Mighty Aphrodite

When he discovers his adopted son is a genius, a New York sportswriter seeks out the boy’s birth mother: a prostitute.

• Director:Woody Allen
• Genre:Comedy
• Runtime:89 minutes

Cast

Woody Allen : Lenny
F. Murray Abraham : Leader
Helena Bonham Carter : Amanda
Donald Symington : Amanda’s Father
Claire Bloom : Amanda’s Mother

Throughout the film, a Greek chorus narrates and comments on the action, also Oedipus, Jocasta, Tiresias and Cassandra take part in the film, sometimes directly intervining or just commenting. Sportswriter Lenny Weinrib (Woody Allen) and his career-driven wife Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter) are at dinner with another couple. Amanda decides she wants a baby and, because she can’t 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, and they adopt a baby boy, whom they name Max. As Max grows up, it becomes clear he is highly intelligent. Lenny becomes obsessed with learning the identity of his biological mother. After great difficulty, Lenny finally locates his 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 humour, and deluded dreams of becoming an actress. When Lenny doesn’t sleep with her but starts urging her to stop being a prostitute, Linda becomes furious and throws him out. It takes a while for Lenny to befriend Linda, and he begins her lifestyle makeover. Lenny tricks Linda into telling him about the child she gave up for adoption. He persuades her to quit being a prostitute and 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), and Lenny finds out. Lenny and Linda console one another and sleep together. Lenny then meets guilt-ridden Amanda, and they realise they are still in love. Linda makes one last attempt to win back Kevin and, as she drives back into the city, a helicopter drops out of the sky. Linda gives the pilot Don a lift, and 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. Read more

Watch full Mighty Aphrodite online streaming for free