The Importance of Dorothy in Cassavetes' "Opening Night"

Dorothy and Manny’s scene starting at 14:28 and running until 20:02 minutes into the film showcases the importance of this seminal character in Cassavetes’ Opening Night. Dorothy plays in contingency to the relation of the film’s duration, particularly the ending and the scene in the front lobby of the theater, which echoes an earlier film, All About Eve, which heavily inspired Cassavetes’ filmmaking during this production.

The scene starts with a close-up shot of Manny at 14:28 on a patterned yellow couch. Manny is wearing a black robe that exposes his chest, and he is asking Dorothy for help. The shot shows his wife Dorothy also in a tight close-up. Dorothy is looking down and away and then laughing. She is also on a patterned yellow couch and is wearing a paisley patterned red dress, and off to the side is a newspaper, ashtray, and cigarettes. There is a considerable depth of field in this shot. Offscreen you hear Manny asking Dorothy to tell her what it is like to be alone as a woman. Dorothy continues to laugh and look away from her husband. She looks up as if considering the question, and we notice her playing with her glasses tapping them up and down against the edge of her other palm. The shot reverses again to show Manny shifting positions on the couch and saying, “What do you do? Okay, that is it.” It is as if he does not allow Dorothy to reflect and think before answering him. Manny takes a sip of his drink, and we see a cigarette also in hand with a very long exposed ash. He wipes his mouth and then asks Dorothy to make him another. He states that he is going to get drunk. Offscreen we hear the drink slamming down on the (implied) coffee table. The camera changes again to Dorothy as she shifts in her position, and Manny says, “ah – if you want to get hostile, go ahead.” Dorothy looks at her husband for the first time since the scene began, but we are yet to hear her speak a word. She looks away and scratches at her ear uncomfortably, and goes to say something but appears to change her mind against it. We hear Manny offscreen telling Dorothy that his “...goddamn life depends on this play.” Dorothy is visibly disengaged now and playing with objects offscreen before getting up off of the couch. The position changes, and we see Manny again gesturing in the air with his hand and continuing to implore Dorothy to work with Myrtle and to “fill her in on yourself and be part of it.” Manny then takes a drag off his cigarette after changing hands.

The sense of action is beginning to ramp up, and we notice this through the changed camera. Now we see a medium close-up of Dorothy. She is walking from the left to the right with a drink in hand. Her other hand is clutching at her chest, and she is smiling as she asks Manny if she gets “paid” for her help with Myrtle. The shot then reverses to Manny, who is still on the couch, and contemplates for a split second before concluding that she can get paid if she understudies. The next shot is Dorothy tapping on the underside of her drink, considering the possibility as she turns and paces to and from the camera laughing. The shot returns to Manny, who states that his life is getting dull and melancholy. The shot changes to a medium shot of Dorothy with her back still turned to Manny screwing on the lid of a bottle she poured for Manny’s drink. She turns as we hear Manny say that his tricks bore him. Dorothy interrupts this non-sequitur to inquire if he would like to have some ice. Offscreen we hear Manny continue to say that there is no humor and that all the “glamour” is dead. He asks if she has noticed that, and we see her bringing the drink to him, and Dorothy gives a subtle shake of her head. The shot reverses to Manny, who reveals that he cannot even stand how the actors come to rehearsal because they come to it with terrible clothes. Dorothy hands him his drink laughing again. Finally, she speaks. “Manny, I am dying.” She is bent over, and we only see the top of her head as she half says, half laughs, and repeats more to herself than to anyone else, “I am dying.” Dorothy returns to the couch having and elaborates that she knows she is dying because she gets tired. The shot reverses to Manny, who blinks and seems to take in this information thoughtfully. Dorothy, with the camera pointed at her, says, “It is always the same. You talk. I sleep.” She stretches on the couch and continues, “If I had known what a boring man you were when I married you…I would not have gone through all those emotional crises.” Her hand is outstretched as if she is doing the universal “stop.” The camera changes its perspective again to Manny, who is laughing in supposed agreement as he tilts his head and shifts position on the couch. An element of surprise is showcased here.

The scene changes as an extreme close-up of Dorothy’s hand slipping around Manny’s body as if in an embrace. We notice her watch, manicured fingernails, and pain wedding band as we realize she is only getting more ice for his drink, which is not a romantic embrace. Manny helps her unscrew the lid to the alcohol with his free hand. A tight close-up reveals Manny’s face is turned away from Dorothy; it appears to us as some semblance of remoteness as he takes a sip and turns to Dorothy; framed in a close-up. They embrace as the phone rings. Cigarette smoke catches on the camera. A tracking show of Manny follows him through the room to the phone, and a cut-away shot of Dorothy shows her pensively watching him see what Manny will do and his reaction to the person on the other end of the phone. There is an air of apprehension on her face as we watch her. A medium close-up shows Manny answering the phone on the bed. Ashtray, lighter, and clock are in view. We see that it is past 4:30 am. As we learn that it is Myrtle on the phone, Manny shifts position on the bed to become more comfortable. He calls her a sweetheart and reassures her that he is still up.

