The greatness of Casablanca lies not in the lines – which are superb – but in lines which support a unique and fairly powerful structure.
Casablanca seems to go against the principles of good dramatic structure.
Context or Desire: Instead of beginning with what Rick, the main character, wants, the film shows a number of refugees all wanting visas to leave Casablanca.
-it is a community of world citizens
-everyone plays roles in this world
for example, the automoton follower of Lazlo, leader of the world’s freedom fighters
Part of the pleasure the audience takes from this film is how comfortable all the characters are in their hierarchy. Casablancais very anti-democratic in that sense. This is the King in his court.
– Rick is introduced, and he seems not to want, or need, anything.
– He seems stronger than others, self-contained. While his cynicism does reveal a man who is deeply troubled, he is the master of his world.
-a man who controls women
-a man who is now cynical and bitter, but was a freedom fighter for various causes
– Apparently he has no need, but he is only hiding it
Suddenly Ugarte is captured and Rick has what everyone else wants, the two exit visas.
Inciting Event: Now Lazlo and Ilse enter. They are the outsiders who will shake Rick out of his steady, masterful, but unhappy position.
Desire: Now the film begins to fulfill the principles of good structure: he wants Ilse.
But again the desire is blunted.
Opponent: Lazlo – the great man who has impressed half the world. Though both men hate the Nazis, the main outside opposition, Lazlo is one of Rick’s opponents. Rick and Lazlo, who both want Ilse, represent two very different versions of a great man. Lazlo is great on the political and societal level, Rick is great on the personal level.
Internal Opposition: At first Rick is simply bitter and turns Ilse away. And again the film focuses on someone else’s desire, the desire of Lazlo to get the exit visas for him and his wife. To do that he must go to Rick.
All of this takes up the first half of the film. Half the film is gone and the main character has still not actively sought what he wants. But, very importantly, the writers make Rick’s desire clear early on, which placates the impatient audience; the waiting makes the desire percolate and boil.
Drive: What is unique here is that the main character, Rick, is an observer and a reactor. He is a man of great power and history, but he has chosen to withdraw from his rightful domain in the world, back to his club in one of the world’s lost corners, Casablanca. Back into himself. He is a lion caged in a cell of his own making.
In short, the nature of the main character demands, not that good structure be opposed, but that it be postponed. Thematically – and the main character’s actions must be determined by the theme – Rick cannot act because that is his deepest problem.
This postponement of Rick’s drive to reach his goal is what is unique about Casablanca. But it also results in definite lull periods where audience interest flags. Lazlo seeking exit visas from (Greenstreet), Lazlo at the police station, Lazlo seeking exit visas from Rick, Lazlo with Ilse, Lazlo escaping from the underground meeting, all seem strangely beside the point.
But when Ilse comes to Rick’s room and declares her love, Rick finally acts and the film catches fire. By waiting so long to show Rick beginning his quest, the film gains the advantage of having the climaxes and revelations fall quickly upon each other.
Again the structure is unique not because good drama is opposed but because it is postponed. This is seen in two ways.
First, the hatching of the main character’s plot comes very late, so the plot twists are rapid and breathtaking.
Second, the change in the main character’s motive and goal – from wanting Ilse to helping her and Lazlo fly away together – happens just after Rick begins his quest for Ilse. Indeed, much of the excitement of this final quarter of the film is the result of uncertainty as to which of the two goals Rick is really seeking.
What is truly remarkable is how Rick’s rapid turn to idealism makes the ending seem noble and glorious when in fact it is something that none of the principle leads wants. Rick wants and loves Ilse but sends her away. Ilse loves and wants Rick but goes with Lazlo. Lazlo knows Ilse loves Rick and couldn’t possibly want to live with a woman who loves another man, but he takes her. Rick says Ilse can’t go with him where he has to go, but is that any more dangerous than where Lazlo has to go?
-This is a Mobius strip world that never stops:
Rick’s Cafe Americain is still going, refugees still gather, the Captain still gambles and enjoys the women, the Germans still make their arrogant appearance.
It is one of those timeless places found in the movies, and it continues to exist because it is a unique lair where everyone accepts and enjoys their place.
Far from being the place where everyone wants an exit visa, it is the utopian community where no one ever wants to leave.
This review makes me realise both the power and challenge of JT’s method: as a tool it is incredibly sophisticated and precise for building and analysing stories, but you need to be both a technically-minded engineer to comfortably handle the story’s overall design & an astute psychologist to pinpoint the character’s psychological transformation within it!