Gigi (1958 film)

Gigi (French pronunciation: ​[ʒiʒi]) is a 1958 American musical-romance film directed by Vincente Minnelli and processed using Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's color film process Metrocolor. The screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner is based on the 1944 novella of the same name by Colette. The film features songs with lyrics by Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, arranged and conducted by André Previn.

For the Broadway musical, see Gigi (musical).

Gigi
Theatrical release poster
Directed byVincente Minnelli
Produced byArthur Freed
Screenplay byAlan Jay Lerner
Based onGigi
by Colette
Starring
Music byFrederick Loewe
Music adapted and conducted by
André Previn
CinematographyJoseph Ruttenberg
Edited byAdrienne Fazan
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • May 15, 1958 (1958-05-15)
Running time
115 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.3 million[2][3]
Box office$13.2 million[4]

In 1991, Gigi was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The American Film Institute ranked it #35 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions. The film is considered the last great Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical and the final great achievement of the Freed Unit, headed by producer Arthur Freed, although he would go on to produce several more films, including the musical Bells Are Ringing in 1960.

Plot

Set in La Belle Époque of the turn-of-the-19th-cum-20th century Paris, the film opens with Honoré Lachaille (Maurice Chevalier) surrounded by members of high society in the Bois de Boulogne. As a charming old roué, he remarks that in Paris, marriage is not the only option for wealthy young bon vivants like his nephew Gaston (Louis Jourdan), who is bored with life. The one thing Gaston truly enjoys is spending time with Madame Alvarez (Hermione Gingold), whom he calls Mamita, and especially her granddaughter, the precocious, carefree Gilberte, also called Gigi (Leslie Caron).

Following the "family tradition", Madame Alvarez sends Gigi to her great aunt Alicia (Isabel Jeans) to be groomed as a courtesan, a dignified word for a mistress of a wealthy man, to learn etiquette and charm. To Alicia, love is an art and a necessary accomplishment for Gigi's social and economic future, but Gigi disdains the trivial love that a man and his mistress share. Remaining true to her girlish yet charming personality, she finds herself having the most fun when she is with Gaston, whom she regards as an older brother.

Like his uncle, Gaston is known as a wealthy womanizer. The whole of Paris watches his every move, and Parisian high society shows unrestrained judgment towards his mistresses and him. Gaston's latest mistress attempts to run off with her ice skating instructor. In response, Gaston publicly humiliates her, resulting in her attempted suicide. After this affair, Gaston plans to retreat to the country, but his uncle insists on his staying in Paris and attending more parties.

Gigi makes a wager during a card game with Gaston that if he loses, he must take her grandmother and her to the seaside with him when he goes on vacation. Gaston agrees, loses, and the three travel to Trouville. Gaston and Gigi spend their hours having fun together, and Honoré and Madame Alvarez reminisce about their once-passionate affair. While other women at the resort are shown holding perfect poise and giving off an air of boredom and disdain for anything unfamiliar, Gigi pulls Gaston out of his depressive rut with her carefree attitude.

Once Gigi and her grandmother return to Paris, Gaston goes to Monte Carlo. During this time, Gigi's aunt and grandmother discuss the possibility of Gigi becoming Gaston's mistress, thereby fulfilling their plans for her. Madame Alvarez, though dubious at first, agrees to let Gigi train around the clock to prepare for Gaston's return. Gigi accepts this as a necessary evil.

When Gaston returns, he is surprised and discomfited when Gigi appears in her new, adult dress. Gaston tells her that she looks like a giraffe, and that he misses her old costumes. He storms out, then realizes his folly and rushes back to apologize. He tells Gigi that she looks lovely and says that he will prove it to her by taking her to tea at the Reservoir. Gigi's grandmother refuses and tells Gaston that it may ruin her reputation to be seen unchaperoned with Gaston before her reputation has even begun. Gaston, angered, storms out once again.

As Gaston walks, he reflects about Gigi. He realizes that Gigi has become a woman whose charm and wit have set his head spinning. He concludes that he has developed a romantic desire for Gigi. Although he hesitates on account of their age difference, he also realizes that he loves her even more than he thought (unheard of between a man and his mistress) and he wants to be with her. He proposes an arrangement to Madame Alvarez and Aunt Alicia for Gigi to become his mistress. They are overjoyed; Gigi is not.

