For a movie about a teenage girl being groomed to become a high class prostitute, GIGI certainly enjoys a strange reputation. Both a last hurrah of the golden age of movie musicals and one of the early pushes against the Production Code with its frankness about the nature of Gigi's "profession," it won a truckload of Oscars and enjoyed box office success.
And once again, I am left wondering why people act as though the Oscars mean anything-- GIGI has opulent production design and cute songs, but it struck me as overlong and plodding. I am disappointed that with all these lovely songs, so many of the musical numbers are underwhelming in their choreography. Aside from the spirited "The Night They Invented Champagne" and the dreaminess of "Gigi," the other numbers often have characters just sitting around, shot from a static, boring angle. The plot is super light, even for a musical of this type. As for the story-- yeah, I can see why it strikes many as distasteful and there were certain lines that made me uncomfortable (like Gaston's uncle congratulating him on an ex-lover of his committing suicide and hoping it will be "the first of many," an attempt at dark humor that clashes much too much against the otherwise light tone of the story). To be fair, the film is criticizing what Gigi's grandma and aunt plan for Gigi, as well as a society that allows men to have all the sexual adventures they please while retaining their respectability but denies women the same thing. And as others have mentioned, unlike MY FAIR LADY, it is the wayward male love interest who must change his ways in order for there to be a happy ending-- I can buy that Gaston and Gigi will have a happier marriage than Higgins and Eliza ever will.
Anyway, this review has been mostly negative, even though I rather liked the movie at the end of the day. Leslie Caron is marvelous in the lead, spirited and charming, and Louis Jordan makes his dissatisfied playboy actually more likable than he had any right to be by endowing the character with such world-weariness-- he comes off as someone who wants to believe in romance but keeps his heart guarded to stave off disappointment and pain. And what can be said about Chevalier-- he's great. The movie might be overlong, but there is effervescent energy underlying the strongest scenes, and in those moments, I can see why it still appeals to so many classic movie fans despite the more dated elements of the story.
And once again, I am left wondering why people act as though the Oscars mean anything-- GIGI has opulent production design and cute songs, but it struck me as overlong and plodding. I am disappointed that with all these lovely songs, so many of the musical numbers are underwhelming in their choreography. Aside from the spirited "The Night They Invented Champagne" and the dreaminess of "Gigi," the other numbers often have characters just sitting around, shot from a static, boring angle. The plot is super light, even for a musical of this type. As for the story-- yeah, I can see why it strikes many as distasteful and there were certain lines that made me uncomfortable (like Gaston's uncle congratulating him on an ex-lover of his committing suicide and hoping it will be "the first of many," an attempt at dark humor that clashes much too much against the otherwise light tone of the story). To be fair, the film is criticizing what Gigi's grandma and aunt plan for Gigi, as well as a society that allows men to have all the sexual adventures they please while retaining their respectability but denies women the same thing. And as others have mentioned, unlike MY FAIR LADY, it is the wayward male love interest who must change his ways in order for there to be a happy ending-- I can buy that Gaston and Gigi will have a happier marriage than Higgins and Eliza ever will.
Anyway, this review has been mostly negative, even though I rather liked the movie at the end of the day. Leslie Caron is marvelous in the lead, spirited and charming, and Louis Jordan makes his dissatisfied playboy actually more likable than he had any right to be by endowing the character with such world-weariness-- he comes off as someone who wants to believe in romance but keeps his heart guarded to stave off disappointment and pain. And what can be said about Chevalier-- he's great. The movie might be overlong, but there is effervescent energy underlying the strongest scenes, and in those moments, I can see why it still appeals to so many classic movie fans despite the more dated elements of the story.