Casablanca: The Perfect Love Story
Few Hollywood films present a primal romantic relationship as directly and simply this one.
By BOB PINZLER
We all seek it: a statement of love so complete there’s no doubt about its veracity and meaning to those involved. We find such love in Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942). We rarely find it as well presented. This is one reason everyone should see this film.
Love stories are core staples of Hollywood. Even in the most CGI-laden, blow-‘em-up movies like Speed (1994), Con Air (1997), and Armageddon (1998), love stories sit at the center. Yet few films present that primal relationship as directly and as simply as Casablanca.
In fact, Casablanca features two love stories. Both Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) love Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). Victor just happens to be married to her. But Victor’s and Ilsa’s relationship seems questionable until the end, when she must decide between the two men.
Rick and Victor also have to make decisions, but Rick’s is the most painful to watch. He loved Ilsa in Paris. He wanted to marry her on the train they were taking to escape the advancing Germans. She never joined him. He left Paris, but he never left her.
Ilsa’s accidental appearance at Rick’s bar stirs up those memories, and eventually, Rick learns the truth about her decision in Paris: Ilsa abandoned him at the station to tend to her husband, whom she thought was dead.
Above the bar, Rick and Ilsa reconnect, both emotionally and physically. Still, Rick will confess to Victor, “She pretended she was still in love with me, and I let her pretend.” But, did Rick pretend?
Ultimately, Rick’s love for Ilsa is represented by his letting her go away with her husband. Rick needed to complete that love in order to free himself to do what he knew he had to: fight in the war.
If it were just this, Casablanca would be added to the myriad of other tearjerkers which have spewed from Hollywood since the beginning of “talkies.” It is the deep simplicity of the story and the beauty of the writing that makes it a movie worth seeing.
The story offers no extraneous elements. The driving force is a pair of letters of transit, which will enable the holder to leave for freedom on his or her terms. The letters’ existence drives all future events. Rick gains them prior to Ilsa’s arrival. He knows their value. Ilsa’s arrival gives them meaning. The love story is completed by their use.
Rick’s relationship with all other characters are driven by the letters. Interactions with Inspector Reynaud (Claude Rains) and Signor Ferrari (Sidney Greenstreet) are changed because of them. The only question is for whose purposes he will use them.
As it turns out, he uses them for everyone. His love for Ilsa and of himself drive him to the film’s conclusion. And, as with every great story, you realize there was no other way for Casablanca to end.
