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The Invite, the relationship comedy directed by Olivia Wilde and starring herself alongside Seth Rogen, Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz, has quickly become one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, and is likely to be in the conversation come awards season. It's an incredibly well-acted, strikingly staged and sometimes painfully funny window into marriage, love and sex that has reasserted Wilde's position as a fascinating filmmaker to watch.
It's also a film that has brought many other films back into the cultural conversation. Aside from the obvious The People Upstairs, the Spanish-language film which The Invite is a remake of, there are a number of other films that served as clear inspirations for Wilde, who has been quite vocal about many of them as well. In this late era of filmmaking and constant consumption, there's no way a film could be made in a vacuum away from outside influence, and these are the films which clearly influenced The Invite.
'12 Angry Men' (1957)
Sidney Lumet was a director of expansive talent. He worked without genre borders on films as varied as the Agatha Christie mystery Murder on the Orient Expressand the cult musical The Wiz. Despite the breadth of his talent, he's best known for his crime dramas, of which there are many certified classics, not least of which is the courtroom drama 12 Angry Men. Though its content couldn't be more different from The Invite, Lumet's use of a claustrophobic set and confined staging to build tension were major influences on Wilde.
Based on a screenplay by Reginald Rose that was originally made as an episode of an anthology television series, the film tells the story of the jury of a murder trial. The twelve men, only known by their juror numbers, seem to be in unanimous agreement of the guilt of the accused, except for Juror 8 (Henry Fonda). His doubts are what drive the sweaty drama of this unimpeachable legal drama that serves as a stark rebuke of mob mentality and McCarthyism. 12 Angry Men is one of Lumet's masterpieces, and one of the most effective uses of a single set of any film ever made.
'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' (1966)
Just about any film that traps two couples together for a night of revelations owes a debt to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Based on the Edward Albee play and directed by Mike Nichols, it's a searing black comedy featuring a quarter of perfect performances by Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal and Sandy Dennis. It's a film that Wilde has openly praised and cited as a major influence on The Invite, and even though it may be decades old, it still packs a cynical punch.
College professor George (Burton) and his wife Martha (Taylor) have invited younger couple Nick (Segal) and Honey (Dennis) to their home for a nightcap. The late night gathering barely begins when George and Martha begin trading barbs, peeling back the layers of their dysfunctional marriage. It's when they turn their toxic gaze onto their younger counterparts that things get even more uncomfortable and startling truths are revealed. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? never feels confined by its stage-bound origins, but instead feels liberated by the increased intimacy of film.
'The Graduate' (1967)
Nichols' follow-up to Virginia Woolf is another film Wilde has name-checked as inspiration. The Graduateis a satirical coming-of-age comedy filled with dysfunctional notions of romance. It's inspired many more films than just The Invite, from the iconic seduction scene to its ending that subverted a romantic comedy trope that hadn't been invented yet. It's sharply written, poignantly acted and has a strong visual style that accentuates the isolation of the lead character that is clearly echoed in The Invite.
Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) is a recent college graduate who's faced with a future of uncertainty. His uncertainty leads him into the arms of the older, and married, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), whose daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross) he later attempts to court. It all culminates with an ending that undercuts its romantic joy with an ambiguous silence that only a select few comedies have been able to measure up to, The Invite included. The Graduate is a precise and perceptive comedy that captures an era of filmmaking and American culture with an enhanced ennui.
'Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice' (1969)
Along with Virginia Woolf, the film most often compared to The Invite is the sexual satireBob & Carol & Ted & Alice. As much a time capsule as The Graduate, it's a snapshot of the '60s sexual revolution taken from the perspective of two California couples. Though it might seem tame in comparison to the far more sexually liberated films and television series made today, the film was one of many made during a cultural shift in Hollywood as newer talents began to rise, and more taboo subjects could be explored.
Directed by Paul Mazursky, the film follows Bob (Robert Culp) and Carol (Natalie Wood), who come home from a free-spirited retreat with new open attitudes toward life. Those include sexual attitudes as well, which comes as a culture shock for straight-laced couple Ted (Elliot Gould) and Alice (Dyan Cannon). The film's climax, or more appropriately anti-climax, involves a sexual suggestion that would seem very familiar to anyone who's seen the final act of The Invite.
'Scenes from a Marriage' (1974)
On the more dramatic end of the scale of marital drama is Ingmar Bergman'sinfluential Scenes from a Marriage, which was initially broadcast as a nearly five-hour miniseries in Sweden before being cut to under three for an international theatrical release. It's an excruciatingly intimate drama that has influenced some of the best relationship movies of all time, includingMarriage Storyandthe Before Trilogy. It also had a clear impact on Wilde, who approaches some of the same intimacy in The Invite, but from the other, more comedic end of the scale.
Episodically chronicling the dissolution of the marriage between Johan (Erlan Josephson) and Marianne (Liv Ullmann), the film is a very raw depiction of imperfect people and their deep-seated issues that form the fissures in their relationship. The cinematography by Sven Nykvist draws the audience in as a participant in the proceedings, giving the film a palpable unease. Scenes from a Marriage is one of the most honest, and honestly uncomfortable, depictions of married life to ever be made.
'Interiors' (1978)
Director (and social pariah) Woody Allen was inspired by Scenes from a Marriage and Bergman in general when he made his more dramatic film Interiors. Wilde has broadly mentioned the intentionality of Allen's sets and filmmaking style as influencing The Invite, without specifically mentioning Interiors, but it's not hard to draw a comparison between the two, or any number of other Allen films. It was the follow-up to Annie Halland also starred Diane Keaton, his oft-muse who also holds a special place in the heart of Wilde, who dedicated The Invite to her.
In the film, Keaton plays one of the three daughters whose lives are upended by their parent's divorce and the subsequent suicide attempt. There's a lot of very dark dramatic content in the film, including an attempted sexual assault, which makes it nigh impossible to watch in the current context Allen occupies, but the performances are all perfect, including Keaton, Geraldine Page, Mary Beth Hurt, Kristin Griffith and Maureen Stapleton.
'The Birdcage' (1996)
Not wanting to end this on a dreary Woody Allen movie, let's focus instead on another Mike Nichols classic. The Birdcagehas specifically been called out by Wilde as a perfect comedy of errors with some of the best performances of all time. She's not wrong. The American remake of the French farce La Cage Aux Folles has achieved its own acclaimed status as a landmark queer comedy. It also features two of the most comedically precise performances by Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as a Miami couple who are faced with the prospect of playing it straight for the conservative parents of their son's fiancée.
In addition to the performances of Williams and Lane as Armand and Albert, the film also benefits from having two of the stiffest straight white people ever portrayed on film for the comedic madmen to bounce off. In the film's climactic third act, the fateful dinner occurs between the two families, with Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest playing an ultraconservative Republican husband and wife that look downright moderate by today's standards. The entire dinner party is comedic gold, from Hackman getting major laughs in complete silence to Lane pretending to be a modest housewife. The Birdcage is a classic comedy, and The Invite carries on its awkward tension.
