Lulu on the Bridge

At one point, Dr. Van Horn (Willem Dafoe) writes on a scrap of paper: "Celia - s 'il y a". This pun was based on a similarity between a girl's name and a phrase in French meaning "if there is". It is a direct reference to Samuel Beckett's novel "Murphy" (1938): Celia, lover of an eponymous character, has an uncle, Mr. Willoughby Kelly, who comes up with this piece of bilingual wordplay. Paul Auster has consistently acknowledged Beckett's influence on his own oeuvre.

When Izzy is at Celia's apartment for the first time and closes the curtains to make it dark, there is a lot of light coming in even with the curtains closed. When they turn the lights off, the room is very dark.

Edited into American Masters: Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer (2002)