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The film opens with Honoré Lachaille (Maurice Chevalier) talking to the camera, and therefore to us, as he mingles about through the Bois de Boulogne, a high-society area of France. Honoré is a confirmed bachelor, now an elderly man but no less the flirt. He especially loves to woo the younger crowd. As part of this, he exclaims through spoken word and through song how much he adores seeing young girls develop into charming young women. Now, in today's society, a guy like this would probably have his name submitted for consideration into the Megan's Law database, but for 1958 it's simply harmless movie magic, especially with Chevalier providing the charm. Honoré says that some in Paris will not marry, or do not marry. In his eyes, it's the men who will not, and the women who do not. One of those men who will not is his nephew Gaston (Louis Jourdan), and we now dissolve from Honoré's narrative scene to the plot itself. Gaston is bored with life. He's bored with high society. He's bored dating his mistresses. He makes no bones about this either to his uncle Honoré as they take a carriage ride through Paris, including under the Eiffel Tower.
Gaston follows this ride with a visit to a close friend, Madame Alvarez (Hermione Gingold), and her granddaughter Gigi (Leslie Caron), who isn't home upon this visit. Gaston enjoys some tea with Ms. Alvarez, whom he affectionately refers to as "Mamita". Meanwhile, Gigi is at her Aunt Alicia's (Isabel Jeans), where she continues to receive lessons on how to be a proper lady. Today's lessons include proper table manners (how to cut the meat properly), jewelry recognition ("Wait for the first-class jewels, Gigi!") and knowing which cigars in the box are the freshest.
Gigi really hates these lessons. She isn't even sure if she wants to end up an unmarried mistress like most of high society. A pouty but fun song about not understanding Parisians leads Gigi to dance and trot her way outdoors and onto a park bench, where she pulls her hat over her head. As luck would have it though, Gaston rides by on a carriage and sees her. Gigi runs to him and asks if all he does is make love all the time like all the other Parisians seem to do. Gaston replies that the only people that make love all the time are liars. He invites her to tag along as he's on his way to an ice rink to meet someone. Gigi does go along, and while they're there they see Gaston's mistress Liane (Eva Gabor) getting lessons on how to skate. Gigi decides to leave after only a minute. Liane then joins Gaston at the table, and they head off to a party at Maxim's. However, while at the party Gaston sees Liane being very distracted and joyous to everyone and everything, which tips him off that she's got her mind on someone else and not on him. Sure enough, later that evening Gaston and Honoré trail Liane to another restaurant to find her schmoozing with her skating instructor. When Liane goes to the powder room, the Lachailles approach him and give him 1,000 francs to leave town. He accepts and is carried out. Liane runs out of the powder room and sees this, and Gaston tells her that she is no longer his.
This dumping actually makes the newspapers, and in response Gaston plans to take some downtime at a beach house. However, Honoré says to do that would show weakness, so Gaston instead dives into a series of outlandish parties and shindigs to keep his newly-single profile out in the public scene. Gaston is still bored though, even sleeping through one of them. Finally, Gaston decides he will go to the beach house as he planned in the first place. He tells this to Mamita and Gigi during a visit. Gigi coaxes him into making a deal as they play cards. If Gigi wins, he will take the two of them along. Gaston agrees, and ultimately does lose. A deal is a deal, however, so off they go!
While at the beachfront, Honoré strolls through and happens upon Madame Alvarez. The two old friends sit together and reminisce about their romantic past, with Honoré admitting that she was the one woman he almost went through and married. They sing a song together, "I Remember It Well", which is a lot of fun as Honoré says a line of something they did together in the past only to have Mamita correct him somehow every time. It's a sweet song without at all crossing over to sappy, and could be argued to be the musical highlight of the film as these two showbiz veterans make it all look so natural. Meanwhile, Gaston and Gigi have a blast with each other's company as they unwind from their respective lives back at home.
