Gigi (DVD)

Synopsis

A home, a motorcar, servants, the latest fashions: the most eligible and most finicky bachelor (Louis Jourdan) in Paris offers them all to Gigi (Leslie Caron). But she, who's gone from girlish gawkishness to cultured glamour before our eyes, yearns for that wonderful something money can't buy.

Gaston (Jordan), the scion of a wealthy Parisian family, finds emotional refuge from the superficial lifestyle of upper-class Parisian 1900s society with the former mistress of his uncle (Maurice Chevalier) and her outgoing, tomboy granddaughter, Gigi (Leslie Caron). When Gaston becomes aware that Gigi has matured into a woman, her grandmother and aunt, who have educated Gigi to be a wealthy man's mistress, encourage him to become her provider and her to accept such a golden opportunity. However, love adds a surprise twist to this delightful turn-of-the-20th-century Cinderella story.

Producer Arthur Freed, director Vincente Minnelli and a cast rife with Gallic charm combine talents for this lavish winner of nine Academy Awards including Best Picture. Its Alan Jay Lerne and Frederick Loewe songs can sparkle, like "The Night They Invented Champagne" or caress with the title-tune tenderness. "I Remember It Well," man-about-town Maurice Chevalier sings to Hermione Gingold. Like love itself, "Gigi" is most memorable.