Gigi

Rating:
Summary: If you love this genre you'll like the movie more than I did
Review: I have mixed feelings about this video. On the one hand, I think it has great songs and is a great classic musical. On the other hand, I also have to admit to falling asleep while watching it, along with the other Amazon reviewer who admitted to this. :) I think that this is worth watching because it was a great musical at the time and still has qualities which can be appreciated today. I especially think it would be good for families with children to watch together, it is one of those Heidi-type movies about a young girl growing up. However, I felt that by today's standards the movie was slow-moving and in some parts just plain boring. It also bothered me that Leslie Caron, the actress who played GiGi, must have been at least 25-35 in real life (at least, that's how old she looked), and the role she was playing was that of a young adolescent girl. It just did not seem real to me. I think that those interested in musicals from the 50's and 60's will really like this. However, I am not terribly interested in that genre, and for me this movie was not very interesting to me, except for some of the great, long-lasting songs that are relevant to any period of time.

Rating:
Summary: Enchanting musical about love... and REAL love
Review: "Gigi" may seem tame by today's "Pretty Woman" standards, but it most definitely has charm, romance, and a collection of sparkling characters that you are forced to love.

Gigi is a Parisian schoolgirl who lives with her grandmother and regularly goes to her great-aunt Alicia's for lessons in manners and refined knowledge. However, the innocent Gigi is unaware that her family is grooming her to become a high-class courtesan, and that both her great-aunt and grandmother are/were courtesans themselves. (Whether her mom was being trained is unclear--she's never seen, only heard warbling)

Elsewhere is Gigi's friend, Gaston, a young man who is bored by his life and the sameness of everything. He consorts with a beautiful courtesan who cheats on him, leaving him wildly zipping from one girl to another. You get the feeling that Gaston wants to live a "normal" life, but this high-class lifestyle is all he's grown up with. Naturally, he and Gigi begin to be drawn to each other.

Backing the characters up is Gigi's grandmother, Madame Alvarez, who really does want only the best for her; and Honore Lachaille, Gaston's uncle, who was once involved with Madame Alvarez. Honore is truly lovable--even though he's fifty-something and voluntarily refuses to grow up, he has such zest for life in general that you can overlook his flaws. Then there's elegant Aunt Alicia, who lives in the past of her loving conquests, and devotes her attention to news about her fellows and to her niece.

The scenery of Paris and the buildings are gorgeous; the music is wonderful. At the beginning, Honore sings the amusing, "Thank Heaven... For Little Girls"; Gaston criticizes his life and Paris in general in "It's a Bore!"; Gigi bemoans the French preoccupation with love and romance with the funny "I Don't Understand The Parisians!"; Gaston's frustrated thoughts on his mistress's attitude "She Is Not Thinking Of Me"; the wistful duet between Honore and Madame Alvarez "I Remember It Well," and many others.

The script is full of funny lines ("Eat each piece... the bones don't matter!") and manages to address the issue of high-class prostitution on a wide range without being vulgar or even particularly obvious. Gigi is written as a free-spirited gal who wants a life with REAL love, not the artificial love that Aunt Alicia tells her of, and Gaston is a darling.

I don't understand why this is considered by some to be in poor taste or sexist. It makes only a few references to "making love," and as for Gigi, she doesn't want to put up with being a courtesan. And Gaston is used to the kind of life that we see him living, and Gigi's goodness helps bring him into a more equal life.

This is a beautiful old musical. If you watched "My Fair Lady" and loved it, you'll probably like this.

Rating:
Summary: The worst film of all time
Review: Oh my gosh, that was really sad. I wanted to see this film because Audrey Hepburn ws in the Original Boadway Cast, and Barabra Walters recomended it. However, I failed to see it's charm or appeal. The songs were corney, the acting was terrible, the cinematography was laughable (and I did laugh), and it's because of films like this that musicals don't apeal to a wider audience. Boo, hissssss. Want to see a real musical? Try Funny Girl or Into the Woods.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, slow-moving, not without charm
Review: I have seen "Gigi" three times, at intervals of about 20 years. The first two times I thought it was interminable and very boring. I still think it is far too long and insipid, but I have become fonder of Hermione Gingold and Maurice Chevalier each time. His mugging is, no doubt, an acquired taste, but he does have 3 (2 1/2?) of the 4 best songs.

Louis Jordan looks the part, but only talks the title song. Leslie Caron strikes me as having been too old for the part. She has no good songs, and her skills as a dancer are unutilized.

