Daily Dialogue — April 3, 2018

“You know what? When I look back on my little life and the birds I’ve known, and think of all the things they’ve done for me and the little I’ve done for them, you’d think I’ve had the best of it along the line. But what have I got out of it? I’ve got a bob or two, some decent clothes, a car, I’ve got me health back and I ain’t attached. But I ain’t got me peace of mind — and if you ain’t got that, you ain’t got nothing. I dunno. It seems to me if they ain’t got you one way they’ve got you another. So what’s the answer? That’s what I keep asking myself — what’s it all about? Know what I mean?”

— Alfie (1966), screenplay by Bill Naughton, play by Bill Naughton

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Breaking the 4th Wall.

Trivia: A rarity in film, Alfie (Michael Caine) sporadically engages the audience by looking straight into the camera as he voices his thoughts, a technique known as “breaking the fourth wall”. Curiously enough, Lewis Gilbert went on to direct Pauline Collins as the title character Shirley Valentine (1989), in which she also spoke her thoughts directly to the viewer.

Dialogue On Dialogue: In the tradition of breaking the 4th wall to provide personal confessionals, this one in Alfie is particularly poignant, the final scene in the movie.