Alfie Reviews

A corrosive portrait of a misogynist getting his comeuppance, Alfie is a minor late-60s work anchored by a wonderful Michael Caine performance. Caine gives a layered, complex performance that finds Alfie’s toxic masculinity, unwarranted arrogance, and gross sexism smothering a deep insecurity and contradictory fourth-wall breaking justifications. He is infinitely better than the rest of this hedonistic glimpse of Swinging London.

 

Perhaps it’s because our main character is so nearly off-putting that I couldn’t embrace Alfie. It’s hard to care about a narrative when the main character is so nearly without redeeming qualities to counterbalance. It becomes an exercise in endurance of one man’s bad behavior and his seemingly unwillingness or purposeful blindness to the damage he’s left behind. You may find it an emotionally engaging experience, but I found it occasionally tiresome.

 

What’s it all about, Alfie? A broken man burning through women and a health scare to learn to not be a selfish dick. I’ve had about enough of these stories and there’s just not enough charm to Alfie, aside from strong acting, to make me engage with it. I get why Caine’s cockney Don Juan launched him into super-stardom, though. His work really is that good.

Since I’m a huge fan of Michael Caine, I was really eager to check this movie which belongs to his classics. Indeed, since this movie had a really solid reputation, I had some rather high expectations but, to be honest, I thought it was actually slightly disappointing. Of course, it was better than the remake starring Jude Law but, somehow, I had a hard time to get into this movie. Personally, I think it is because the morals and opinions have changed. I mean, 50 years ago, when this movie was released, you can imagine the impact that this libertine character must have had but, nowadays, we have a different relationship with sexuality (30 years of AIDS epidemic didn’t help either I guess). I also had a hard time with this guy, Alfie. Obviously, Michael Caine shouldn’t be blamed as he gave, as usual, a brilliant performance but I just didn’t like this character much. Indeed, he is really unlikeable, obnoxious and, even though the makers try to convince you that he is pretty cool, I thought he was actually rather pathetic. I don’t know, maybe I was in the wrong mood the first time I watched it and I should maybe give it a 2nd chance one day. To conclude, even though I thought it was rather disappointing, it still remain an intriguing feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Michael Caine’s work.