ALFIE, WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

What's it all about
When you sort it out, Alfie
Are we meant to take more than we give
Or are we meant to be kind?

There's no doubt Alfie Cartwright, played by Michael Caine in the 1966 film 'Alfie', belongs to the same lineage of 'roués and cads' that goes back to the novels of Thackeray and Fielding and even before that to the notorious 18th century legend of seduction, Casanova, who famously inspired Mozart and DaPonte to write their masterpiece opera 'Don Giovanni' in 1787.

Re-watching 'Alfie' recently I was struck by the provocative theatricality of the film which grabs you by the collar from the opening scene and pulls you right in whether you like it or not. Breaking the fourth wall by having Caine talk to the camera throughout the entire movie is expertly done and perhaps never bettered in cinema. Prior to 'Alfie' I can only think of Olivier's 'Richard III' deploying a similar effect on screen and after 'Alfie' only a handful of films ('Annie Hall', 'Ferris Bueller') that come anywhere close to matching its success.

It's plausible to consider (from a script point of view) that Alfie is talking to an assumed male audience in the film as he often speaks like the caricature of a bloke from that era, as if he's confiding in friends down the pub that he presumes share his same dodgy ethos when it comes to the subject of women. Alfie, like many of his fictional peers such as Arthur Seaton ('Saturday Night And Sunday Morning') and Joe Lampton ('Room At The Top'), tests the boundaries of sexual freedom in what he sees as a form of rebellion in a repressed society when ultimately it becomes an act of self harm as he learns about the painful consequences of his promiscuity and finds himself becoming increasingly adrift from any genuine human connection. This film is chilling, especially as the emotional and psychological tension is ratcheted up and you begin to realise that any laughs the audience may have had along the way come at a high price as they also have to atone for their complicity in bearing witness to Alfie's shenanigans.

I also found myself drawing a parallel between Alfie and the character of Alex in Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' who shares a similar confessional approach with his audience as he narrates his way through ultra violence, rape and genocidal fantasies. Alex justifiably has.to pay a high price for his crimes as society punishes him with almost the same vicious glee he demonstrated at the height of his droog dysfunction. Perhaps, to some extent, both Alex and Alfie are products of their respective environments and if any redemption is to be found for them it won't be through enforced rehabilitation but through their own increasing self reflection.

I believe in love, Alfie
Without true love we just exist, Alfie
Until you find the love you've missed
You're nothing, Alfie

And of course, the title song 'Alfie' is a thing of beauty. Burt Bacharach described it as the high point of his and Hal David's career and it's easy to see why. Finding a way to encompass such existential ideas about love, faith and loneliness in the space of a two minute pop song and utilising such a sophisticated musical structure in doing so is truly phenomenal.

The only tragedy is that when the title song arrives at the end of the movie it's Cher who sings over the closing credits and not Cilla Black, whose iconic version is transcendent and easily matches the genius of Caine's performance.