Review of Alfie

Adapted by Bill Naughton from his own play, Lewis Gilbert's 1966 film Alfie was a defining moment in the career of star Michael Caine, and remains hugely popular today. But is not perhaps quite what people who have never seen it might be expecting: often described as a comedy, it's infrequently funny and often quite dark. The plot follows the eponymous Alfie, a self-centred, womanising Cockney who is forced to contemplate his outlook on life by circumstances that arise within the film. The character is a paradox: Caine's natural charm and charisma make him likeable, and yet it's hard to sympathise with him when he espouses his fairly obnoxious worldview to the viewer, referring to the married woman with who he has just had sex in a car as "it", a term he will often use when describing women throughout the film. He refuses to marry his rather wet girlfriend, Gilda, who is pregnant with his child, because he balks at responsibility and commitment; for all his good looks and charm, it's easy to see why Gilda comes to see mild-mannered bus conductor Humphrey as a better prospect. Inevitably, Alfie is forced to take stock by the events that happen to him, but his transformation is a reluctant one. He remains largely unrepentant for his treatment of other people, having an affair with his friend Harry's wife Lily and getting her pregnant, which results in her choosing to have an abortion. It takes seeing his estranged son Malcolm from afar followed by a close-up encounter with Lily's terminated foetus to make him start to realise the consequence of his actions. By the time he learns his lesson, it's just in time to get a taste of his own medicine when he decides to visit Ruby and discovers that she has a younger man in her bed. Ultimately, Alfie isn't a man who embraces change, but one on whom it is foisted. The film eventually comes full circle at the end, as Alfie bumps into Siddie - the married woman he had sex with in the opening scenes - who has lost interest in him. He muses that he hasn't got his peace of mind and asks the audience, "What's it all about? Know what I mean?" It is to Naughton's credit that Alfie is an entirely believable character, but it is to Caine's that we are willing to spend a couple of hours following his story. Caine's performance is one of the main reasons that Alfie has endured. Another is the director Lewis Gilbert, whose unusual approach sees Alfie break the fourth wall and address the audience directly right from the start of the film, as he informs the audience that they won't be seeing any titles. Gilbert and cinematographer Otto Heller bring a dynamic look to the film, which shows off the London locations and makes good use of a wide variety of camera techniques: at one point during the pub fight, a thrown chair seems to crack the camera lens; a slow motion montage - including black and white photos of Malcolm - shows Alfie bonding with his son. Sonny Rollins' jazzy soundtrack provides a distinctive and enlivening accompaniment throughout. Whilst Caine carries the film, the guest cast certainly helps, with everybody giving naturalistic performances, from Julia Foster as Gilda through Graham Stark as Humphrey (successfully treading a fine line between endearing and stalker) to Denholm Elliott as the "Abortionist" who arrives to get rid of Lilly (and Alfie's) unwanted foetus and in doing so provide unsavoury reminder that in the pre-AIDS era there were still consequences to Alfie's irresponsible behaviour. When Lily screams with pain and horror following her abortion, actress Vivien Merchant gives a horribly believable performance. For all that Alfie has comic moments, it is its more serious themes that now tend to linger in the mind; perhaps in 1966, Alfie's misogynistic quips were considered more amusing. Nevertheless, it still works extremely well as both a fascinating study of a deeply flawed character, and an enduring slice of British film making.