Gigi (1949).

Review #1650: Gigi.

Cast: 

Yvonne de Bray (Mamita), Gaby Morlay (Tante Alicia), Jean Tissier (Honoré), Franck Villard (Gaston), Danièle Delorme (Gilberte 'Gigi'), Paul Demange (Emmanuel), Madeleine Rousset (Liane d'Exelmans), and Pierre Juvenet (Monsieur Lachaille) Directed by Jacqueline Audry.

Review: 

Jacqueline Audry honed success in a field and time that was nearly too narrow for it to happen the way it did. Born in France in 1908, Audry honed her interest in filmmaking over a childhood of extensive education through script supervisor before moving on to work work as an assistant director for a variety of directors in a time that ranged from G. W. Pabst to Max Ophüls; this came out of the fact that there were bare opportunities for female directors in the country when it was occupied by Germany in World War II. Audry would make her first own film with a short feature in 1943. Her first feature film would come after the end of the war with Les Malheurs de Sophie (1946), but it now is considered lost. In any case, Audry would persist in directing sixteen films through a career of two decades up to Bitter Fruit (1967, done ten years before her death), often collaborating with her novelist sister Colette Audry on her films. Gigi was Audry's second directorial effort, and the first of three of Colette adaptations. Audry was the first successful French female director to come out of World War II, although her works were not received universally at the time (the French New Wave did not favor her traditional methods to go along with taking novels to make for films); Olivia (1951) is generally her most-known feature, while others are likely in need of restoration (for example, one can check out Gigi on the Internet if they look hard enough for it, although the subtitles are in white). 

You might say this is a victim of remakes. As folks might already know, Gigi is adapted from the 1944 novella of the same name by actress-turned novelist Colette, and she modeled the title character off a socialite named Yola Letellier (the wife of Henri Letellier, who published Le Journal) that Colette had observed two decades prior (the Letelliers would stay married until the husband's death in 1960, although Yola would be a mistress during and after the marriage). It may have been the first adaptation of the novella, but there is no doubt that the musical remake (released nine years later) has overshadowed it in terms of discussion. It's interesting to think about that, since that film (which unlike this one had a cast mostly comprised of French actors) was a lavish affair in terms of being a musical with a wonderful look and fairly effective songs (at least from someone who has a middling patience with folks breaking out into song) in a nearly two-hour affair that nevertheless took liberties with the novella. With this feature, it runs at 82 minutes, and it perhaps seems fitting that one way to check out the feature is find it packed together with the remake on the DVD of the latter as an extra. Of course, we are also talking about different moral tones within the films - a grandparent overseeing a mistress-in-training instead became a grandparent wanting to see her just marry a rich man. In any case, the film is a reflection of its director that results in a quiet but dutiful little romance/comedy. Somehow, it seemed to linger in its pacing more so than the other film despite its clear run-time differences, although at least one doesn't lose sight of the country and some of the period sights. It makes its story of a growing woman weaving through the expectations set upon her of the time work out with careful timing and a few chuckles beneath the surface in the inevitable story of love triumphing over all. Delorme had her most famous role with this film in a sea of sixty appearances in film (including two other star roles in Colette adaptations, each directed by Audry), and she does fairly well for herself here, carefully charmed in reason for what is needed in the sticking points of a growing youth. The duo of de Bray and Morlay make their doting contributions to prim-and-proper standards that make for a few useful glances.  Alas, I wish I remembered the rest of the cast as well. Somehow, Tissler seems confined to the background in terms of slyness, whereas Villard proves just okay in his mild enthusiasm for what society has to offer a man of privilege - namely a stiff expression. I care about what happens in the film, but that aura of inevitability is a mild sensation rather than biting or on the sweet side as with the future adaptation (for better or worse). It isn't so much that the next adaptation was both refreshing and sanitized, it just so happens that the film is okay. It is a decent, stiff, and serviceable effort that will prove fine for those who desire perspectives yearning to not be lost to time.

Next Time: Never fear forgetting about Ida Lupino with her debut into directing with a personal effort in more ways than one with Never Fear (1949).

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.