Mighty Aphrodite (Woody Allen) - 1995

Woody had fun with the Greek chorus in this comedy.  He argues with the chorus and gets lots of advice from them.  Towards the end, the chorus performs some show tunes with choreography.  Mira Sorvino won the best supporting actress Oscar for her portrayal as the unsophisticated, porn actress/hooker.  Woody and his wife (Helena Bonham Carter) decide to adopt a son.  They name him Max after ruling out Woody's suggestions that included "Groucho" and "Earl the Pearl."  Woody then proceeds to track down Max's real mother that turns out to be Mira to his chagrin.  Eventually, Woody comes to admire Mira and helps her exit the hooker life by trading Knicks tickets to Mira's pimp for her freedom.  Jack Warden (1920-2006) has an excellent cameo turn as Tiresias, a blind man who can sometimes see quite well. [JAM 6/21/2010]

["Part of the credit for taking the edge off the profanity in Aphrodite goes to Mira.  She brought a lightness to it, she played it like such a cartoon.  That voice was all her.  I had some uneasy moments about it during shooting, which I didn't share with her, though I thought, My God, if they don't buy in to the voice, I'm really in trouble." Conversations with Woody Allen - January 2000]

[" ... I thought I should do that with my Greek chorus.  Then the idea occurred to me for the ending, which really made the idea for me, that she would have my child and I would have her child and neither of us would know it.  The whole thing came together as a Greek story and I did it with the chorus.  I put it together years before I made it." Conversations with Woody Allen - February 2006]