| ONCE UPON A TIME IN NEW JERSEY : Woody Allen's 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' (1985) [8/10] |
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| Sunday, 20 August 2006 | |
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warning : review includes spoilers A small town in depression-era New Jersey is the grim setting for one of Allen's most economic, heartfelt and bittersweet comedies. At its centre are four strong performances by three actors: Mia Farrow as clumsy waitress Cecilia, who escapes from her financial and emotional woes by immersing herself in the glamorous world of Hollywood movies; Danny Aiello as her oafish, unemployed husband Monk; and Jeff Daniels in the double role of (i) Tom Baxter, a dashingly heroic character in The Purple Rose of Cairo one of Cecilia's favourite pictures and (ii) Gil Shepherd, the up-and-coming thespian who plays Tom in the film-within-the-film. Allen's script pivots on a charming, semi-surreal, inspired conceit by which Tom somehow 'steps out' of the movie into the cinema auditorium after having 'noticed' Cecilia's repeated attendance. Cecilia is delighted at Tom's attention - her fellow patrons are perplexed, while Tom's fellow characters up on screen impatiently await his return so that their story can continue. Fearing lawsuits, Hollywood bigwigs dispatch Gil to New Jersey - giving Cecilia a rather uncomfortable dilemma as she finds herself romanced by both 'real' and 'fictional' beaux... Allen's Purple Rose (as opposed to the one featuring Tom Baxter) is an acerbic love-letter to the power of the movies (which must therefore be seen in a cinema rather than on TV). It's an ode to old-fashioned escapism, though not what you could call an unquestioning paean to the merits of how art can function in such a manner. Cinema isn't exactly presented as a new "opium for the masses," but even so many have taken exception to the "bleak" finale in which Cecilia is (as they perceive it) punished for her short-sighted, movie-drunk gullibility. But while she doesn't end up going off to Hollywood with her movie-star idol - the happy fate she'd been deceived into expecting - she is in a better position than when we first meet her. In the final fade, she has her ukelele in one hand and her suitcase clenched tightly in the other - giving us grounds to believe that, because of her experiences with Tom and Gil, she's no longer going to be content with the thuggish affections of her unworthy husband. Cinema has shown Cecilia the possibility of transcendence ("In New Jersey, anything is possible!" as someone remarks), so that she may well go on to achieve a real and lasting form of escape. The film's magical-realist developments function on an emotionally convincing level that elevate them above some mere 'high-concept' gimmick: The Purple Rose of Cairo is a romantic fantasy about the power, and the limitations, of romantic fantasy - a difference which Cecilia ultimately benefits from learning in the hardest possible way. It's a tough lesson - and, as has been noted, one that hasn't proved to all viewers' tastes. Allen sugars the "pill," however, by keeping things moving briskly along (editor Susan Morse cuts it down to a bare 80 minutes of fast-talking dialogue), and through the nimble way he alternates between the "real world" (in colour) and Baxter's "movie world" home (in black and white) - the latter an affectionate, sharply-observed tribute to the 'white telephone' school of decadent melodramas which proved so popular during the Depression. The fictional Purple Rose is also notably well-cast - veterans John Wood, Edward Herrmann, Van Heflin and Zoe Caldwell seem to be having a ball, and it's testament to Allen and Morse's control of their material that these sly scene-stealers never quite manage to deflect the spotlight from Farrow and Daniels and their touchingly unique celluloid romance. Neil Young 20th August, 2006 THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO : [8/10] : USA 1985 : Woody ALLEN : 78 mins (BBFC timing) seen at Melies cinema, Barcelona (Catalunya/Spain), 5th July 2006 - public show (repertory; paid €4.00; with thanks to Daniel Steinhart) |
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