These women were often largely accepted by society, and were well treated by the people they were with. Courtesans had one client and were treated well, often being given a home, jewels, money, etc. Gigi (played by Leslie Caron), is being trained by her Aunt to be a Courtesan. The musical takes place at the turn of the century Paris, France. Honoré smiles at us, and this is the happy ending.Gigi is a book, turned play, turned musical. Gigi, grown-up and at-ease, strolls arm-in-arm with Gaston. In the final scene, Honoré-back in the park full of ladies of all ages-reminds us of the cycle of womanhood. He returns to the apartment and asks Madame Alvarez for Gigi's hand in marriage. In the darkening Paris streets, Gaston realizes that by asking Gigi to be a kept woman, he hasn't been honoring his real love for her. He drags her out of the restaurant and drops her off at home. He worries she's lost her feisty spark, everything that made her different. That evening, the two go out, and Gigi acts like too-proper a lady, doing everything just as Liane would. Gigi sadly tells him she'd rather be miserable with him than without him. But when Gaston receives a note from Gigi saying she'll accept, he rushes back to her apartment. Gaston leaves in a huff and Honoré advises him to ignore the girl and go on living his life. To Madame Alvarez and Aunt Alicia's embarrassment, Gigi turns down Gaston's offer. She's well aware of Gaston's reputation and knows she'll be thrown out when the next girl comes along and made to find another lover. Madame Alvarez consents, but Gigi finds it unbearable to think of being with Gaston and being scrutinized by all of Parisian society. The movie soft-pedals the whole sexual angle. He thinks he may be falling in love with Gigi, and returns home to make business arrangements with Madame Alvarez so that he can begin taking care of Gigi in a "grand fashion." This includes dating her and sharing a bed, a typical arrangement for a wealthy man and his mistress. Grandmama runs into Honoré there as well, and it's revealed that they were once lovers, though they cheated on each other and have both ended up alone.īack in Paris, Gaston heads to Monte Carlo to think about things. They go with Madame Alvarez, and have a grand old time. Instead of asking for candy, she wants to go with Gaston to the beach since she's never seen the ocean. But he's still bored, bored, bored.Ĭhez Madame Alvarez, he begins to notice that Gigi's started to grow from a girl to a young woman. To preserve his public image, Gaston spends the next several weeks making headlines in the society pages, buying out the opera and hosting party after party. Liane makes a suicide attempt "with insufficient poison," and it's played for laughs. At Honoré's advice, Gaston confronts them, paying off the skater and putting him on the next train out of town. Meanwhile, Gaston's getting suspicious about his current mistress Liane, and for good reason: she's having an affair with her ice skating instructor. Who can stand it?įor diversion, he likes to go to his friend Madame Alvarez's shabby apartment, drink her chamomile tea, and and tease Gigi, exclaiming that he has "a better time with this outrageous brat than anyone in Paris!" Everything is so boring-all the women, the endless parties and dinners, the cars, the clothes. While the two old ladies are doing their best to train up a proper young lady who will one day be a well-kept mistress, Honoré's nephew Gaston, a thirtyish sugar tycoon, has a case of the Mondays every day. She doesn't know she's being groomed to become a courtesan, just like her grandmama and aunt were. Gigi finds these lessons about gemstones and cigars confusing and boring, ditto love and sex. As she gets older, Gigi starts to take finishing lessons from her Aunt Alicia, her grandmama's sis and a fading beauty who hasn't left her beautiful apartment in years. Gigi (short for Gilberte and pronounced "zhee-zhee") lives with her mother and grandmother, Madame Alvarez. He admires beautiful things, he says, "not antiques, mind you." He points to a laughing, playful young tomboy named Gigi. Honoré is part of this even at his advanced age, and he sings "Thank Heaven for Little Girls," perhaps the most famous (and, to some ears, creepy) tune from this musical. Everyone cheats on everyone, and marriage is a cat-and-mouse situation where women want financial security and men simply don't want to be tied down. The year's 1900, and a dapper gentleman named Honoré Lachaille strolls through a beautiful Paris park, introducing us to the current state of love: it's a game played carefully by women and men alike.
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