The shot changes to a medium-long hallway shot, and we see Dorothy enter into the frame. It is dark in the shot until she turns on the light, and she stands playfully, seductively in the doorframe. Dorothy plays with her dress and leans in and out of the door. Then, in a see-saw motion, she begins her performance. In the closet doorway mirror, we see an angled shot of her wedged high heel shoes. Dorothy enters the room sweeping her feet in semi-circles in front of her. She is dancing like a haram woman holding her dress up seductively. We see a point of frustration cross her face as Manny continues to ignore her and speak to Myrtle offscreen, calling her “sweetheart” again.

Dorothy pleads, “It is 4:30 in the morning.” The shot reverses to Manny in a close-up on the phone. “Yes, I know. It is lonely.” He says to Myrtle and agrees that he also hates “out of town.” The shot reverses onto Dorothy continuing her theatrical dance. Arm outstretched and corner of the dress in the other shifting from left to right on the screen, and we hear Manny say that he loves her. Her being Myrtle as Dorothy edges further to the right and brings Manny into the frame in a beautiful way. Manny watches Dorothy only for a moment before becoming annoyed. At first, amused with a peal of shared laughter between the couple, Manny then tells Myrtle to hold on to the phone before continuing to say, “It is nothing. Just my wife.” Hearing this, Dorothy stops twirling and mocks “dives” into the bed as if an Olympic or Hollywood synchronizes swimmer. Sweeping her arms across the bed, she swims around while Manny continues to talk to Myrtle. He even says, “She does not mind at all,” about whether Dorothy minds their late-night talk, although it is apparent that she does care a lot to us viewers. “Tell her you will talk to her in the morning.” “There is no one I love more than you at this moment” are two lines of dialogue back-to-back. The first being Dorothy and the second being Manny. He holds the phone to his chest as the shot changes to a medium close-up of Manny, who speaks away from the receiver to say to Dorothy, “You know I love you.” Dorothy shifts position on the bed to be nearer to Manny’s face as he continues the conversation with Myrtle.

In a medium-long shot, Dorothy now takes a defensive position as she mock battles with Manny. Hands up as if in a boxing ring, Dorothy dances around Manny as if circling him in the ring. Manny admonishes her by telling Dorothy to “cut it out” and Myrtle “Darling.” With a click of the tongue, Dorothy punches herself in a mock uppercut and falls “knocked out” on the bed. Offscreen, Manny consoles Myrtle about the slap, “You are on the stage for chrissake! He is not slapping you for real.” Still focused on Myrtle, Dorothy mock punches herself again, rolling herself off of the bed. Manny continues, “It has nothing to do with being a woman. You’re not a woman anyway.” Dorothy laughs to herself and rises off of the floor. “no, no. You’re a beautiful woman.”

Dorothy stumbles and exits the room, defeated. In a close-up of Manny, he continues now with a raised voice almost shouting at Myrtle about the importance of rehearsing the slapping scene, stating that it is “tradition,” noting that by doing the slap, she will be a star. Still, if she does not do the slap, she is “unsympathetic.” As the last word, the shot changes to an extreme close-up of Dorothy from a side profile. Manny can be heard offscreen saying, “You must get hit. That is it. Now go to sleep. Right.” As Manny finishes the conversation, Dorothy looks almost directly at the viewer, momentarily changing perspective into the fourth wall. The shots change to Manny walking towards the camera. He is making an excuse for taking the late-night call from Myrtle. The close-up of Dorothy returns, and she says with all playfulness now removed from her persona, “Let us forget it. Let’s. not phony it up anymore.”

This scene is integral to the entire performance of the piece Opening Night. While there can be many arguments for the duality of nature in the film, it is quintessentially Dorothy who exemplifies the “second woman” that the narrative piece focuses on. Concerning the scene in the front lobby of the theater, it shows Myrtle in the throes of her breakdown, trying to find the “one person” to whom this play would make sense. The “one person” she could reach. The panning of the scene allows its viewers to catch a glimpse of Dorothy standing directly in front of the play The Second Woman’s theatrical poster, giving us almost verbatim the clues needed to stray away from Myrtle and focus on Dorothy. This play is about Dorothy; she is seen attending all of the rehearsals, harkening to Karen from All About Eve, but amid the film’s final scene, we understand the complexities of her experience. In the setting in which we should witness the violent slap of Myrtle, instead, we see something else entirely. Myrtle has replaced the violence with a mock battle akin to the one we have seen in the scene I have just described. Dorothy pantomimes to Manny as he explains why Myrtle must be slapped or risk appearing unsympathetic. Here we see, in all its glory, how exactly and wrong Manny’s theory was as we witness how profoundly empowering the mimicry is. We understand once and for all that it is Dorothy to whom Myrtle was able to reach. Teaching us that the thesis question of this movie, “Does she win, or does she lose?” tells us that she does win in the end.