Gaston talks to Gigi and she tells him that she is not the type of girl who wants celebrity only to be abandoned by him one day, and then becoming someone else's mistress. Gigi wants their relationship to remain platonic, but when Gaston accidentally reveals that he loves Gigi, she bursts into tears, upset that he would want to expose her to the uncertainty of being his mistress if he actually loves her. Gaston leaves angered. He later runs into Honoré, who declares that Gigi's family has always been a bit odd. Gigi sends Gaston a message asking him to come and talk to her. When he arrives, she admits that she would rather be miserable with him than miserable without him. She agrees to accompany him in public. Gaston buys an expensive piece of jewelry for Gigi and later, when he arrives for their date, he finds Gigi dressed in her finery and is entranced by her beauty.

The couple go to Maxim's restaurant, where Gigi acts the role of a courtesan perfectly. Gaston is upset seeing Gigi demonstrate the knowledge of a courtesan, and, after giving her the gift, becomes even more concerned for Gigi because of the unrelenting attention and judgment by the other patrons. Honoré delivers a crushing blow when he congratulates Gaston on his new courtesan, and makes disparaging remarks about Gigi. Gaston, too much in love with Gigi to give her this appalling life of uncertainty and social judgment, makes her leave without a word and drags her up the stairs to her apartment. He walks away, but soon stops a little way down the street and realizes the depth of his love for her. He returns to her apartment and proposes marriage.

The final sequence returns to Honoré Lachaille, proudly pointing out Gaston and Gigi getting into their carriage in the Bois de Boulogne: the couple is elegant, beautiful, and happily married.

Cast

Production

Development

Hollywood producer Arthur Freed first proposed a musicalization of the Colette novella to Alan Jay Lerner during the Philadelphia tryout of My Fair Lady in 1954. When Lerner arrived in Hollywood two years later, Freed was battling the Hays Code to bring his tale of a courtesan-in-training to the screen. Another roadblock to the project was the fact Colette's widower had sold the rights to her novella to Gilbert Miller, who planned to produce a film version of the 1954 stage adaptation by Anita Loos. It cost Freed more than $87,000 to purchase the rights from Miller and Loos.[6]

Lerner's songwriting partner Frederick Loewe had expressed no interest in working in Hollywood, so Lerner agreed to write the screenplay only. He and Freed discussed casting; Lerner favored Audrey Hepburn, who had starred in the Broadway production written by Loos, but Freed preferred Leslie Caron, who had co-starred in An American in Paris for him. Both agreed Maurice Chevalier would be ideal for aging boulevardier Honoré Lachaille, and Lerner proposed Dirk Bogarde for Gaston. Lerner agreed to write the lyrics if Freed could convince Bogarde and designer Cecil Beaton to join the project. He decided to approach Loewe once again, and when he suggested they compose the score in Paris, Loewe agreed.[7]

In March 1957, the duo began working in Paris. When Chevalier, who already had agreed to appear in the film, first heard "Thank Heaven for Little Girls", he was delighted. When he discussed his waning interest in wine and women in favor of performing for an audience in cabarets, Chevalier inadvertently inspired the creation of another tune for his character, "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore". The lyrics for another of his songs, the duet "I Remember It Well", performed with Hermione Gingold as his former love Madame Alvarez, were adapted from words Lerner had written for Love Life, a 1948 collaboration with Kurt Weill.[8] "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight", a solo performed by Gigi, had been written for Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady but was removed during the pre-Broadway run. Lerner disliked the melody, but Loewe, Freed, and Minnelli voted to include it in the film.[9]

Casting
Leslie Caron and Louis Jourdan

Lerner recalls that for the film Gigi, "The casting was so haphazard, I don't know how they ever got it on." He wrote the part of Honoré Lachaille for Chevalier, but the rest of the casting was still undecided.[10] Having second thoughts about Audrey Hepburn, Freed asked Lerner to meet with her in Paris, but she declined the role. The producer then asked him to fly to London to speak to Leslie Caron, who was living there with her husband Peter Hall. Lerner was surprised to discover the star had become Anglicized to the point of losing her French accent. She had recently starred in an unsuccessful stage production of Gigi, but when she heard Lerner's interpretation of the story greatly differed from that of the play, she accepted his offer. Her singing voice was dubbed by Betty Wand, though Caron filmed mainly to her own tracks (a brief clip of Caron's voice is heard in the DVD extras). Dirk Bogarde expressed interest, as well, but ultimately was unable to free himself from his contract with J. Arthur Rank. Recalling Louis Jourdan from his performance in Three Coins in the Fountain, Freed offered him the role of Gaston.[11]

