Review of The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) by Charlie M — 23 Feb 2015

I've often heard that this was one of Woody Allen's best movies, but I had never gone out of my way to watch it. It sounded like a sillier version of Last Action Hero, if you can imagine. What exits here isn't silly. It's lovely, thoughtful and ultimately bittersweet. Farrow is so small and delicate as Cecelia, whose no-good lout of a husband gambles away their money and roughs her up. Times are bleak, the town is dying and she can't enjoy any moment of her real life, but in the movies everything is perfect. There's beauty, grace, charm and everything ends happily. Sweetheart archaeologist Tom Baxter believes in love at first sight over and over as he travels to New York with the countess to fall in love with a lounge singer. Once he's escaped the celluloid to woo Cecelia he remains perfect, unburdened by the pessimism that exists in reality. He doesn't cheat, he can't be hurt, and he's always thoughtful. Here Allen explores our adulation for art within life. We want life to be perfect, but know it can't be true. That's the beauty of Hollywood escapism, we know it's not reality, but for just a few hours in a darkened room we can be swept away.

So what happens to all the upper class neurosis that's prevalent in his other movies? Brilliantly, Allen has incorporated that into the movie within the movie. The film can't continue without Tom Baxter so the characters are forced to sit and wait for days, eventually loosing their minds and debating reality. In an homage to Allen's detractors one patron shouts "I don't pay to watch those socialites sit around up there, staring at us making nasty remarks.".

While not always happy, this is a very rewarding watch for everything from Jeff Daniels' two endearing performances (as the actor & his subject), and one of the most magical and original films I've seen.