Gigi (1958)

Gigi, winner of the Oscar for Best Picture of 1958, is an almost perfect example of the skill with which MGM made musicals. Producer Arthur Freed had, by this time, perfected the art of bringing together some of the most talented individuals to work on movie musicals. A long-time member of the so-called Freed Unit, Vincente Minnelli was the director for Gigi, adding to his list of triumphs such as An American in Paris, The Band Wagon, and Brigadoon. And, perhaps most important of all, the great Cecil Beaton oversaw the entire "look" of the production, from sets to costumes and everything in between. It's all rather sumptuous, even when we're supposed to believe that the title character's family lives in poverty. (All of the impoverished should live so well.) They knew how to make movies look good in those days.

However, despite all of the technical skill involved in its creation, Gigi is a rather slight confection. The story is a rather simple one: a young girl is groomed by her grandmother and aunt for life as a courtesan since she would have very low prospects for marrying well. Of course, this being 1958 and MGM, no such word as "courtesan" ever gets uttered on screen. You have to figure it out for yourself, but it's not that difficult. Gigi, played by Leslie Caron, is supposed to be a relatively naive French schoolgirl. She enjoys spending time with family friend Gaston, played by Louis Jourdan. He's a rich playboy who goes from one woman to another as casually as he travels from Paris to Monte Carlo. Everything is boring to him, except for the moments that he spends with Gigi, of course.

You can perhaps sense where the story is headed already. Yes, Gaston falls in love with Gigi after taking her and her grandmother to the sea for the weekend. Upon their return, Gigi's Aunt Alicia (Isabel Jeans) sets her sights on Gaston as Gigi's future benefactor, and all of the pieces begin to fall into place. All of them except, of course, for Gigi's consent. She doesn't want to be a courtesan, not really. She wants to fall in love and marry the man she loves. She just doesn't realize it's Gaston, at first. Gaston, being a man of the world, initially agrees to "keep" Gigi as his lover, but eventually he too begins to re-evaluate his feelings for her. If you've seen enough MGM musicals from this era, you already know how it ends, so I'm not going to tell you.

Jeans gets some of the best lines in the film. As she tries to teach Caron's Gigi to be ladylike, she passes on the wisdom she has accumulated throughout her many liaisons with the wealthy men of Europe. Her reaction when Gigi guesses that one of her jewels is a topaz, for example, is priceless, as is her withering dismissal of another woman's pearls as "dipped." My favorite remark of hers, though, is when she tries to teach Gigi how to "insinuate" herself into a chair. The look on Jeans' face sums up just how poorly Gigi lives up to this standard.

I've also mentioned Caron and Jourdan already, both of whom are very charming here. But the real heart of the movie is the performances by the older cast members. Maurice Chevalier, as Gaston's uncle, Honoree, is a delight. Honoree is sort of a mentor for Gaston in the ways of being a playboy. The movie begins with his famous rendition of "Thank Heaven for Little Girls," and it's a charming way to start the narrative. It certainly gives you all of the insight you need into his character. (A short reprise of the song also ends the film.) The other great performance is by Hermione Gingold as Madame Alvarez, Gigi's grandmother. She's so much fun to watch whenever she's on screen, and her duet with Chevalier, "I Remember It Well," is such a lovely ode to lost love. I would have preferred to watch a film version of their adventures instead, but youth must be the focus, I suppose. None of the cast members were nominated for their performances, oddly enough, a rarity among movies that win Best Picture.

A good musical must be judged by its songs, and you don't get much better at choosing songwriters than Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, who are no doubt more famous for their musical My Fair Lady. They made some fine music for Gigi as well, including "The Night They Invented Champagne" and the two songs I've already mentioned. My personal favorite is "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore," sung by Chevalier. It's a somewhat bittersweet song, but Chevalier brings to it a wealth of history. If there are any songs that don't seem to measure up, the one that stands out the most is the title track, which won the Oscar that year for Best Song. "Gigi" sounds to me like an obvious retread of "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" from My Fair Lady. Even the pacing of the song is very similar, not to mention the overall rhythm and content. Still, one weak song in the bunch is a pretty good average.

Gigi won nine Oscars in 1958, a record number at that time, and a lot of them were in the technical categories such as art direction and music and costume design. In fact, it won every Oscar for which it was nominated. It had some pretty interesting competition for Best Picture of 1958, a comedy (Auntie Mame) and three dramas (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Defiant Ones, and Separate Tables). I think it's really a testament to the Freed Unit that Gigi was the winner. It is all beautifully made, even if there is little substance to the story. There's no social message involved, no deep meaning, perhaps, just a bit of light entertainment set to a lovely score.