Tuesday Minute
No. 8 | January 12, 2010

At the Movies

Our theme this week
Movies set in movie theaters

Featured this week
Monday         —   Sherlock Jr.

The Purple Rose of Cairo

The essentials
The blurring of reality and illusion has been a ripe theme for filmmakers.  Inspired by Buster Keaton et al., Woody Allen pulled the reverse trick of Sherlock Jr. in The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). 

Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels), the hero of a Depression-era black-and-white film, sees Cecilia (Mia Farrow) sitting in the theater where she seeks escape from her empty marriage.  He breaks the fourth wall, stepping into the world of color and into her life.  The two of them fall in love, a problem for the movie characters that he leaves behind, who cannot go on with their story without him.  The movie producer summons Gil Shepherd (Daniels again), the actor who plays Baxter, who instead of saving the day becomes part of an unusual love triangle.  Cecilia must decide between two lovers, the actor and his movie character.  She discovers that there’s no escape from the reality of her life, but there is solace in what she loves most, the movies.  She goes to see Top Hat.  As Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers sing and dance, for a while at least, Cecilia doesn’t have a care in the world:

Heaven, I’m in heaven
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we’re out together dancing cheek to cheek

The Purple Rose of Cairo is a complex story with a masterful screenplay.  The performances are well worth watching too, especially the two leads, Farrow and Daniels.

Beyond the final credits
The breakup of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow’s twelve-year relationship was a painful event for all involved, and got lots of publicity at the time.  Their working partnership had been especially productive.  They made 13 films together.  A few of their other films include Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), and Alice (1990).

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The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels

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Movie Lexicon
One-sheet:  a movie poster used for theater displays and other advertising, typically about 27″ by 40″; one-sheets are popular collectibles among movie fans.

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