Filming

In late April, Freed and Minnelli and their respective entourages arrived in Paris. The weather had become unseasonably hot, and working in hotel rooms without air-conditioning was uncomfortable. Minnelli began scouting locations while Freed and Lerner discussed the still incomplete script. Lerner had taken liberties with Colette's novella; the character of Honoré, nonexistent in the original book and very minor in the Loos play, was now a major figure. Gigi's mother, originally a significant character, was reduced to a few lines of dialogue delivered off-screen. Lerner also expanded the focus on Gigi's relationship with her grandmother.[12]

A signature scene was filmed on location at Maxim's, the famous Belle Epoque restaurant with its ornate Art Nouveau mirrored walls. Shooting at this practical location was a logistical nightmare, as the mirrors would likely reflect lighting equipment, the camera, and other undesirable behind-the-scenes artifacts. Minelli and cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg worked together to come up with careful camera placements and a low-light visual scheme so that the location could be used without covering up the iconic mirrors. Ruttenberg even managed to cut down on the need for lighting stands and securing lights in corners by attaching lights with suction cups.[13]

By mid-July, the composers had completed most of the score, but still were missing the title tune. Loewe was at the piano while Lerner was indisposed in the bathroom, and when the former began playing a melody the latter liked, he later recalled he jumped up, "[his] trousers still clinging to [his] ankles, and made his way to the living room. 'Play that again,' he said. And that melody ended up being the title song for Gigi."[14]

In September, the cast and crew flew to California, where several interior scenes were filmed, among them the entire scene in Maxim's, which included a musical number by Jourdan. Lerner was unhappy with the look of the scene as it had been shot by Minnelli, so, at considerable expense, the restaurant was recreated on a soundstage and the scene was reshot by director Charles Walters, since Minnelli was overseas working on a new project.[15]

The film title design uses the artwork of Sem's work from the Belle Époque.

Musical numbers
  1. Overture – Played by MGM Studio Orchestra
  2. "Honoré's Soliloquy" – Sung by Maurice Chevalier
  3. "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" – Sung by Maurice Chevalier
  4. "It's a Bore" – Sung by Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan and John Abbott
  5. "The Parisians" – Sung by Betty Wand
  6. "The Gossips" – Sung by Maurice Chevalier and MGM Studio Chorus
  7. "She is Not Thinking of Me" – Sung by Louis Jourdan
  8. "The Night They Invented Champagne" – Sung by Betty Wand, Hermione Gingold and Louis Jourdan
  9. "I Remember It Well" – Sung by Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold
  10. "Gaston's Soliloquy" – Sung by Louis Jourdan
  11. "Gigi" – Sung by Louis Jourdan
  12. "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore" – Sung by Maurice Chevalier
  13. "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight" – Sung by Betty Wand
  14. "Thank Heaven for Little Girls (Reprise)" – Sung by Maurice Chevalier and MGM Studio Chorus

Release

Following completion of the film, it was previewed in Santa Barbara. Audience reaction was overwhelmingly favorable, but Lerner and Loewe were dissatisfied with the end result. Lerner felt it was twenty minutes too long and most of the action too slow. The changes he proposed would cost an additional $300,000, money Freed was loath to spend. The songwriting team offered to buy 10% of the film for $300,000, then offered $3 million for the print. Impressed with their belief in the film, MGM executives agreed to the changes, which included eleven days of considerable reshooting, putting the project at $400,000 over budget. At a preview in Encino, audience reaction changed from "appreciation to affection", and Lerner felt the film finally was ready for release. It premiered at the Royale Theatre, a legitimate theatrical venue in New York City, on May 15, 1958.[16]

The film entered saturation release in the US with 450 prints on April 1, 1959.[17]

