Review of Gigi (1958) by Jamie T — 06 Jan 2010

3: Gigi is certainly a quality film, but it isn't a terribly memorable one for me. I'd actually confused it with Funny Face in my head, before seeing it for the second time last night. It has numerous issues, not the least of which is that it stars Leslie Caron, but doesn't allow her to dance.

Without a doubt, the best part of the film is the sequence where she is gliding across the room under her aunts supervision and acting ridiculous. It's brilliantly funny and the reason for this is undoubtedly that Caron has superb control over her body and was taught how to translate that onto film by some of the best.

I only wish there were more opportunities like this in the picture. Chevalier performs well, but it's a far cry from earlier masterpieces like Love Me Tonight. He's lost a little something from his step, his joie de vive, the twinkle in his eye, and his voice.

Still, it's great fun seeing him on screen. It's a fairly simple story that follows the genre conventions fairly closely. It's fairly obvious where its heading from very close to the outset.

One of most unique aspects of the picture is the fairly risqué subject matter. It's not every 1950s Hollywood musical that is so explicit regarding sexuality, sex, and mistresses. I suppose it certainly helps that the film is set in the past and in Paris.

The costumes and production values are precisely what one would expect from this type of film. In other words, no surprises. It looks quite crisp and clear on Blu-Ray, but falls short of other films like The General or The Searchers in my opinion (I've yet to watch Gone with the Wind or The Wizard of Oz, but I'm sure it will pale in comparison with them).

One element of the film that I found more distracting than anything else were the constant blurring of scenes at the transition point from one scene to another. This loss of focus simply become irritating and distracting.

The cut at the end back to Chevalier singing is definitely one of the most inspired moments in the picture though. It certainly wasn't lost on me that this was made prior to the French nouvelle vague and the increased use of jump cuts.

In the end, it is great fun.