Review of Gigi (1958) by Jordan P — 02 Jan 2019

The beginning song is definitely catchy, but has way too much of a pedophilic vibe for me. The song about being glad that he is no longer young is probably the best in the movie, but didn't really make up for the other songs being "a bore.

" The actual film itself does a nice job showing the fleetingness of the pleasure associated with raucous living, a look into the courtesan culture, and how selfish and wanton playing with things that ought to bring love completely remove it from your life.

It also brings to question where the line between a boy or girl and a man or woman ought to be drawn, which we generally now think, though who knows what they thought back then, is the age of 18. The ending was less than satisfying though because though Gigi gets the ending you may have hoped for, she is not the same person she was at the beginning of the film and you wonder if she ever truly will be again because of her guardians' meddling.

Each character reeks of selfishness, and even though the film is trying to put them all in a bad light, the finale does nothing to really make the protagonists stand out as better, other than presenting us with the idea that they got married and so the relationship they ought to have is the one they end up with because they are free to act as they like rather than as social figures, which is a bit of a stretch.

However, that may have been the point of the film; that only in marriage can you really be yourself. People may look down on the commoners who fall in love and raise a family, but only in that common and sacred joining can people truly find joy.