The Purple Rose of Cairo

1985 film by Woody Allen

The Purple Rose of Cairo is a 1985 film set in 1930s New Jersey, when a movie character walks off the screen and into the real world.

Directed and written by Woody Allen.
She's finally met the man of her dreams. He's not real but you can't have everything.

Cecilia

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  • I just met a wonderful new man. He's fictional but you can't have everything.

Tom Baxter

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  • It's so impulsive, but... I'll come. Why not? What's life without a little risk taking? Who knows?
  • I don't get hurt or bleed, hair doesn't muss; it's one of the advantages of being imaginary.
  • Life's too short to spend time thinking about life. Let's just live it!

Others

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  • Moviegoer: I want what happened in the movie last week to happen this week; otherwise, what's life all about anyway?

Dialogue

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Tom Baxter: Cecilia, it's clear how miserable you are with your husband. And if he hits you again, you tell me. I'd be forced to knock his teeth out.
Cecilia: I don't think that'd be such a good idea. He's big.
Tom Baxter: I'm sorry. It's written into my character to do it, so I do it.

Tom Baxter: [after innocently being invited into a bordello] I was thinking about some very deep things. About God and his relation with Irving Saks and R.H. Levine. And I was thinking about life in general. The origin of everything we see about us. The finality of death; how almost magical it seems in the real world, as opposed to the world of celluloid and flickering shadows.
Hooker [to another hooker] Where did you FIND this clown?

Gil's Agent: Tom Baxter's come down off the screen and he's running around New Jersey!... Nobody knows how it happened, but he's done it.
Gil Shepherd: How can he do that? It's not physically possible!
Gil's Agent: In New Jersey anything can happen.

Tom Baxter: [to Cecilia] I love you. I'm honest, dependable, courageous, romantic, and a great kisser.
Gil Shepherd: And I'm real.

Tom Baxter: [pauses after kissing Cecilia] Where's the fade-out?
Cecilia: What?
Tom Baxter: Always when the kissing gets hot and heavy just before the lovemaking, there's a fadeout.
Cecilia: Then what?
Tom Baxter: Then we're making love in some private, perfect place.
Cecilia: That's not how it happens here.
Tom Baxter: What, there's no fade out?
Cecilia: No, but when you kissed me, I felt like my heart faded out. I closed my eyes, and I was in some private place.
Tom Baxter: How fascinating. You make love without fading out?
Cecilia: Yes.
Tom Baxter: Well, I can't wait to see this!

Tom Baxter: I guess I have to get a job.
Cecilia: That's not gonna be so easy either - right now the whole country's out of work.
Tom Baxter: Well, then, we'll live on love. We'll have to make some concessions, but so what? We'll have each other
Cecilia: That's movie talk.

Theater Manager: Cecilia, what are you doing here?
Cecilia: Meeting Gil Shepherd.
Theater Manager: They all gone.
Cecilia: Th - whaddaya, whaddaya mean?
Theater Manager: They went back to Hollywood.
Cecilia: Gil too?
Theater Manager: Mr Shepherd, yeah. Soon as Tom Baxter went back up on the movie screen - couldn't wait to get outta here. He said this was a close call for his career. I think he's gonna play Charles Lindbergh. [pause] Don't forget, Cecilia, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers start today.

Cast

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