A movie musical classic, An American in Paris was released in 1951,directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. This film is the prototypical Romantic Comedy, you can see this film’s DNA all over the Rom Coms of the 80s, 90s, and 00s.
Synopsis
Gene Kelly plays Jerry Mulligan, a struggling American artist living in Paris. He lives in a tiny apartment next to his concert pianist best friend Adam Cook, played by Oscar Levant. Oscar is also good friends with a famous French singer Henri Baurel, played by Georges Guétary, who is head over heels in love with his soon to be fiancé Lise Bouvier, played by Caron. One morning Jerry meets suntan oil heiress Milo Roberts, played by Nina Foch. Milo is enamored with Jerry’s paintings and offers to be Jerry’s sponsor and set up his own art show in a couple of months. Jerry is reluctant at first but eventually accepts Milo’s offer. While out with Milo one night Jerry meets Lise and after some slightly problematic courting the two fall in love but Lise’s relationship with Henri and Jerry’s relationship with Milo get in the way of the two being together.
Gene Kelly: The Premeir Song and Dance Man
There’s no overstating Gene Kelly’s talents as an entertainer. He is the epitome of a triple treat. Whether he’s dancing, singing or acting he is charming your pants off regardless. I can’t and won’t try to explain Kelly’s dancing style in any kind of technical way, all I know is that when Gene Kelly is moving on the screen you can’t take your eyes off of him. This isn’t limited to the dance numbers either. He could just be walking down the street and you would be captivated by the way he does it. At times it seems like he’s just floating around barely being held down to the ground. The first scene of the film is a perfect example of this. Kelly wakes up in his tiny Parisian apartment and he makes breakfast. The scene is thoroughly entertaining for the sole reason that we like watching Gene Kelly move.
If this isn’t Paris, it’s Good Enough
Speaking of sets I have to give a special shoutout to the set design in this movie. Gene Kelly’s apartment, while limited in size, tells you everything you need to know about his character. The bed folds up into the ceiling, the kitchen table comes out of the closet, the balcony is wide open to say good morning to all the neighbors. It’s not much space but the character squeezes every bit of enjoyment out of every inch. The sets for the café and the bar are also equally detailed and do a good job of giving you a feel for this city. I don’t really know if these sets are an accurate representation of what Paris actually feels like. I would like to believe that that spot next to the river is real and somewhere I could actually visit when we’re able to visit places again. Also, the set for the final extravagant dance number is just perfection.
The Movie Musical: A lost art
Why doesn’t Hollywood make musicals anymore? I can’t say that I’m the biggest musical fan but when they are done as expertly as An American in Paris I’m all for it. One reason is because Hollywood is pouring money into superhero movies but I think that there’s a lot of money to be made in musicals too. Just in the last decade or so there have been a handful of really successful movie musicals like the Mamma Mia movies, Into the Woods, The Greatest Showman, and of course we can’t forget the phenomenon that was Hamilton. So why doesn’t Hollywood make more of these, well I think the real issue is lack of stars. There aren’t really any actors today that have the skill set that Gene Kelly had. Sure, Hugh Jackman is a decent singer and dancer but when it comes to being a pure entertainer he can’t hold Gene Kelly’s jockstrap. The closest any movie comes to reaching this film’s level of movie musical proficiency is 2016’s La La Land.
An American in Paris vs. La La Land
The director of La La Land, Damien Chazelle, has cited An American in Paris as being a big inspiration. Certainly the tap dancing routine with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling is very Gene Kellyesque. There are also a big similarities with the endings. In La La Land there is a musical number that shows us what it would have been like if the two leads had stayed together before showing them go their separate ways. In An American in Paris we see Jerry and Lise reunite in a dance sequence after Lise had already left with Henri. Of course the difference between the two is that in An American in Paris Lise comes back and the two live happily ever after. La La Land’s ending reflects the cynical edge that the movie carries towards Hollywood, the music industry, and relationships in general. In stark contrast to An American in Paris which is very earnest. Even when Jerry is questioning Milo’s intentions when she sponsors him the issue is resolved and it turned out that Milo just genuinely wants to help Jerry. I don’t think that same storyline would have worked in La La Land.
A Problematic Romantice
This movie has a lot of flaws. There is a 5 minute long piano solo by a side character that I think should just be cut from the movie. For the second movie in a row we have a weird voiceover from multiple characters to start the film. Maybe this was a trend in early 1950s filmmaking? If it was I’m glad we’ve moved on from it. By far the biggest problem with this film is the relationship between Jerry and Lise. The movie starts with several scenes of Gene Kelly singing and dancing and just being a charming guy so the audience is on his side from the jump. When he encounters Lise though he becomes very predatory all of a sudden. His character is no push over he is assertive in his dealings with Milo but when he’s so forceful in pursuing Lise it makes him seem very off-putting. He eves drops on her conversation to learn her name then he drags her on the dance floor and forces her to dance. The next day he comes to her workplace. If Jerry was played by anybody else except for the extremely charming Gene Kelly his actions would be tremendously creepy. And even Kelly comes really close to crossing the creepy line but he manages to just barely get by. This is unfortunately a very common occurrence with most Rom Coms but we’ll talk about that another day.
Jerry Should have Ended up with Milo
The other major problem with Jerry and Lise’s relationship is that they have absolutely no chemistry. It doesn’t help that this is Leslie Caron’s first role and her acting is pretty wooden. Jerry had a much better connection with Milo. Milo is an older woman who is obviously very self assured. Milo and Jerry share some great banter back and forth and to be honest the kiss between Kelly and Koch is much more believable than the one between Kelly and Caron. Milo is also very involved with art so her and Jerry have that in common on top of the fact that she is willing to support his art financially. It really makes more sense for Lise to be with Henri, he helped keep her safe during the war and they have a long history together. The only reason that Jerry and Lise end up together in the end was the cliché “the heart wants what the heart wants”. it’s not the ending that I would have wanted but I guess I can’t fault the film too much. Overall I found An American in Paris entertaining and delightful if not just a tad bit hollow in places, I’d give this movie a 3.5/5 stars.
