Gigi (1958)

Best movie ever!

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Gigi2 Out Of 5Gigi is a plot driven musical feature focusing on a tale of self-created conflicts and love. The chemistry among the characters which becomes essential in such genre features, is surprisingly dull, off putting and way too textbook for it to breed any crisp through it.It is rich on technical aspects like art design, songs, production design and background score but is unfortunately lacks captivating cinematography and fine editing. The camera work is plausible and has an amazing choreography on its favor through which the makers seek attention being well aware of it. The adaptation by Alan Jay Lerner is smart if not gripping, catchy but scattered into bits and pieces as it lacks better and definite structure. Vincent Minnelli; the director, has done a tremendous work on executing the feature despite of possessing such a wafer thin script to work on. The performance by Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier and Louis Gordon is decent and convincing to the allotted part if not leaves the audience in awe of it. Gigi is an out-of-context and out-of-time portrayal of a textbook tale that may be entertaining but is more pretentious than it has the potential to.

Are you kidding me! A 6.8 rating! This is aesthetically and craft wise one of the top 50 films ever, subjectivity aside. The rules and styles of the society in which the story takes place, and of the times of the filming may not be what they are now. Nevertheless, like Moliere or Shakespeare, or a Rembrandt, this is timelessly excellent.

"Gigi" is a coming of age story involving a girl (Leslie Caron) and the man (Louis Jourdan as Gaston) whose affections for her become romantic when she becomes a young woman.It won the Oscar for Best Film and all eight others it was nominated for after its release in 1958. On every level it was successful, but was it really the best film released that year? Probably not. However the film is charming and it does possess great production values (e.g. costuming, set design). Each scene is like a Renoir or Cassatt come alive. Filmed in France, it captures a joie de vivre that is perfectly personified by Miss Caron. Though her voice is dubbed, she embodies a spirit that infuses every scene of the film. "The Night They Invented Champagne" is the number I most enjoy, and she gives the scene the boundless energy of the cancan.But this is a victory of style over substance, because the story of "Gigi" is very simple. It lacks the depth of "My Fair Lady", for example, which followed six years later and bore striking similarities.Maurice Chevalier (as Honore Lachaille, the uncle of Gaston) and Mr. Jourdan use the same talk-singing style employed by Rex Harrison in "My Fair Lady". It does not detract from "Gigi", but it is noticeable.Some viewers might find the storyline, which deals with the education of a courtesan, less than romantic. And the film--like many others--focuses on the lifestyles of the rich. But "Gigi" is charming nonetheless. It is best to surrender to its charms and appreciate the performance of Miss Caron, whose transformation from girl to woman is flawless.

It's the start of 20th century Paris. Honoré Lachaille (Maurice Chevalier) is an old cynical playboy. His nephew Gaston (Louis Jourdan) is a famous womanizer and bored with everything except his friendship with Madame Alvarez (Hermione Gingold) and her young fun-loving granddaughter Gigi (Leslie Caron). Gigi is sent to her Great Aunt Alicia (Isabel Jeans) to be groomed as a courtesan. Gaston and Gigi wish to have their old relationship but are forced to change.Alan Jay Lerner delivers a 'My Fair Lady'-like script. In fact, it's sold based on Lerner-Loewe's Broadway success. The visual is a brightly-colored over-the-top extravaganza. There are great catchy tunes like "I Remember It Well" and "Thank Heaven for Little Girls". However, this is too broad. It's too stage-like in its execution at times. This is a big French meal that is too rich for my taste.