What filmmaking techniques does Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask use?

CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask (1972): Genre Collage, Period Film Look Imitation, Parody and Pastiche and Title Sequence as Manifesto.

What films are similar to Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask?

Films that share techniques with Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask include Hail, Caesar! (2016), Hannibal (2001), Pulp Fiction (1994), Se7en (1995).

Comedy

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask

Woody Allen, 1972

Seven short comic stories, each loosely based on a 1969 sex advice book by David Reuben. They range from a court jester with a love potion to a game show and a control room inside a man's head. Watch it as a showcase for Woody Allen's movie parodies.

2 Narrative 1 Cinematography 1 Editing

At a glance

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask is a 1972 comedy film directed by Woody Allen. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 narrative, 1 cinematography and 1 editing), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Hail, Caesar! uses several of the same techniques.

Narrative

Genre Collage

Mixing several genres in 1 film, such as crime, romance, horror and absurd comedy. The clash between them keeps you from settling into a single way of watching.

How this film uses it

Each segment borrows a different kind of movie, from a Hamlet-style court comedy to an Italian art film and a 1950s monster picture. The clash keeps you from settling in. The doctor segment alone splits in 2, first spoofing Ed Wood's films and then giant-monster movies.

Where to see it

The giant breast: Victor and journalist Helen Lacey visit Dr. Bernardo, a mad researcher whose experiments include a giant runaway breast.

Cinematography

Period Film Look Imitation

Recreating the look of an earlier era's film or television using period cameras, film stock, lighting and contrast. The images feel like real records from that time or a tribute to it.

How this film uses it

The game show segment is the only black-and-white one and is shot kinescope style, like early recorded TV. It spoofs What's My Line? as What's My Perversion?, with Jack Barry as host. The old TV look makes the embarrassing material feel both silly and strangely polite.

Where to see it

What's My Perversion?: On a game show hosted by Jack Barry, a rabbi acts out a bondage fantasy while his wife eats pork.

Narrative

Parody and Pastiche

Imitating a known genre, author or famous scene with affection or mockery, so the audience's familiarity with the original drives the humor and the commentary.

How this film uses it

A NASA-like control center sits inside a man's brain, and sperm are dispatched paratrooper style. Allen plays one of them. The segment spoofs science fiction and mission control, and the jokes work because everyone sounds so professional.

Where to see it

What Happens During Ejaculation?: A control center inside a man's head prepares the sperm, who are sent out like paratroopers.

Editing

Title Sequence as Manifesto

Using the opening titles to set up the film's look, tone and psychological feel before the story starts. The sequence is a short preview of the whole style.

How this film uses it

The opening and closing credits play over white rabbits to Cole Porter's 'Let's Misbehave'. Before any story starts, you know the film is playful and a little naughty.

Where to see it

The opening credits: White rabbits run across the screen as 'Let's Misbehave' plays.

Questions

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask use?: CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask (1972): Genre Collage, Period Film Look Imitation, Parody and Pastiche and Title Sequence as Manifesto.
Who directed Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask?: Woody Allen directed Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask, released in 1972. CineCode also covers Take the Money and Run (1969), Bananas (1971), Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975), Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan (1979).
What films are similar to Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask?: Films that share techniques with Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask include Hail, Caesar! (2016), Hannibal (2001), Pulp Fiction (1994), Se7en (1995).

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