"Dad was a real card; I never met him—he died before the movie started."

This is probably the oldest film that I've seen that qualifies as both an Isekai and reverse Isekai. The characters and dialogue are just what you'd expect from a Woody Allen film under those circumstances. It's both hilarious and touching, often within the same scene. The initial fourth wall break was properly magical—I've legitimately never experienced anything else like it—at least not since I was a child—with the possible exception of Makoto Shinkai's _Kimi No Nawa_, or _The Girl Who Leapt Through Time_ (2006), both of which are animated. All three brought tears to my eyes. It's rare that a live action film can create the same kind of uncanny magic as the very best animated fantasy films. Part of that was making an exacting replica of the glamour films of the 1930s. They must have used the same vintage cameras and film stock to shoot those portions, because anything else wouldn't have been convincing, and the sets were likewise indistinguishable.

The bit parts of the movie theater audience, and the secondaries of the characters within the film-within-the-film provide some of the biggest laughs. The Countess' scathing retorts and admonishments were all like hot lead.

What starts out as a fairly grounded tale of the hardships of life during the great depression ends up being mixed with a surreal fantasy comedy. I'll just end with a nebulous warning that the ending might not be what you hope for or expect.