The Color Purple

"It's about life. It's about love. It's about us."

1985 2h 34m EN

🙌

7.7

BANGER

🍅

73%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.7

IMDB

★7.7TMDB · 2,043🍅73%Rotten Tomatoes●78Metacritic★7.7IMDB · 102,275

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing 'Mister' Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa.

“It's about life. It's about love. It's about us.”

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Cast

Danny Glover
Albert
Whoopi Goldberg
Celie
Margaret Avery
Shug Avery
Oprah Winfrey
Sofia
Willard E. Pugh
Harpo
Akosua Busia
Nettie
Desreta Jackson
Young Celie
Adolph Caesar
Old Mr.

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Menno Meyjes
Languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 154 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 9.8× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

41 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Steven Spielberg, shot by Allen Daviau. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Quincy Jones. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michael Kahn shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Danny Glover and Whoopi Goldberg and Margaret Avery carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Steven Spielberg directs. Allen Daviau behind the camera. Quincy Jones scores. Michael Kahn cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Portuguese, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 154 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Made its money back 9.8× over at the box office.
341 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish.
5Directed by Steven Spielberg, shot by Allen Daviau. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Quincy Jones. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Michael Kahn shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Danny Glover and Whoopi Goldberg and Margaret Avery carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "It's about life. It's about love. It's about us.".
10IMDB entry: tt0088939 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 29 themes, including "prison", "rape", "sibling relationship", "jazz".
12Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Allen Daviau
Original score: Quincy Jones
Editing: Michael Kahn
Production design: J. Michael Riva
Costume design: Aggie Guerard Rodgers
Makeup / hair: Richard Alonzo
Runtime: 154 min · 2h 34m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $15,000,000
Box office: $146,300,000
Return: 975% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: The Color Purple (1985)
Rotten Tomatoes: 73% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 78/100
IMDB rating: 7.7/10 · 102,275 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

Nominated for 11 Oscars. 14 wins & 25 nominations total

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
National Board of Review Award for Best Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Steven Spielberg

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

GenerationofSwine2023-01-12
★ 10/10
Well, this is one of those movies that hinges on a singular performance. In this case it's Danny Glover who is absolutely amazing in his role, probably the best performance of his career, and one of the best that came out of the 80s. But Goldberg and Oprah really stink. I don't know what was going on there but they were all over the place. However, despite them, Glover does carry the role, and Spielberg realized that this was a film adapted from a play. He kind of took that and ran with it, so the performances (minus two notable ones) were as earnest as you would get in live theater, the set designs, the camera movements, it all felt less like a movie and a lot more like, well, like you were seeing it live on Broadway. And, honestly, I think that worked. It was a unique approach and it made it wonderful to watch.
CinemaSerf2026-07-02
★ 7/10
I think that rarely can a better cast have been assembled to tell a story than here. Telling the often quite harrowing lifestory of "Celie" (Whoopi Goldberg), we take a poignant look at a life in the American south where racism certainly prevailed, but where the African-American community saw it's own women frequently brutalised by their own menfolk. She frequently finds herself on the wrong end of the wrath of her husband "Albert" (Danny Glover) but her options aren't just limited, they're pretty much non-existant. Sadly, this relationship wasn't her first with a man who treated her with contempt - at fourteen she was delivered of a baby conceived with a father whose response was something along the lines of "your mama can't do this for me no more". She does have one ray of light in her life, though, and that's her sister "Nettie" - but when she falls foul of her husband she is banished from their home and, we assume, returns to Africa. The story of "Celie" provides a conduit for other character studies here, too, and of those the most significant is probably that of the no-nonsense "Sofia" (Oprah Winfrey) whose own altercation with an unforgiving white woman sees her savagely beaten, imprisoned and only released after years in a cell that have robbed her of not just her dignity, but of her vitality as well. Set across a period of three decades or more, though, you always feel that there is a sembance of hope and as time creeps on and "Celie" sees other black women achieve greater freedom, even wealth and success, it is surely only a matter of time before she can shake off the shackles of her loveless marriage. It's also worth mentioning Danny Glover and Willard Pugh here, too. The former her husband but perhaps the more toxic being the latter - "Harpo". Here is an old man whose views on women had hardly evolved from the dark ages and who has intentionally passed those onto his malleable son whom Glover convincingly portrays in a more complicated and dare I say even vulnerable fashion as the story unfolds. Certainly, it's a powerful critique on the ghastliness of segregated politics and supremacies - but it's isn't so much a portrayal of black versus white, more one of black versus black - man against woman, and Goldberg shines throughout with a poignant, exposed and thoroughly engaging performance. Add a score from Quincy Jones and some production design from heaven and you have a characterful piece of cinema that gets more watchable as it gets older.