But Do You Remember It Well?
DVD: Gigi
I like to say that when I was a kid, the most provocative things on TV were Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Gigi (and you thought musicals were boring!). Seven Brides took a decidedly unconventional look at courtship, and Gigi, thoroughly puzzling to those of us who had never heard of Colette or courtesans, dealt with the transformation of a French schoolgirl from brat to alluring arm candy. As decadent as that may sound, it all played pretty innocently under the noses of churchgoing types from the suburbs. Ah, we're all so much more jaded these days.
On another level, it's also interesting to contemplate the reality that Gigi, a charming little candy box of a musical, swept the Oscars back in the day. Movie musicals have been rare enough the last few decades, let alone those MGM spectacles, and you also won't channel surf your way to many movies about the demimonde. No, this year's Academy Award nominations went primarily to tales of heartbreak and mayhem, though perhaps young Gigi is more of a sister under the skin to the teenaged heroine of Juno than most of us would admit.
So has Gigi grown old? As Hermione Gingold sings in another context in the film, "Oh, no, not you." The film is a loving recreation of fin de siecle Paris, from the French drawings in the opening credits to Cecil Beaton's luscious production design and costumes to Joseph Ruttenberg's cinematography. My disc includes both the pan-and-scan and the wide-screen versions, and there's no question in my mind about which side of the DVD to select. You don't want to miss those beautifully composed shots.
The story, slim though it is, moves along nicely with the aid of the Lerner and Loewe songs. Feisty Parisienne Gilberte (Gigi) lives quietly with her second-rate singer of a mother (heard but never seen) and watchful grandmother (Hermione Gingold). Their lives are brightened considerably by visits from Gaston Lachaille (Louis Jourdan), a wealthy and utterly jaded young man who takes a shine to Gigi.
It all seems pretty innocent, doesn't it? But Gigi, it turns out, is being groomed by her Aunt Alicia (icy Isabel Jeans) for life as a courtesan. The poor girl is alternately dressed up and dressed down by Alicia, who harangues her about ideals and romance but has the cold, acquisitive heart of a corporate raider. Today Alicia would have her own reality show.
But when Gigi reaches womanhood and her cozy brother-sister relationship with Gaston begins to transform right along with her, matters come to a head. Suddenly everyone has plans for the girl, particularly Alicia and the suave Gaston. It's all served up with laughter, a few tears, and a climactic scene at Maxim's.
The film represents something of a bridge between eras. Maurice Chevalier, so memorable in various 1930s confections by Ernst Lubitsch, turns up as Gaston's irrepressible Uncle Honore, who serves both as Greek chorus and poster boy for everyone who said non to the AARP application and oui to joie de vivre. He's shed all of the insecurities of youth but kept all the appetites, and he's the single most politically incorrect character in the piece, which is really saying something.
Hermione Gingold, who would storm through The Music Man a few years later as the fearsome Eulalie Shinn, plays it warm and sensible as Gigi's grandmother, a woman with a deceivingly demure exterior. Lovers of movie musicals, to say nothing of lovers in general, will be waiting for the duet when she bumps into ex-beau Chevalier, "I Remember It Well." Have nostalgia, reproach, tact, affection, and the senior moment ever been so beautifully combined in a single song?
Young Leslie Caron, who took the role of Gigi a half-dozen years after her debut in An American in Paris, is convincing both as the rambunctious girl and the cool beauty. There's very little dancing in this musical, strangely enough, but Caron definitely knows her body language. And 50 years after Gigi, she's still working it, turning up opposite Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche in Chocolat or guest starring on Law & Order in one of its various incarnations.
If Chevalier is a droll commentator and Caron the beguiling star, Louis Jourdan is even better than I remembered as Gaston, the guy who has the luxury to be bored with life. Speak-singing his way through those Lerner and Loewe songs, to say nothing of that colorful French social whirl, he even makes ennui and self-absorption charming. But the film is nothing without a little heart, and Gaston finally locates his in the tender soliloquy that is the title song.