Box office

According to MGM records, the film earned $6.5 million in the US and Canada and $3.2 million elsewhere during its initial theatrical release, resulting in a profit of $1,983,000.[18]

In total, the film grossed $13,208,725 in its initial release and later 1966 re-release.[19]

Critical reception

In the 1959 review for Sight & Sound, David Vaughan calls Gigi "an elegant film" with a "cultivated visual taste [which] is everywhere apparent". He summarizes that "while Gigi does not represent a revival of the MGM musical in its heyday, it is a welcome extension of latter-day musical style in its adult subject-matter and its avoidance of spectacle made vulgar by emphasis on size." He praises Minnelli's talent for "the delicious amorality of the anecdote, but also the honesty and irony of its telling [which] have become foreign to the American cinema." Vaughan points out "Chevalier's practiced but irresistible charm [as] one of the film's greatest assets" as well as "the brilliant high-comedy playing of Isabel Jeans, who as Aunt Alicia consummately portrays the distinction and beauty of a retired aristocrat of the demimonde."[20]

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it "a musical film that bears such a basic resemblance to My Fair Lady that the authors may want to sue themselves". He added, "But don't think this point of resemblance is made in criticism of the film, for Gigi is a charming entertainment that can stand on its own two legs. It is not only a charming comprehension of the spicy confection of Colette, but it is also a lovely and lyrical enlargement upon that story's flavored mood and atmosphere … Vincente Minnelli has marshaled a cast to give a set of performances that, for quality and harmony, are superb."[21]

Abel Green of Variety called the film "100% escapist fare" and predicted it "is destined for a global box-office mop-up". He added, "Alan Jay Lerner's libretto is tailor-made for an inspired casting job for all principals, and Fritz Loewe's tunes (to Lerner's lyrics) already vie with and suggest their memorable My Fair Lady score… Miss Caron is completely captivating and convincing in the title role… Skillful casting, performance and presentation have endowed realism to the sum total… Director Minnelli's good taste in keeping it in bounds and the general sound judgment of all concerned…distinguishes this Arthur Freed independent production. The Metrocolor rates recognition for its soft pastels under Joseph Ruttenberg's lensing; the Beaton costumes, sets and general production design are vivid physical assets at first sight. The skillful integration of words-and-music with the plot motivation makes this Gigi a very fair lady indeed as a boxoffice entry."[22]

Time Out New York said, "The dominating creative contribution comes from Minnelli and Cecil Beaton … The combination of these two visual elitists is really too much—it's like a meal consisting of cheesecake, and one quickly longs for something solid and vulgar to weigh things down. No doubt inspired by the finicky, claustrophobic sets and bric-à-brac, the cast tries (with unfortunate success) to be more French than the French, especially Chevalier. The exception is Gingold, who inhabits, as always, a world of her own."[23]

TV Guide rated the film 3½ out of five stars, calling it "Overbaked but enjoyable, and a banquet for the eyes, thanks to the visual wonder of the Minnelli-Beaton teaming… Caron…leads the cast in a contest to see who can be the most French. The winner is Chevalier, in a performance that makes one feel as if you're gagging on pastry… Perhaps if the sweetness of Gigi was contrasted with elements of honest vulgarity, the picture could balance itself out… Ten minutes into the movie, you've resolved the plot and are left to wallow in lovely frou-frou. [The film] makes wonderful use of the usual Parisian landmarks, and benefits from extraordinary period costumes and sets."[24]

Awards and nominations

Gigi won a record-breaking nine Academy Awards (at the 1959 Oscars ceremony); however, this record only lasted for one year, as Ben-Hur broke this record the following year with 11 Oscars. In tribute to Gigi's domination of the Oscars, the MGM switchboard answered calls the following day with "M-Gigi-M". Gigi, eventually along with 1987's The Last Emperor, held the record as the film(s) with the most Academy Award wins in every category in which it was nominated, until 2003's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King broke the record at the 2004 Oscars ceremony with 11 Oscar nominations and 11 Oscar wins.

