“The Color Purple,” a tale of abuse and oppression, of resistance and the power of friendship, is being retold as a musical period drama film that restores the intimacy and eroticism of the romance between two of the main female characters. It tells the story of Celie, a teenager with an abusive stepfather, who rapes her then takes away her two babies and forces her to marry an older farmer who misuses her as a maid. In this drama, set in rural Georgia in the early 20th century and adapted from the 1982 novel of the same name, Celie is gradually encouraged by the farmer’s mistress to cast off …