Line #28 Film/ThePurpleRoseofCairo


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3	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_purple_rose_of_cairo6_824.jpg]]
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5	->''"I just met a wonderful new man. He's fictional, but you can't have everything."''
6	-->-- '''Cecilia'''
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8	''The Purple Rose of Cairo'' is a 1985 American romantic fantasy comedy film written and directed by Creator/WoodyAllen, starring Creator/MiaFarrow, Creator/JeffDaniels, and Creator/DannyAiello.
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10	[[TheGreatDepression In 1930s New Jersey]], Cecilia (Farrow) is a downtrodden waitress with [[DomesticAbuse an abusive husband]], Monk (Aiello), and little to look forward to in her daily life. She escapes her troubles by going to the movies as often as she can and getting lost in beautiful love stories. In the latest movie, ''[[ShowWithinAShow The Purple Rose of Cairo]]'', a charming archeologist named Tom Baxter (Daniels) falls in love with a glamorous nightclub singer. After losing her job, Cecilia tries to raise her spirits by going to see the film another time. Unexpectedly, Tom Baxter [[TelevisionPortal walks right off the screen]] and into Cecilia's life.
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12	Tom's exit from the movie causes an uproar as the characters left in the film fight amongst themselves. Suddenly, Tom Baxters in other screenings are trying to leave their theaters and audiences have no idea how to handle it. Real life actor Gil Shepherd (also Daniels) is forced to track down his character Tom and convince him to go back into the movie. But Tom has fallen in love with Cecilia and she must decide whether to live a life of fantasy or reality.
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14	----
15	!!This film provides examples of:
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17	* TheAlcoholic: Monk blames whiskey for his hot temper and abusive behavior.
18	* ArtInitiatesLife: Tom walks out of the screen and Gil becomes convinced it's up to him to force Tom to go back into the film.
19	* AwfulWeddedLife: Monk drinks and gambles constantly and often beats Cecelia.
20	* TheBeautifulElite: The characters in the films that Cecilia watches.
21	-->'''Tom''': I don't get hurt or bleed, hair doesn't muss; [[LampshadeHanging it's one of the advantages of being imaginary]].
22	* BittersweetEnding: Depending on how you look at it. [[spoiler: Cecilia is stood up by Gil, who seems to genuinely regret leaving her behind, and Tom returns to his film and is supposedly destroyed. However, she is finally free of her abusive home-life with Monk, and the final moments of the film imply that her life will get better from that point on.]]
23	* BreakingTheFourthWall: An in-universe example. After Tom walks out of the screen, the other characters are able to interact with audience all the time.
24	-->'''Movie Patron''': You can't talk to my wife that way! Who do you think you are?
25	-->'''The Countess''': I'm a genuine countess with a lot of dough, and it that's your wife she's a tub of guts.
26	* CrapsackWorld: As the film is set during The Great Depression, life is awfully bleak. [[spoiler: The ending proves just how cruel the real world is compared to the movies.]]
27	* CruelTwistEnding: [[spoiler:Convinced that Gil is going to take her away to Hollywood, Cecelia finally works up the nerve to leave Monk... and then when she goes back to the movie theater to meet Gil, she learns that he's already gone back to Hollywood - he only pretended to love her so that she would convince Tom Baxter to return to his film, though the look on his face seems to indicate he was actually starting to like her.]]
28	* DeconReconSwitch: Despite its status as a DeconstructorFleet, it is presented with a certain amount of affection both for 1930s romanticism and the films made in that time period.
29	* DeconstructorFleet: The entire film plays fast and loose with the fourth wall as the line blurs between fantasy and reality. There's also a good deal of lampshade hanging.
30	* DidNotGetTheGirl[=/=]DidNotGetTheGuy: [[spoiler:Gil tricks Tom and Cecelia into parting ways, leaving them both alone. Worse, it's implied that once Tom returned to the movie, all the prints were destroyed, causing him and all the other movie characters to cease to exist.]]
31	* DomesticAbuse: Cecilia and Monk both reference occasions when Monk got drunk and hit Cecilia. Monk defends his actions by saying he only hits Cecilia when she [[WouldHitAGirl "gets out of line"]].
32	* DoppelgangerReplacementLoveInterest: Played with. [[spoiler:And then subverted. Gil was never in love with Cecilia and only used her to convince Tom to go back into the movie.]]
33	* DownerEnding: Again, it's up to your interpretation. [[spoiler:Cecilia leaves her husband once and for all and plans to run away with Gil. He stands her up and was only using her to get Tom back into the movie where he belonged - where he is destroyed with all other prints of the film. Cecilia is left to cry alone in the movie theater as she watches the new film of the week, once again escaping her problems by trying to escape to fantasy again. Worse, Gil does seem to seriously regret screwing Cecilia over, flying back to Los Angeles.]]
