She plays a carefree, headstrong and wise-beyond-her-years, character and this is revealed in one of the first scenes of the film. Hermione Gingold, Leslie Caron and Louis Jordain.Ĭaron is in her mid-20s when she garners the role, playing a young woman suspected to be somewhere south of 15. As of this release, she is living today at 87 years young. She went on to star in a series of musicals, one of her most popular noted as another Minelli masterpiece, “An American in Paris,” in 1951, in which she starred with Kelly. She learned her part phonetically as she did not speak English. Leslie Caron was discovered while starring in the Ballets des Champs-Élysées by musical legend Gene Kelly, who brought her to MGM. Most of his roles are relegated to the cultured dashing European lover, which he plays quite successfully in all of his films. His film career came to a halt when he refused to act in Nazi propaganda films. When his father was arrested by the Gestapo, Louis and his two brothers joined the French underground. Leslie Caron in Haute Couture by Cecil Beaton.Īccording to IMBD, Louis Jourdan was born in Marseille, France. Gaston must choose between his old life and true love. However, although she is well aware of the reason for her training, she refuses his advances to become his mistress. As Gigi matures, Gaston becomes aware of her “spark that has turned to fire,” falling in love with her simple beauty and bold authenticity. He has a longstanding friendship with Gigi’s grandmother and is a frequent visitor to Gigi’s home, where he finds grounded solace in its environment of much lesser means. Gaston (Louis Jourdan) plays a wealthy Parisian playboy becoming increasingly disappointed with his womanizing and superficial lifestyle. However, each had to be fascinating in her own right to compete. Most courtesans were brilliant conversationalists or extraordinary entertainers. Generally speaking, men who desired their company required a form of reference with no guarantee of acceptance of the female counterpart. Courtesans were trained in the art of femininity as well as the sensual arts and expected to be courted with jewels, as a form of securing a future in older years. In its harshest light, it is defined as a most elegant prostitute … of the highest quality. In its softest interpretation is it is an elegant mistress of the highest quality. The definition of a courtesan differs depending on who interprets it. With costumes, scenery and production design by the seminal Cecil Beaton and directed by the iconic Vincente Minnelli, set in the turn of the century during the time of La Belle Epoque, Gigi, (Leslie Caron) is a young girl on the brink of womanhood, in training to become a courtesan. Splashy, candy-box films began to fall out of favor, in the late 1950s perhaps, in cryptic anticipation of the turbulent ’60s where a new generation was, understandably, unaccepting of escapist films. “The Sound of Music,” were still produced, the difference being the type of musical. To the contrary, in the years to come what the average person considers a classic musical, i.e. This is not to say that musicals stopped being made. Studio systems were facing a formidable opponent as television became the new American form of entertainment. It can be viewed on Amazon) dominating the 1959 Oscars, winning every category of its nomination, totaling nine Oscars, the 1958 MGM film “Gigi,” denotes the end of an era. Selected by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” based on of the book of the same name by famed French author Collette, (“Collette” the film was released this year. Let’s start the beginning of the year with the end - the end of what most fans would agree is the last of the great movie musicals.
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