After the cult 1985 film with Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover, here is a musical remake of “The Color Purple”.
And it is Steven Spielberg, the director of the original feature film, who co-produced this new version alongside Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones (the first played in the 1985 film and the second composed the music).
The story remains the same: it takes place in Georgia, in the southern United States, between 1909 and 1945, and tells the fate of Celie, a young woman mistreated by her father and sold to an alcoholic man who beats her.
Separated from her beloved sister Nettie, Celie will endure a daily life of suffering thanks to the support of two rebellious women with unwavering energy: her daughter-in-law Sofia and the singer Shug Avery, who is also her husband's mistress...
This dark, cruel story, populated by violent and abusive men, is illuminated by a moving story of female solidarity.
And the film is served by a very inventive staging punctuated by flamboyant choreography to pieces of blues, gospel or pop.
This new version is in fact inspired by the musical released on Broadway in 2005, and several actors from the show reprise their roles here, joined in particular by Halle Bailey (the interpreter of “The Little Mermaid”, by Rob Marshall).
When he signed “The Color Purple” in 1985, which is the adaptation of the novel by the African-American Alice Walker, crowned with the Pulitzer Prize two years earlier, Steven Spielberg had suffered strong criticism.
He was criticized for reducing the relationship between Shug and Celie to a simple kiss when it was very erotic in the book.
The director admitted to having “been shy about it” so that his film, nominated 11 times for the Oscars, was not prohibited for those under 17.
No change in this new feature film: if Shug and Celie wake up at one point in the same bed, we only see them exchange a chaste kiss.
African-American Blitz Bazawule on camera
On the other hand, Spielberg seems to have taken into account another type of criticism... In 1985, some felt that it was not up to a white filmmaker to "tell a black story", especially since black men were presented in the film like bullies.
Alice Walker, who had co-written the script for the drama, even considered that she had “betrayed her ancestors”.
This time, the feature film is directed by the African-American Blitz Bazawule, who co-signed “Black is King”, Beyoncé's visual album based on songs from “The Lion King”.
And the press kit specifies that this version was made by “a team of black artists and technicians who provide their own point of view on the original work”.
Released in the United States on December 25, “The Color Purple” version 2024 is enjoying great success in theaters.
This Tuesday, the feature film has also just won an Oscar nomination in the best supporting role category for Danielle Brooks, who made herself known in the series “Orange Is the New Black”.
Editor's note:
4/5
“The Color Purple”,
dramatic musical comedy by Blitz Bazawule, with Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks… 2h21.