34	* FadeToBlack:
35	** While on a date with Cecilia, Tom expects a SexyDiscretionShot to interrupt them once they start kissing.
36	** The theater manager suggests turning the projector off after Tom exits the film but the characters object.
37	-->'''Harry''': No! No! Don't turn the projector off! No! No! It gets black and we disappear!
38	* {{Fainting}}: A woman in the theater faints when Tom walks out of the screen. Later, Kitty passes out when she finds out Cecilia is real.
39	* FatalFlaw: Cecilia’s are her naïveté and her inability to roll with reality’s punches. She acts without [[DidntThinkThisThrough thinking through her decisions]]; daydreams and is wistful to have a romantic, cinematic life to the point she can’t focus on her work or have contingency plans to live independently or financially sound; and she often (though not always) takes people’s words at face value without considering the possibility of ulterior motives. [[spoiler: Which potentially end up costing her]].
40	* FrothyMugsOfWater: Once inside the film herself, Cecilia discovers the champagne is actually ginger ale.
41	* TheGambler: Monk spends what little money he has either on alcohol, card games, or penny pitching.
42	* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: Monk shamelessly seeing a woman in front of his wife is "bad" while Cecilia's platonic love triangle with a fictional character and an actor is in "good" category.
43	* GreasySpoon: The diner where Cecilia and her sister waitress.
44	* TheGreatDepression: The film is set during the 1930s, and almost none of the real world characters are steadily employed.
45	* GrowingUpSucks: [[spoiler: Cecilia learns the hard way about how cruel and self-serving people can be when Gil uses her just to further his own career.]]
46	* HiddenDepths: Arturo the waiter reveals his hidden talent for tap-dancing after the film-within-a-film takes on a life of its own.
47	* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Emma.
48	* IWishItWereReal: Played with. Cecilia watches films because she wishes life was as romantic as in the movies. But after Tom walks out of the movie, reality becomes even harsher because of his innocence about the real world.
49	* MoralMyopia: Monk has no problem lying to Cecilia, but gets genuinely incensed when he discovers Cecilia has been lying to him.
50	* NaturalizedName: Gil Shepherd's real name is Herman Barbedian.
51	* NiceCharacterMeanActor: Tom Baxter is charming and perfect while Gil Shepherd is an egotistical {{Jerkass}}.
52	* NoodleIncident: The studio head says that ''other'' Toms have been walking off the screen. Sadly, we never see what they're doing.
53	* RealWorldEpisode: Tom Baxter lives in a movie while Cecilia lives in reality. He is incredibly innocent about several "real world" things.
54	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
55	-->'''Movie Patron:''' You can't talk to my wife that way - who do you think you are?
56	-->'''The Countess:''' I'm a genuine countess with a lot of dough, and if that's your wife she's a tub of guts.
57	-->''(The other movie patrons applaud.)''
58	* RefugeeFromTVLand: Tom walks out the film because he wants to meet Cecilia. [[spoiler:Later, Tom takes Cecilia back with him into the movie for a date.]]
59	* RememberTheNewGuy: Averted. When Cecilia is invited into the movie world, everyone is startled by her presence.
60	* SassyBlackWoman: The film maid Delilah, when the plot goes haywire, drops her role and basically tells everyone off then ScrewThisImOuttaHere.
61	* SexyDiscretionShot: Tom is amazed that people in the real world can make love without a FadeToBlack.
62	-->'''Tom''': How fascinating. You make love without fading out?
63	-->'''Cecilia''': Yes.
64	-->'''Tom''': Well, I can't wait to see this!
65	* ShowWithinAShow: ''The Purple Rose of Cairo'' is the title of the film Cecilia loves so much.
66	* ThisIsReality: Cecilia has a hard time figuring out how to accept Tom's affection because he is imaginary.
67	* TrappedInTVLand: Played with. No one is ''trapped'' but it's clear that characters are meant to stay in their films and the audience is meant to stay in the real world. [[spoiler: Tom easily brings Cecilia back with him into the film for a date and they easily step back into the real world again]].
68	* WideEyedIdealist:
69	** Cecilia, to an extent, because of how much she believes in fantasy.
70	** Tom more so because he lives in a movie.
71	* WifeBasherBasher: Tom offers to rough Monk up the next time he raises a hand to Cecilia. After all, [[LampshadeHanging it was written into his character to do it]].

Context Film / ThePurpleRoseofCairo