Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Sex * But Were Afraid To Ask (18.)
Directed by Woody Allen. (1972.)
Starring Woody Allen, Gene Wilder, Louise Lasser, Tony Randall, Burt Reynolds, Lynn Redgrave, Anthony Quayle and John Carradine. 88 mins. Available on Blu-ray, seperately or as part of the Woody Allen: Six Films 1971-1978 box set from Arrow Academy.
These days everybody wants to about know Woody Allen's sex life but are afraid of what they might find out. We prefer to forget that in his earlier funny film his slightly seedy preoccupation with sex was actually one of the things we liked about him. To some extent that was down to the times, the era of sexual liberation and discovery, when the bright and articulate fought against the repressed and the square because they were certain that sex could only be a life force for good. It was also because the sexual ambitions of this weedy little guy were rather heroic, and his comic insights into sex and relationships were often the most truthful, and the most funny. He was also adept at balancing out his sexual successes and failures – the chump who is always rejected eventually becomes as dull and predictable as an all conquering stud. On screen he had a healthy balance of both.
Allen's third film as director finds him in a position where he hadn't quite found his place as a filmmaker. Allen had been active in the world of showbusiness since the fifties as a gag writer, standup comic, playwright, scriptwriter and actor. His previous two directorial efforts, Take The Money And Run, Bananas hadn't really connected with audiences, so he was still vulnerable to the idiotic ideas of film producers,* such as making a big budget motion picture of a non-fiction sex manual, albeit one with a really good title. His version is a series of seven vignettes that encompass a wide range of styles and parodies, each headed by a chapter title from the book, such as What Is Sodomy? and What Happens During Ejaculation?
The film has been largely forgotten or overlooked but it actually one of his funniest films. At this time his films were still basically a series of gags strung together, so the constant changing of the situation and the cast helped to disguise that, and kept it fresh. I think all the sections have merit but probably the first two are the funniest. In Do Aphrodisiacs Work? Allen plays a court jester whose act is hated by the King (Quayle) and who is keen to make it with the Queen (Redgrave.) It is high density gaggery and showcases Allen as a performer, the mix of slapstick clowning and quickfire wit. The next What Is Sodomy? features a particularly good Gene Wilder performance as a doctor who falls in love with a sheep. Here the humour is not in the dialogue but the absurdity of the situation and the predictability of male romantic expression – at one point Wilder buys the sheep a diamond tiara.
*According to IMDB it was Allen's idea, as act of revenge because he saw the author of the book Dr Ruebens use one of his lines on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show.
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Sex * But Were Afraid To Ask (18.)
Directed by Woody Allen. (1972.)
Starring Woody Allen, Gene Wilder, Louise Lasser, Tony Randall, Burt Reynolds, Lynn Redgrave, Anthony Quayle and John Carradine. 88 mins. Available on Blu-ray, seperately or as part of the Woody Allen: Six Films 1971-1978 box set from Arrow Academy.
These days everybody wants to about know Woody Allen's sex life but are afraid of what they might find out. We prefer to forget that in his earlier funny film his slightly seedy preoccupation with sex was actually one of the things we liked about him. To some extent that was down to the times, the era of sexual liberation and discovery, when the bright and articulate fought against the repressed and the square because they were certain that sex could only be a life force for good. It was also because the sexual ambitions of this weedy little guy were rather heroic, and his comic insights into sex and relationships were often the most truthful, and the most funny. He was also adept at balancing out his sexual successes and failures – the chump who is always rejected eventually becomes as dull and predictable as an all conquering stud. On screen he had a healthy balance of both.
Allen's third film as director finds him in a position where he hadn't quite found his place as a filmmaker. Allen had been active in the world of showbusiness since the fifties as a gag writer, standup comic, playwright, scriptwriter and actor. His previous two directorial efforts, Take The Money And Run, Bananas hadn't really connected with audiences, so he was still vulnerable to the idiotic ideas of film producers,* such as making a big budget motion picture of a non-fiction sex manual, albeit one with a really good title. His version is a series of seven vignettes that encompass a wide range of styles and parodies, each headed by a chapter title from the book, such as What Is Sodomy? and What Happens During Ejaculation?
The film has been largely forgotten or overlooked but it actually one of his funniest films. At this time his films were still basically a series of gags strung together, so the constant changing of the situation and the cast helped to disguise that, and kept it fresh. I think all the sections have merit but probably the first two are the funniest. In Do Aphrodisiacs Work? Allen plays a court jester whose act is hated by the King (Quayle) and who is keen to make it with the Queen (Redgrave.) It is high density gaggery and showcases Allen as a performer, the mix of slapstick clowning and quickfire wit. The next What Is Sodomy? features a particularly good Gene Wilder performance as a doctor who falls in love with a sheep. Here the humour is not in the dialogue but the absurdity of the situation and the predictability of male romantic expression – at one point Wilder buys the sheep a diamond tiara.
*According to IMDB it was Allen's idea, as act of revenge because he saw the author of the book Dr Ruebens use one of his lines on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show.
