rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1958
Directed by Vincente Minnelli; produced by Arthur Freed; screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner; based on the novel by Colette
Starring Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan, Hermione Gingold, Eva Gabor, Jacques Bergerac, Isabel Jeans
'Gigi' is an Arthur Freed film, which basically guarantees delightful moments in a nice musical form. Here the film delivers, but only up to a point. Considering this is a Freed-production, and how it scored nine Oscars out of nine nominations, it is also kind of disappointing. Too little songs, not easily remembered, and a clichéd adaptation of the novel are to be blamed. As the tagline says, it is the first Lerner-Loewe (writer and music composer) musical since 'My Fair Lady'. Its weakness lies in the comparison.
Do not get me wrong, there is enough to enjoy here. The film, set in a cliché version of Paris (even though it is filmed there), opens with a man singing the dubious words "thank heaven for young girls". The man is Honoré Lachaille (Maurice Chevalier). The viewer meets one of those "young girls" in the person of Gigi (Leslie Caron). The love interest, eventually, is Gaston (Louis Jourdan), nephew of Honoré. He moves around in high society, we talk the year 1900 here, and just ditched another woman. Taking care of Gigi is Madame Alvarez (Hermione Gingold), while Aunt Alicia (Isabel Jeans) tries to turn her into a lady.
Joy is found in the various song. Again, comparison to 'My Fair Lady' makes you forget that. Many songs there are still well-known today, something that can not be said about 'Gigi'. They are enjoyable, but that's it. The same can be said about almost anything else as well. Caron, as lovely as she is, is no Julia Andrews (or, when it comes to the film version, Audrey Hepburn) and non of the male characters can match Rex Harrison. To compare means no good for 'Gigi', which deserves some praise on its own level.
On a technical level this film is superb, and the musical feeling is enhanced by it. Everything looks gorgeous, from the people to the sets. The film keeps a nice pace, and even though it does not belong to the greatest musicals out there, dull is never the word for any sequence in 'Gigi'. The subject matter is questionable (here the comparison can be made again), since it basically is about preparing a young girl for - I would say - sex. The already mentioned opening song add to this, as well as the way Chevalier and some men around him talk. Still, 'Gigi' is highly entertaining, and as it goes with Best Picture winners, it is definitely worth seeing.