I was looking forward to LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON going into it, because I already love Audrey Hepburn, Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier, and already love writer/director Billy Wilder, who is responsible for not only several classics, but also a few that happen to be among my favorites.Hepburn, beautiful as always, stars as a naive young cellist living in Paris with her father (Maurice Chevalier), a detective specializing in adultery cases. Hepburn can't help but be turned on by the sordid affairs Chevalier deals with, much to Chevalier's dismay. The story starts with Hepburn preventing a cuckolded husband (John McGiver) from murdering his romantic rival, Gary Cooper as a business tycoon playboy.
Hepburn and Cooper fall for each other and begin an anonymous romance, meeting each other in the afternoons. Hepburn knows all about Cooper, thanks to her fathers' sizable file on the serial philanderer, but Cooper knows nothing about her. This is Hepburn's first romance, and she's head over heels, but she protects herself by presenting it as one in a long string of romances, creating elaborate stories of her imaginary ex-lovers in order to impress Cooper.
For the first half hour, or so, the movie kept its momentum. Then it settled into the series of afternoons between Hepburn and Cooper and lost some steam. The final half hour and romantic climax proved to be great, but the whole movie sagged in the middle. This romantic comedy runs about 2 hours and 10 minutes, but it only has enough story for about 90 minutes.
That's not to say it wasn't basically enjoyable -- it's not one of Wilder's best, but a mediocre Billy Wilder film is better than most average films, anyway. It's still cute and funny and romantic, and Wilder gets a lot of mileage out of "The Gypsies" -- a musical quartet hired by Cooper at first to come to his hotel room and provide atmosphere for his romantic conquests, and later as loyal sidekicks who follow him all over Paris. Also, the relationship between Chevalier and Hepburn as father and daughter is poignant and even more effective than the romantic relationship here.
The heart and soul of the movie lies with Chevalier. Whether he's playing a gentle, loving father or a dirty old man, he always seems to have more inherent wisdom about the ways of love and sex than any other character in a given movie. He's one of those screen presences who simply radiates warmth just by showing up.
Sadie Says:
One of the things I love about Billy Wilder movies, is the introduction to many of his films. Like IRMA LA DOUCE, LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON starts out with a fine introduction with beautiful shots of Paris, a narrator (in this case Chevalier), a meeting with the characters, and a quick change in on what Billy Wilder does best--A love story.
LITA is not a love story of convention, but one filled with intimacy behind closed doors. It's not one that makes a whole lot of sense at first watch, but one that is left to the imagination, time, and distance. Close up shots make this movie. Often these films are hard to swallow and LITA is no exception, however the dynamic acting, cinematography, and the music of the Gypsies keep LITA high on my list as a not to be missed Wilder film.
What is also interesting to note about LITA, is that this is the first of twelve films written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond on the famous grounds of "The Lot" in Hollywood, CA. The Lot was a haven for Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges etc. They went on to write many flicks including SOME LIKE IT HOT, IRMA LA DOUCE, THE APARTMENT, FORTUNE COOKIE and so on and so forth.
I love the idea of "THE LOT." A home away from home, solely for writers, famous ones and non-famous alike, to congregate, eat lunch, work, and bounce ideas off one another for days. In the era of classic Hollywood movies, writers were hired as is, to write great screenplays and nothing more. It seems like there actually might be value to this model of writing, as some of the greatest movies of all time have come out of this all-star writers think tank. LITA is no exception.
Hepburn and Cooper fall for each other and begin an anonymous romance, meeting each other in the afternoons. Hepburn knows all about Cooper, thanks to her fathers' sizable file on the serial philanderer, but Cooper knows nothing about her. This is Hepburn's first romance, and she's head over heels, but she protects herself by presenting it as one in a long string of romances, creating elaborate stories of her imaginary ex-lovers in order to impress Cooper.
For the first half hour, or so, the movie kept its momentum. Then it settled into the series of afternoons between Hepburn and Cooper and lost some steam. The final half hour and romantic climax proved to be great, but the whole movie sagged in the middle. This romantic comedy runs about 2 hours and 10 minutes, but it only has enough story for about 90 minutes.
That's not to say it wasn't basically enjoyable -- it's not one of Wilder's best, but a mediocre Billy Wilder film is better than most average films, anyway. It's still cute and funny and romantic, and Wilder gets a lot of mileage out of "The Gypsies" -- a musical quartet hired by Cooper at first to come to his hotel room and provide atmosphere for his romantic conquests, and later as loyal sidekicks who follow him all over Paris. Also, the relationship between Chevalier and Hepburn as father and daughter is poignant and even more effective than the romantic relationship here.
The heart and soul of the movie lies with Chevalier. Whether he's playing a gentle, loving father or a dirty old man, he always seems to have more inherent wisdom about the ways of love and sex than any other character in a given movie. He's one of those screen presences who simply radiates warmth just by showing up.
Sadie Says:
One of the things I love about Billy Wilder movies, is the introduction to many of his films. Like IRMA LA DOUCE, LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON starts out with a fine introduction with beautiful shots of Paris, a narrator (in this case Chevalier), a meeting with the characters, and a quick change in on what Billy Wilder does best--A love story.
LITA is not a love story of convention, but one filled with intimacy behind closed doors. It's not one that makes a whole lot of sense at first watch, but one that is left to the imagination, time, and distance. Close up shots make this movie. Often these films are hard to swallow and LITA is no exception, however the dynamic acting, cinematography, and the music of the Gypsies keep LITA high on my list as a not to be missed Wilder film.
What is also interesting to note about LITA, is that this is the first of twelve films written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond on the famous grounds of "The Lot" in Hollywood, CA. The Lot was a haven for Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges etc. They went on to write many flicks including SOME LIKE IT HOT, IRMA LA DOUCE, THE APARTMENT, FORTUNE COOKIE and so on and so forth.
I love the idea of "THE LOT." A home away from home, solely for writers, famous ones and non-famous alike, to congregate, eat lunch, work, and bounce ideas off one another for days. In the era of classic Hollywood movies, writers were hired as is, to write great screenplays and nothing more. It seems like there actually might be value to this model of writing, as some of the greatest movies of all time have come out of this all-star writers think tank. LITA is no exception.
One of the things I love about Billy Wilder movies, is the introduction to many of his films. Like IRMA LA DOUCE, LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON starts out with a fine introduction with beautiful shots of Paris, a narrator (in this case Chevalier), a meeting with the characters, and a quick change in on what Billy Wilder does best--A love story.
ReplyDeleteLITA is not a love story of convention, but one filled with intimacy behind closed doors. It's not one that makes a whole lot of sense at first watch, but one that is left to the imagination, time, and distance. Close up shots make this movie. Often these films are hard to swallow and LITA is no exception, however the dynamic acting, cinematography, and the music of the Gypsies keep LITA high on my list as a not to be missed Wilder film.
What is also interesting to note about LITA, is that this is the first of twelve films written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond on the famous grounds of "The Lot" in Hollywood, CA. The Lot was a haven for Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges etc. They went on to write many flicks including SOME LIKE IT HOT, IRMA LA DOUCE, THE APARTMENT, FORTUNE COOKIE and so on and so forth.
I love the idea of "THE LOT." A home away from home, solely for writers, famous ones and non-famous alike, to congregate, eat lunch, work, and bounce ideas off one another for days. In the era of classic Hollywood movies, writers were hired as is, to write great screenplays and nothing more. It seems like there actually might be value to this model of writing, as some of the greatest movies of all time have come out of this all-star writers think tank. LITA is no exception.