Award Category Nominee(s) Result
Academy Awards Best Motion Picture Arthur Freed Won
Best Director Vincente Minnelli Won
Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Alan Jay Lerner Won
Best Art Direction William A. Horning, E. Preston Ames, Henry Grace and F. Keogh Gleason Won
Best Cinematography – Color Joseph Ruttenberg Won
Best Costume Design Cecil Beaton Won
Best Film Editing Adrienne Fazan Won
Best Scoring of a Musical Picture André Previn Won
Best Song "Gigi" – Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe Won
British Academy Film Awards Best Film Gigi Nominated
David di Donatello Awards Best Foreign Production Arthur Freed Won
Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Vincente Minnelli Won
Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture – Musical Gigi Won
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Maurice Chevalier Nominated
Louis Jourdan Nominated
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Leslie Caron Nominated
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Hermione Gingold Won
Best Director – Motion Picture Vincente Minnelli Won
Grammy Awards Best Sound Track Album, Dramatic Picture Score or Original Cast André Previn Won
Laurel Awards Top Musical Gigi Won
Top Male Musical Performance Maurice Chevalier Nominated
Louis Jourdan Nominated
Top Female Musical Performance Leslie Caron Won
Hermione Gingold Nominated
Top Cinematography – Color Joseph Ruttenberg Nominated
Best Song "Gigi" – Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe Nominated
National Board of Review Awards Top Ten Films Gigi Won
National Film Preservation Board National Film Registry Inducted
Photoplay Awards Gold Medal Won
Writers Guild of America Awards Best Written Musical Alan Jay Lerner Won

American Film Institute lists:

Digital restoration

In about 2008, the film was digitally restored[25] by Prasad Studios, which removed dirt, tears, scratches, and other defects frame by frame.[26]

  • Jazz trumpeter, bandleader and arranger Shorty Rogers released an album of Lerner and Loewe's music, Gigi in Jazz, in 1958.
  • The album cover appears on the cover for Pink Floyd's Ummagumma (1969) album, designed by Storm Thorgerson. For the US/Canada and Australian releases the cover was airbrushed out because of fears of copyright infringement. The artwork was restored in the later CD releases in all territories.
  • Edith Bouvier Beale (best known as "Little Edie") mentioned several times in the Maysles brothers documentary Grey Gardens that Gigi was "absolutely marvelous".
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See also

References
  1. "GIGI (A)". British Board of Film Classification. April 16, 1958. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  2. Sheldon Hall, Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History. Wayne State University Press, 2010. p. 162.
  3. Fordin, Hugh (1975), M-G-M’s Greatest Musicals, The Arthur Freed Unit (New York: Da Capo Press), p. 492
  4. Fordin 1975, p. 495.
  5. Fordin 1975, p. 539.
  6. Jablonsky, Edward, Alan Jay Lerner. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996. ISBN 978-0805040760. pp. 147–48.
  7. Jablonsky, p. 149
  8. Jablonsky, pp. 151–52
  9. Jablonsky, p. 159
  10. Siegel, Joel E. (1980). ""Love is the exception to every rule, if it not?": The films of Vincente Minnelli & Alan Jay Lerner". Bright Lights. 3 (1): 8.
  11. Jablonsky, 152–55
  12. Jablonsky, p. 154
  13. Steinhart, Daniel. (2019). Runaway Hollywood: Internationalizing Postwar Production and Location Shooting. University of California Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-52-029864-4.
  14. Lerner, Alan Jay, The Street Where I Live. New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company 1978. ISBN 0-393-07532-X. pp. 161–62.
  15. Jablonsky, pp. 161-62
  16. Jablonsky, pp. 163–66
  17. "450 Prints of 'Gigi'". Variety. March 18, 1959. p. 5. Retrieved June 23, 2019 – via Archive.org.
  18. The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study
  19. Fordin 1996, p. 495.
  20. "Gigi". Sight and Sound. 28 (2): 90–91. Spring 1959.
  21. Crowther, Bosley (May 16, 1958). "''New York Times'' review". Movies.nytimes.com. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  22. Green, Abel. "Gigi". Variety. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  23. "''Time Out New York'' review". Timeout.com. May 12, 2009. Archived from the original on January 13, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  24. "''TV Guide'' review". Movies.tvguide.com. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  25. King, Susan (October 9, 2008). "'Gigi' is still sweet". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
  26. "Services - Digital Film Restoration". Prasad Group. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
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