Don't get me wrong, I love it - Leslie Caron and the whole cast. And the songs are superb.
But let's face it, this is Americanized Collette. She celebrated the deals and compromises within a sexist order that allowed a lucky few high-class prostitutes to become well-to-do, independent women in fin-de-siecle Paris (and a lot of others to at least make some kind of living). She empowered women, at a time when there just weren't many other opportunities for them to establish real independence (our current categories of PC and non-PC wouldn't have meant much then). It wasn't always pretty, but there was reality in her writing about relations between the sexes that hasn't lost its relevance.
Of course, this had to be soft-pedalled for the American audience - hence the ending, which conforms nicely with middle-class morality on this side of the Atlantic. This is the only "politically" unsatisfactory thing about the movie, however. And it remains superior - both "politically" and as a film - to My Fair Lady, where Eliza is implied to return and submit herself to Rex Harrison at the end, whereas Gigi at least implies that it's Gaston rather than Gigi who is going to have to change his ways.
My only other gripe: Why no dancing from Leslie - and from Vincente Minelli, that peerless director of dance sequences? I guess Lerner and Lowe must have been more in control of this one, and weren't of a mind for rug-cutting. Too bad - there really isn't nearly enough of Leslie dancing on film as it is!
But let's face it, this is Americanized Collette. She celebrated the deals and compromises within a sexist order that allowed a lucky few high-class prostitutes to become well-to-do, independent women in fin-de-siecle Paris (and a lot of others to at least make some kind of living). She empowered women, at a time when there just weren't many other opportunities for them to establish real independence (our current categories of PC and non-PC wouldn't have meant much then). It wasn't always pretty, but there was reality in her writing about relations between the sexes that hasn't lost its relevance.
Of course, this had to be soft-pedalled for the American audience - hence the ending, which conforms nicely with middle-class morality on this side of the Atlantic. This is the only "politically" unsatisfactory thing about the movie, however. And it remains superior - both "politically" and as a film - to My Fair Lady, where Eliza is implied to return and submit herself to Rex Harrison at the end, whereas Gigi at least implies that it's Gaston rather than Gigi who is going to have to change his ways.
My only other gripe: Why no dancing from Leslie - and from Vincente Minelli, that peerless director of dance sequences? I guess Lerner and Lowe must have been more in control of this one, and weren't of a mind for rug-cutting. Too bad - there really isn't nearly enough of Leslie dancing on film as it is!