Mira Sorvino as Linda Ash in Mighty Aphrodite

Best Supporting Actress at the 68th Annual Oscars (1995)

Notable Quote:

“I got a great sense of humor.”

Synopsis:

Adoptive father Lenny Weinrib (Woody Allen) becomes obsessed with finding the mother of his son – but gets more than he bargained for with Linda Ash (Mira Sorvino), an unrefined goofball.

The character:

This isn’t a word that I’d often use to describe someone, but Linda Ash is, quite simply, a hoot. Linda is a porn actress and sex worker, but despite Lenny’s constant attempts to make her change her career path (ugh, fuck off dude), she never has any shame. In fact, her best quality is her ability to move through life without feeling bad about herself. She openly shares everything, whether it’s her terrible family history, or her vulgar home décor, or her incredible porn name, “Judy Cum”. It’s not even like she’s trying to be naughty, she just talks about exactly what she wants to talk about, others’ opinions be damned. She’s a straightforward lady who isn’t trying to game anyone.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to push back on every freaking synopsis of this movie that calls her that dimwitted. I mean, yes, she’s incapable of irony, and takes everything very literally, but that doesn’t make her dumb. She’s very coherent when articulating, say, her bonkers family dynamic, and has a good read on people. She’s exactly the type of person that someone like Woody Allen would think was an idiot: she’s not constantly chiming in with “witticisms”, and she’s not insanely self-aware to the point of self-hatred, but that’s not the only way to express intelligence, Woody! 

The performance:

Not only did Mira Sorvino unfortunately win her sole Oscar in a Woody Allen film, she was also notably blacklisted after rebuffing Harvey Weinstein. Ugh, the world is so unjust, because she’s fucking incredible. If you’ve ever seen Mighty Aphrodite, you know that the magic of this performance is in Linda’s glorious voice. And if you haven’t, go listen to a clip, seriously. It’s this obnoxious, hilarious honk of a sound that somehow manages to emerge from Sorvino’s throat and nose at the same time. I think it’s endlessly funny, and I’d be pleased to hear it forever.

But the performance isn’t just a vocal gimmick. It’s also about Sorvino’s ability to embody Linda’s amazing contradictions. She’s oafish, but also incredibly sexy. Every word that she utters is so vulgar, and yet she radiates a pure innocence. Ultimately, Linda could easily have been the butt of a bunch of sexist jokes, but Sorvino really makes her an endearing character, one that we want to spend time with, even though we might roll our eyes at her. And she absolutely made the film what it was.

The movie:

Oh Lord, another Woody Allen film down, just a bunch more to go. Sigh. One thing I can say for Allen, at least he makes short movies. I found this film to be overly precious and meta, and not that funny. Like, the whole gimmick is that there’s a Greek chorus narrating the movie, and hahaha, isn’t it funny to imagine a Greek chorus in a New York deli, etcetera etcetera. And maybe if I could get past all of the horrendous accusations against him, I’d be able to appreciate this more, but I don’t care to, so. At least as usual, he’s given us an iconic woman to stan.

Was the Oscar deserved?

Yes, this performance is goofy and wonderful.