Ghelik's Corner: Gigi

Directed by Vincente Minnelly, this musical was releasedd in 1958 and tells the story of a rich french playboy and a youthful courtesan-in-training who enjoy a platonic friendship which isn't going to stay platonic for long.

It stars Leslie Caron as Gigi, Maurice Chevalier as Honoré Lachaille, the narrator of the story and uncle of Gaston, and Louis Jourdan as Gaston Lachaille, Gigi's platonic friend.

For a musical I think it has very few songs, and I didn't like most of them, yet the singers do a good job and, specially Leslie Caron has a beautiful voice.

The story isn't really very original, but the relationship between Gaston and Gigi is interesting and manages to hold the atention of the viewer through the whole movie.

I think the best thing about this movie is the ambientation. The whole thing is set in 1900, and the dresses and houses are very good decorated. It also shows the life of the parisian mistresses in a new light: from the point of view in which it's not a critic, but something that happens and of which neither women nor men are ashamed. Of course this being an American movie and from the 50s it has a happy ending with a big wedding between the sweethearts.

It reminds me a little bit to "the Lady of the Camellias", only without the whole tragic turn and the death and stuff.

The collors are worth mentioning too. Every shot looks like a watercolor painting. The light is soft and the palette very bright.