Dry martinis and rich ideas

|Classic Film Appreciation|

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Written and Directed by Woody Allen

Choosing between fantasy and reality is not a tough choice. Most of us would undoubtedly choose fantasy over reality because we think we would be a lot happier. Mingling with beautiful, affluent and sophisticated people, frequenting ritzy night clubs and drinking martinis (“I hope you like your martinis very dry!) in the afternoon sure beats working a low-paying, dead end job at a dumpy New Jersey diner like Cecilia (Mia Farrow).

She would rather escape to the movies and get lost in the aforementioned good life than face the harsh realities of the depression and her lazy, adulterous and abusive, deadbeat husband Monk (Danny Aiello). One day she goes to the movies to see the comedy “The Purple Rose of Cairo” for the fifth time to try to forget about her loser husband and getting fired. Fantasy becomes reality when the charming archaeologist character Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels) leaves the movie in progress to approach his loyal fan Cecelia in the audience.

Woody Allen often cites The Purple Rose of Cairo as one of his best films because the film is a close realization of his screenplay—it turned out like he envisioned in his head. Woody has certainly done better films than Purple Rose but this depression era comedy does standout as a top tier film from the director. It is creative, clever, funny and a model of efficiency and economy. There are only a handful of sets and Woody utilizes his trademark long takes and plenty of mastershots.

Woody’s taut screenplay makes the right choice every step of the way. After Baxter leaves the screen to be with Cecilia the average screenwriter could have chosen to open the film up by allowing too much fantasy to seep into Cecilia’s reality. Instead, Woody creates interesting rules by which Baxter must live by in the real world and creates a logical conflict by involving Gil Shepherd (Daniels), the actor who portrays Baxter, in a quest to save his career.

Gil has no idea what Baxter might be up to but Woody chooses to govern Baxter’s behavior by the character profile for the movie within the movie “The Purple Rose of Cairo”. For instance, Baxter acts and speaks according to what has been written into his character. He’s written in as charming so he has a way with women. Baxter is written in as brave so he doesn’t hesitate to fight Monk. Although, we see his character is limited and naïve when it comes to understanding that Emma (the fabulous Dianne Wiest) and her friends run a brothel.

Tom Baxter: I was thinking about some very deep things. About God and his relation with Irving Saks and R.H. Levine. And I was thinking about life in general. The origin of everything we see about us. The finality of death; how almost magical it seems in the real world, as opposed to the world of celluloid and flickering shadows.
Hooker: [To another hooker] Where did you FIND this clown?

Baxter is also limited in his memories of his family, especially his father (“Dad was a card. I never met him. He died before the movie began”). Not to the mention the fact that his movie money is not accepted at restaurants. Jeff Daniels excels in this quirky role bringing equal amounts of charm, naivety and humor (“You make love without fading out?”) to the role. This works well with Farrow’s character that is idealistic, romantic (“I just met a wonderful new man. He’s fictional but you can’t have everything”) and unassuming. Cecelia’s charm is in her quest for fantasy, something she knows is fleeting but plans on holding onto as long as possible.

There are some great scenes involving the movie within the movie which include the likes of the Countess (Zoe Caldwell), the communist (Peter McRobbie), Kitty Haynes (Karen Akers) and others. My favorite is after Baxter leaves the screen and the cast cannot go on with the film so they sit around drinking martinis and playing cards. The haughty Countess’ ire towards Baxter is quite amusing because she regards him as a minor character.

The Countess: You know what they get for rape in a small town? Especially by a man in a pith helmet?

In another scene a movie patron calls out the Countess:

Movie Patron: You can't talk to my wife that way - who do you think you are?
The Countess: I'm a genuine countess with a lot of dough, and if that's your wife she's a tub of guts.

Purple Rose is a small gem of a film and one of Woody’s most overlooked films along with the likes of Stardust Memories, Zelig and Husbands and Wives. It’s so refreshing to have a film this funny, enjoyable and cleverly written that’s an original story.