From the archives

The Color Purple

Alice Walker’s classic tale of female friendship and the power of love to overcome oppression.


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Director Steven Spielberg
Producer Quincy Jones, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter Menno Meyjes
With Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery, Danny Glover
USA 1985
154 mins
UK distribution Park Circus

1920s, Georgia. Celie, a young black woman, has started writing letters to God in an attempt to deal with her troubled circumstances. She has been married off to ‘Mister’, a vile older man, must deal with his children who despise her, and cope with the loss of her own children and her sister. Then she meets Shug, a confident jazz singer, who inspires her to discover her true self. During their intense relationship, Celie is transformed. This adaptation of Alice Walker’s classic novel, with an all-star cast featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover and Margaret Avery, has stood the test of time as a powerful tale of friendship and love, and of the capacity for female solidarity to overcome the most impenetrable oppression.

Jay Bernard

Flare Book Group
Join us for a discussion of the film at our very first literary salons.