I like to say that when I was a kid, the most provocative things on TV were Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Gigi (and you thought musicals were boring!). Seven Brides took a decidedly unconventional look at courtship, and Gigi, thoroughly puzzling to those of us who had never heard of Colette or courtesans, dealt with the transformation of a French schoolgirl from brat to alluring arm candy. As decadent as that may sound, it all played pretty innocently under the noses of churchgoing types from the suburbs. Ah, we're all so much more jaded these days.On another level, it's also interesting to contemplate the reality that Gigi, a charming little candy box of a musical, swept the Oscars back in the day. Movie musicals have been rare enough the last few decades, let alone those MGM spectacles, and you also won't channel surf your way to many movies about the demimonde. No, this year's Academy Award nominations went primarily to tales of heartbreak and mayhem, though perhaps young Gigi is more of a sister under the skin to the teenaged heroine of Juno than most of us would admit.
So has Gigi grown old? As Hermione Gingold sings in another context in the film, "Oh, no, not you." The film is a loving recreation of fin de siecle Paris, from the French drawings in the opening credits to Cecil Beaton's luscious production design and costumes to Joseph Ruttenberg's cinematography. My disc includes both the pan-and-scan and the wide-screen versions, and there's no question in my mind about which side of the DVD to select. You don't want to miss those beautifully composed shots.
The story, slim though it is, moves along nicely with the aid of the Lerner and Loewe songs. Feisty Parisienne Gilberte (Gigi) lives quietly with her second-rate singer of a mother (heard but never seen) and watchful grandmother (Hermione Gingold). Their lives are brightened considerably by visits from Gaston Lachaille (Louis Jourdan), a wealthy and utterly jaded young man who takes a shine to Gigi.
It all seems pretty innocent, doesn't it? But Gigi, it turns out, is being groomed by her Aunt Alicia (icy Isabel Jeans) for life as a courtesan. The poor girl is alternately dressed up and dressed down by Alicia, who harangues her about ideals and romance but has the cold, acquisitive heart of a corporate raider. Today Alicia would have her own reality show.
But when Gigi reaches womanhood and her cozy brother-sister relationship with Gaston begins to transform right along with her, matters come to a head. Suddenly everyone has plans for the girl, particularly Alicia and the suave Gaston. It's all served up with laughter, a few tears, and a climactic scene at Maxim's.
The film represents something of a bridge between eras. Maurice Chevalier, so memorable in various 1930s confections by Ernst Lubitsch, turns up as Gaston's irrepressible Uncle Honore, who serves both as Greek chorus and poster boy for everyone who said non to the AARP application and oui to joie de vivre. He's shed all of the insecurities of youth but kept all the appetites, and he's the single most politically incorrect character in the piece, which is really saying something.
Hermione Gingold, who would storm through The Music Man a few years later as the fearsome Eulalie Shinn, plays it warm and sensible as Gigi's grandmother, a woman with a deceivingly demure exterior. Lovers of movie musicals, to say nothing of lovers in general, will be waiting for the duet when she bumps into ex-beau Chevalier, "I Remember It Well." Have nostalgia, reproach, tact, affection, and the senior moment ever been so beautifully combined in a single song?
Young Leslie Caron, who took the role of Gigi a half-dozen years after her debut in An American in Paris, is convincing both as the rambunctious girl and the cool beauty. There's very little dancing in this musical, strangely enough, but Caron definitely knows her body language. And 50 years after Gigi, she's still working it, turning up opposite Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche in Chocolat or guest starring on Law & Order in one of its various incarnations.
If Chevalier is a droll commentator and Caron the beguiling star, Louis Jourdan is even better than I remembered as Gaston, the guy who has the luxury to be bored with life. Speak-singing his way through those Lerner and Loewe songs, to say nothing of that colorful French social whirl, he even makes ennui and self-absorption charming. But the film is nothing without a little heart, and Gaston finally locates his in the tender soliloquy that is the title song.
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