cinematography | Carlo Di Palma Carlo Di Palma Carlo Di Palma was an Italian cinematographer, renowned for his work on both color and black-and-white films, who collaborated with Michelangelo Antonioni , Woody Allen Carlo Di Palma (17 April 1925, Rome – 9 July 2004, Rome) was an Italian cinematographer, renowned for his work on both... |
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| Butaca Award Butaca Awards The Butaca Awards are a miscellaneous annual theater and film award ceremony held since 1995 in Barcelona, Catalonia to award those who have made valuable contributions to Catalan theater and cinema.... |
Best Art House Film | Mighty Aphrodite | |
| American Choreography Award American Choreography Awards The American Choreography Awards was a ceremony and show that honored outstanding choreographers in the fields of feature film, television, music videos, and commercials. They were first known as the L.A. Dance Awards , then as Bob Fosse Awards, and a.k.a. Fosse’s , and eventually the American... |
Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film | Graciela Daniele Graciela Daniele Graciela Daniele is an Argentine-American dancer, choreographer, and theatre director.-Biography:Born at Buenos Aires, Daniele began her dance training at the age of seven at Teatro Colón, Argentina's equivalent of Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre... |