I wonder if those who have asserted that "Gigi" is the greatest of movie musicals have ever seen the musicals in which people, you know, like D-A-N-C-E! (e.g., "Singing in the Rain" or "Band Wagon" or "Cabaret" or Busby Berkeley movies or Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies...) It wasn't even Minelli's best Parisian musical of the 50s (Caron got to dance with Gene Kelly in "An American in Paris"). While "Gigi" has a certain charm (saccharine compared to Colette's novella...), for me "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" was the best 1958 movie ("The Big Country" and "The Defiant Ones" are also more interesting), so I also disagree with the Oscaring. Still, "Gigi" looks good and has other recommendations, especially "I remember it well."

Rating:
Summary: A Breeze of Fresh Air
Review: I must have seen this movie several times since my childhood, and each time it warms my heart to watch it again. The actors allow you to have a glimpse at an era gone by, and although the subject matter, about a girl being raised to be courtesan, can be considered reprehensible, this movie allows the audience to believe in the happily ever after. The ending is what everyone is hoping for and we can leave the room feeling satisfied that love has triumphed over society standards.

I recently watched the movie again, and it gave me the same pleasure it always has. There is no violence, no dark plot, the comedy is clean fun and the romance, and well you cannot beat a love story in Paris. Even when the subject matter gets a little heavy, the script addresses the issue without becoming vulgar. I love to watch this movie. I guess you have to be a romantic at heart to fully appreciate it.

Rating:
Summary: Enchantment
Review: This enchanting classic musical is so rich and enjoyable that I had seen it several times before I realized that Leslie Caron (by training a ballerina) doesn't really do any dancing in it!

This is the story of a little girl who by training should have been a courtesan in turn-of-the-last century France (and boy, did the dialog get that past the censors oh-so-gently). As Gigi blossoms from clumsy girlhood into appealing womanhood she realizes that her friendship with millionaire Gaston Lachaille is more than just a friendship . . . which sets up all kinds of new complications.

"Gigi" boasts a wonderful cast. In addition to Caron in the title role we have Hermione Gingold, Louis Jordan, Maurice Chevalier, Isabel Jeans and Eva Gabor. The music by Lerner and Loewe is a treat, including such songs as "The Night They Invented Champagne" and the title number.

But most of all this film is a visual treat, filmed mostly on location and sparked by director Vincente Minnelli's wise eye and obvious love for French culture. To call this film a "period piece" is no insult. Long live "La Belle Epoque" and long live "Gigi"!

Rating:
Summary: An Old Favorite
Review: I have to admit, I know rationally that this isn't a great movie - conceited clueless billionaire falls for teenager half his age, offers to make her his mistress, and a lot of slow goopy songs not essential to the plot line. Nevertheless, there's something about this movie that draws me back to it time and time again and wins my heart. I guess I just love Gigi's character - she's this person who has a kind of integrity all her own - I love how in the end she wins just by being herself and being true to herself. Paradoxically, she sacrifices herself to play a role that she isn't really suited for, just because she is honest enough with herself and with Gaston to admit that she loves him enough to do that - but her honesty shines through whatever she does, and that's what makes Gaston love her and marry her. Wish real life were like that! Also, the "I don't understand the Parisians" song is just the funniest thing ever!

Rating:
Summary: A Showcase of Horrors
Review: This film was insipid, vapid, and in poor taste on every possible level. I can't believe people actually consider this swill entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the Greatest Musical Ever
Review: This film was made at a time when most people thought that musical films were a thing of the past,evidently GIGI proved them wrong.It was responsible for the brief renewed popularity of the musical picture and no wonder. The film,based on Colette's novella,stars Leslie Caron as Gigi,Louis Jourdan as Gaston,Hermione Gingold as Mamita,Eva Gabor as Liane,Isabel Jeans as Alicia,and Maurice Chervalier as Honore. The ravishing musical score includes the Title Song,'Parisians','She Is Not Thinking Of Me','The Night They Invented Champagne','I Remember It Well','Say A Prayer For Me Tonight',and 'The Waltz at Maxim's'.

Rating:
Summary: very pleasant
Review: This probably deserves five stars; it just happens I've recently read the story on which it is based and found Colette's dialogue more witty and her plot more elegant. The Stephen Sondheim musical "A Little Night Music" (which also features Hermione Gingold as grandmother to a girl groomed as a sort of courtesan) proves a musical can preserve both witty dialogue and elegant plotting. Ah, well. Leslie Caron is lovely and funny in the title role. The title song is brilliant (though its placement is dramatically unconvincing I think).

Also recommended: "A Little Night Music" (original cast Broadway album) and "The Street Where I Live" (Alan Jay Lerner's autobiography--book).