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The Purple Rose Of Cairo
1985
As a beleaguered waitress and battered wife in Depression-era New Jersey, Cecilia's (Mia Farrow) only escape from her dreary life is her endless moviegoing. Fantasy and reality merge in a startling and comical fashion when the hero (Jeff Daniels) of a film Cecilia's watched a thousand times emerges from the screen and starts .. Read more
| Starring | Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Glenne Headly |
|---|---|
| Director | Woody Allen |
| Genres | Comedy |
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The Purple Rose Of Cairo
As a beleaguered waitress and battered wife in Depression-era New Jersey, Cecilia's (Mia Farrow) only escape from her dreary life is her endless moviegoing. Fantasy and reality merge in a startling and comical fashion when the hero (Jeff Daniels) of a film Cecilia's watched a thousand times emerges from the screen and starts squiring her around town. A pack of panicked studio executives pursue the errant leading man while the cast of disgruntled characters stranded on-screen await his return.
| Starring | Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Glenne Headly, Edward Herrmann, Van Johnson, Milo O'Shea, Michael Tucker, Dianne Wiest, Karen Akers, Stephanie Farrow |
|---|---|
| Director | Woody Allen |
| Studio | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 18 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 11 Mar 2002 Production year: 1985 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (5)
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In Woody Allen's short story The Kugelmass Episode, an academic is transported into the bedroom of the literary character Madame Bovary. The Purple Rose of Cairo is a film inversion of this idea, with Mia Farrow as a brutalised waitress who wins the heart of a character in her favourite movie (played by Jeff Daniels) who steps out of the screen to court her. Farrow and Daniels are charming and writer/director Allen poignantly recalls the importance of Hollywood dreams to people weighed down by the cares of the 1930s. Technically polished and undeniably ingenious, the material is perhaps more suited to a shorter format.
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During the Depression, downtrodden housewife Farrow so inflames a film's leading man (an explorer-poet) that he climbs... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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4 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Sometimes inspired, sometimes insipid. Luckily, it's more of the former
If like me, you tune into Woody Allen's movies to see Woody Allen's trademark Woody Allen character, you will be disappointed with this movie as it features an unprecedented zero percent Woody Allen. When I discovered this, I feared the worst as I tend to like Allen's movies for his character and not much else (aside from 'Annie Hall', which may well be the most perfect film ever made), but, to my surprise, I found that there's a lot to like about this surreal fantasy. The plot is weird to say the least (although it's less weird if you've seen The Last Action Hero). I feared that Allen might miss the mark with such a strange plot (like he did with 'Sleeper', another surreal fantasy), and although some of the jokes and ideas don't work; I most certainly do think that Allen has hit the nail on the head with this film. Well, almost. The plot follows Cecilia, a bored housewife in 1930's New Jersey. In an attempt to fill a void in her life, Cecilia visits the cinema. A lot. However, she gets an unsuspected surprise one day at the cinema while viewing the new film which is, strangely enough, titled; 'The Purple Rose of Cairo', when a minor character (but one that holds it all together), Tom Baxter gets up and walks off the screen, only to fall deeply in love with Cecilia. However, all is never rosy, as Gil Shepard, the up and coming actor that plays Tom Baxter in the movie is non too pleased that he has a doppelganger walking around, and so turns up in Cecilia's life as another challenger for her heart...
Where this film works is when it's concentrating on the film character in the real world. Seeing him learn about the difference between the real world and the world of the movies is always amusing and it allows Woody Allen to make some amusing observations between the two. However, Woody Allen seems too intent on being as surreal as possible, and some of the more weird things in the movie - such as the rest of the movie cast talking to the audience about the predicament they are in - come off being unfunny and therefore don't really work. I can see why Allen would have included that idea in the movie, and it's a good one that could potentially garner lots of laughs, but Woody didn't handle it right and the result just doesn't work. Furthermore, without Woody Allen, it just doesn't seem like a Woody Allen movie. To be honest, I don't think the film would have fit Allen's character - the two lead roles certainly don't fit him, but I like to see Woody Allen in movies, so him not being here is disappointing, for me anyway. That being said, the rest of the cast, particularly the two leads, do a wonderful job of carrying the movie. Jeff Bridges, a massively underrated actor, is a perfect fit for the dual role of Tom Baxter and Gil Shepard and he really does the film proud. Mia Farrow is another inspired casting choice for her character; she's a sublime actress ? and you could certainly imagine her being a bored housewife (no offence, Mia...).
And now I come to the 'point' of the movie. The movie most definitely seems like it has a defining point.... but what is it? The point is, almost, lost under a barrage of surreal images and general weirdness. However, there is definitely one here so let's see if we can find it? is Woody trying to tell his audience that if a movie character steps out of the screen and falls in love with you, don't turn him down? Is Woody trying to say that a perfect man (or woman) cannot exist in this imperfect world? Is Woody trying to tell people that their unrealistic fantasies won't come true, and even if they did; they still wouldn't come out perfectly? Is he trying to say that the world of fiction and reality shouldn't collide? Is Allen trying to tell us that nothing is perfect? That everything belongs in it's place? I think that this film says all of these things, but united under one simple message; life isn't perfect. Fair enough. -
Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Woody goes post-modern
Slightly silly but engaging fantasy about a poor, oppressed New Jersey housewife (Mia Farrow) who seeks solace from Depression hardships by constantly attending the cinema. One film, The Purple Rose of Cairo, particulary grabs her attention, and after watching it constantly, one of the chracters comes to life... The film works as a bittersweet romantic comedy, but Allen is clearly tring to say something about the nature of film watching, the dialectic between viewer and screen, the hermetic nature of movies and the artifice of Hollywood. Don't know what, though.
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News and features
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Whatever Happened to Woody Allen?
- 21 May 2008
He's made (at least!) a film a year since 1970, a record that's all the more remarkable when you realise that he's written and directed all of them, and starred in most. They include some of the best-loved and most quoted comedies in cinema history: Annie Hall, Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters take some beating, and that's to ignore "the early, funny ones" (Sleeper, Love and Death, Bananas); the lovely miniatures from what I consider his finest period (the early 80s gave us Broadway Danny... Read more
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As a beleaguered waitress and battered wife in Depression-era New Jersey, Cecilia's (Mia Farrow) only escape from her dreary life is her endless moviegoing. Fantasy and reality merge in a startling ... -