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Gil Shepherd connects The Purple Rose of Cairo with Midnight in Paris !

posted 12 years ago by frank_plessers
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**Only read this after you've watched the movie.

If you've watched Midnight in Paris, you might just be as intrigued as I am to find that the main character is called Gil Shepherd too. If you haven't watched Midnight in Paris, view it now. It's magical! Anyway, I'm having a difficult time figuring out what the relation could be between the two Gil's. I am quite convinced that Woody Allen wants to make a statement here!

While the Purple Rose of Cairo's Gil Shepherd creates the absolutely adorable character Tom Baxter, the real Gil lacks his virtues. When Gil meets Cecilia they seem to fall in love with each other. But what actually happens is that Cecilia falls in love with an escape route out of her disappointing daily life while Gil mistakes his feelings for her with the confidence and compliments she gives him. Despite this, they clearly do have feelings for each other and enjoy each others company. The end scene on the plane where Gil is having difficulty with his decision to let her stand suggests he really feels sorrow for leaving her with only her idealistic imagination. It seems he just considers his career as an Hollywood actor as more important.

Midnight in Paris' Gil Shepherd on the other hand is a complete romantic. Like Cecilia, he has created a better world in his mind. His nostalgic goggles obscure the minor sides of life and emphasize all what was wonderful in Paris during the lovely '20s. He realizes his romantic ideals don't fit with his sober girlfriend and breaks up with her despite that she isn't as flawed as Cecilia's Monk.

So why did Woody Allen leave us with these puzzle pieces and how to make them fit? I was wrong to presume there would be a link between the two Shepherds. The puzzle is completed by connecting Cecilia with Gil. While Cecilia's Gil Shepherd left her with unfulfilled desires and shattered dreams, the right Gil steps up 25 years later in another movie! The two poetic souls clearly have potential to live together in world of their dreams.

Back in 1985 Allen wanted to say life isn't like the movies, it is disappointing in the end. Now, after all this time, he seems to have changed his opinion to tell us that the match was always there. In a mysterious way, there is a happy ending to the Purple Rose of Cairo.

These are two of my favourite movies, so I really want to understand the connection and am waiting for your opinion! Thanks

Frank

[–] CWColes89 9 years ago

Good thoughts, but the Gil in "Midnight in Paris" is Gil Pender, not Shepard. Still, I think you're right to connect Cecilia and Paris Gil. Both are searching for an escape route from the banality of their lives: Cecilia in a movie fantasy and Gil in nostalgia. In that way they are kindred spirits of sorts in Allen's universe, and the theme of an idealized escapism from an unfulfilling and disappointing reality does appear often in Allen's films.

Midnight in Paris does seem to have a much more positive ending of the two; perhaps the ending Cecilia deserved and in a way finally realized through Gil. At least, it's pretty to think so.