purpose of barfly character
I love this character, the only one in the film not caught up in the undertow of their emotional life.
I think he validates the melodrama around him so well, by being such an idiot, so unengaged with himself, and so we're reminded all the more of the realism of the others' torment, that it's not just acting out, but real.
In some ways I suspect he represents the very heart of the film, in fact.
Just a thought. Any others?