Review of A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) by Charlie M — 23 Feb 2015

Likely the most Wes Andersonian of Woody's movies, here is a movie that adores the time period it's in. All of the characters run around with straw hats, goggles & suspenders with the same sexual frustration that existed in the early 80's, but it's cuter this way. Like Anderson's films the house in the country is filmed like a model, but simply to give us a picturesque view of the country. The 3 couples play badminton, eat al fresco, discuss new contraptions and go for country walks, all while discussing the possibility of an unseen magic world beyond our known reality, and fighting off their animalistic sexual urges (or lack thereof).

There are wonderful revelations in the 3rd act, but mostly it's just fun to see the director having fun again with a tone that's been missing since "Love & Death." It's his first film with his muse of the 80's Mia Farrow, and the beginning of their decade long, tumultuous romance.