Upon returning home, the Alvarez sisters are discussing how Gaston has cancelled all of his social engagements. They believe Gigi has captured his interest, but Aunt Alicia feels Gigi needs a lot more refining first. So Gigi visits for more classes. How to properly pour and drink coffee. Walking, sitting and standing daintily. And yes, more of the smelling and shaking of cigars. Finally, a fashion show where Aunt Alicia chooses what she thinks are the right dresses for Gigi. Hopefully all of this pleases Gaston upon his next visit to Gigi and Mamita.
Unfortunately, it doesn't. Gigi comes out of her room dolled up in a fancy white dress. Gaston thinks she looks ridiculous, calling her such things as a "giraffe with a goiter." He leaves the apartment but turns around as he reaches the street, realizing he's being silly. He returns to find Gigi has the door already open since she saw him turn around out of the window. He apologizes and invites her to tea, but Mamita refuses to allow it as such a young girl seen in his company could damage her future. Gaston is outraged that Madame Alvarez could think he would feel towards Gigi like he would for his other mistresses, and leaves again. He walks around town for awhile, at first telling himself the whole thing is silly, but then realizes Gigi is now a young woman, and one who truly makes him feel happy, not bored. He loves her, darn it, so it's back to the apartment once again to discuss the matter with Madame Alvarez.
After some apparent negotiations take place, Gaston visits on a later night, where he will officially make the offer to Gigi to be his lady. Gigi, however, has had it ingrained into her that she would wind up like so many other women in high society, being passed around over time from one man's bed to another, and she refuses. When Gaston admits that it's more than that, and he's in love with her, Gigi runs off to her room sobbing. Gaston is upset with Mamita for allowing Gigi to be taught the lessons she has been. The next day, Aunt Alicia visits Mamita and they try to figure out what went wrong. As they are doing so, Gaston pays a surprise visit. He says he received a note from Gigi to come over. Gigi comes out of her room in an über-fancy gown and states she would rather be miserable with him than be miserable without him.
They go to Maxim's and Gigi seems rather at ease, even properly doing the cigar routine. However, Gaston gets more uncomfortable as time goes on. The stares of everyone else weigh on him. When Honoré sits down and congratulates him on the Gigi score, saying she shouldn't bore him for many months, Gaston decides he's had enough and that Gigi's concerns were valid. There's just one way to fix this, and he does so by leaving abruptly with Gigi in tow and taking her back to the apartment. Gaston then spends some time alone wandering the streets before deciding to make the final decision: He returns to the apartment and asks Madame Alvarez for Gigi's hand in marriage. Gigi and Mamita are both thrilled, and the film closes after returning to Honoré in the park to sing us a refrain of his trademark song, which he does as we see Gaston and Gigi stroll through.
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Gigi was one of the few films in history to complete an Oscar sweep, being nominated in 9 categories and winning in every one of them. The wins came for Score, Song, Film Editing, Costume Design, Art Direction, Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay, Director and Picture. It won the top prize over Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Auntie Mame, Separate Tables and The Defiant Ones. Its 9 wins were a new record at the time, but wound up surpassed by the 11 wins for Ben-Hur the following year. Gigi also holds the record for a Best Picture winner having the shortest title, a crown it now shares with last year's winner, Argo.
This isn't to say there wasn't some criticism of the film. For one thing, there was controversy even before the film's release due to the subject matter. Keep in mind this was 1958, and the entire storyline revolves around what basically amounts to prostitution. Also, the songwriting team of Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner (Lerner also wrote Gigi's screenplay) raised some eyebrows with the similarities plotwise with this film and their earlier success, My Fair Lady. One renowned critic even remarked that the two films were so similar that Lerner and Loewe might want to sue themselves. Be that as it may, Gigi was an immediate hit with the public, and remains a favorite to this day. Personally, I wouldn't rank this one as one of the all-time great movie musicals, but I find it impossible not to enjoy the gaiety that Gigi provides from start to finish.
I loved Gigi...even if it now amounts to little more than an open invitation to statutory assault, lol. Courtesan, prostitute, tomato, tomAHto.
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