Color Purple, The Original and Limited Edition Art (1985)
Taking place in the Southern United States during the early- to mid-1900s, this movie tells the life of a poor black girl, Celie Harris (Whoopi Goldberg), whose abuse begins when she is young. By the time she is fourteen, she has already had two children by her father (Leonard Jackson), who takes them away from her at childbirth and forces Celie to marry a local widower Albert Johnson (Danny Glover), who treats Celie like a slave. Albert makes her clean up his disorderly household and take care of his unruly children. Albert beats her often, intimidating Celie into near silence and submission. Celie's sister Nettie comes to live with them, and there is a brief period of happiness as the sisters spend time together and Nettie begins to teach Celie how to read. This is short-lived, however; after Nettie refuses Albert's predatory affections once too often, he kicks her out.
Albert's old flame, the jazz singer Shug Avery (Margaret Avery), for whom Albert has carried a torch for many years, comes to live with him and Celie. Delirious with sickness, Shug initially insults Celie by saying "you sho is ugly" on their first meeting, but they eventually become close friends and Shug helps Celie begin to see her worth as a human being. Shug and Celie also entertain a lesbian affair (this was more pronounced in the book, and is only hinted at in the film). Celie also finds strength in Sofia (Oprah Winfrey), who marries Albert's son Harpo (Willard E. Pugh). Sofia has also suffered abuse from the men in her family, but unlike Celie, she refuses to tolerate it. This high-spiritedness proves to be her downfall, however, as a rude remark to the town mayor's wife and a punch to the mayor himself ends with Sofia beaten and jailed.
Nettie, meanwhile, has been living with missionaries in Africa and writing to Celie often. Unbeknownst to Celie, Albert confiscates Nettie's letters, telling Celie that she will never hear from her sister again. During a visit from Shug and her new husband, Grady, Celie and Shug discover many years' worth of Nettie's correspondence. Reconnecting with her sister and the assurance that she is still alive helps give Celie the strength to stand up to Albert. She almost slits his throat while giving him a shave, and is only to be stopped by Shug. During a family dinner Sofia is shown to be prematurely aged and permanently disfigured due to the severe beatings she received in jail, and demoralized into an almost catatonic state. During this dinner, Celie finally asserts herself, excoriating Albert and his father. Shug informs Albert that they are leaving, and that Celie is coming with them, despite Albert's attempts to verbally abuse Celie into submission, Celie stands up to Albert and, before leaving permanently, tells him that until he does the right thing, everything he does will go wrong. This also snaps Sofia out of her funk as she laughs hysterically at a dumbfounded and embarrassed Albert and is back to normal.
Celie opens up a haberdashery selling "one size fits all" slacks. Upon the death of her father, she learns that he was, in fact, her stepfather, and that she has inherited a house and shop from her real father. Meanwhile, Albert's fields and home languish into almost nonexistence as he slips into alcohol-fueled idleness, spending most of his time at Harpo's speakeasy. Years of guilt finally catch up to Albert, knowing he has been a horrible person most of his life, especially to Celie. In a sudden act of kindness unknown to Celie, Albert takes all the money he has saved over the years, goes down to the immigration office, and arranges for a family reunion for Celie. Nettie and Celie's children, Adam and Olivia, who were raised in Africa, are reunited with Celie. Albert looks on from a distance, and Shug proudly smiles at Albert, who finally did the right thing.