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Love in the Afternoon |
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Home: You are here: Love in the Afternoon |
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Love in the Afternoon  Rating: Rating:  - Solid Wilder; hypocritical critics.Audrey Hepburn (who was an excellent actor and an even better human being) MADE HER FILM CAREER by playing the sweet young thing opposite the much older man. Seriously, people, how can you try, sentence and condemn this film because "Gary Cooper is too old for her," but talk about how much you love films like Roman Holiday, My Fair Lady, Charade, or even lesser movies like Sabrina or War and Peace? Humphrey Bogart: 30 years older. Gary Cooper: 27 years older. Henry Fonda: 24 years older. Burt Lancaster: 16 years older. Cary Grant: 25 years older. Rex Harrison: 21 years older. Gregory Peck: 13 years older (but when she was only 25 and he was pushing 40). If you can relook at the film for what it is, you find one of Billy Wilder's good, but hardly great pictures. Many of the qualities that make Wilder one of the greats--a strong central cast, well-oiled comedic timing and engaging dramatic pacing--are present and accounted for. Cooper plays an excellent smirking, older lothario (hardly an uncommon trope it the annals of American film, so get over it) in a daring, but well-acted departure from the Will Kane/Longfellow Deeds mold. Maurice Chevalier tones down the croaking Frenchman routine to play a subtle and endearing character, despite his obnoxious occupation. And Audrey Hepburn delivers a remarkably self-controlled performance in what was doubtless a difficult role to assume. The gypsy band and the comedy of errors are vintage Wilder. Ditto for the typically 'Wilderian' pace, which never lags, and never goes too long without a joke. All of Wilder's story-telling signatures are there, especially his career-long preoccupation with the qualities that make up 'human decency,' and, despite his generally cynical take on modern American life (at home and abroad), his aptitude for teasing out a satisfying romantic ending. A movie is not always the sum of its parts; a great cast and a strong script can make for a disastrous picture if not assembled properly. Wilder, even when working with inferior material (I'm thinking especially of some of HIS OWN weaker scripts) could never be accused of shoddy directing. And Love in the Afternoon is, above all, well-assembled. Its script is not as daring or captivating as Double Indemnity's, nor as moving and utterly human as the Apartment's. It's on-location filming is not as impressive as is Ace in the Hole's, nor as memorable as The Long Weekend's (remember Ray Milland's agonizing pawn shop hunt?). Wilder made good use, initially, of the Place Vendôme, but otherwise he fails to make the most of what Paris has to offer. It's solid, it leaves an impression and stays with you, but it's hardly Wilder's best work. For another director, Love in the Afternoon would be great; for Wilder, it's just good. Rating:  - love in the afternoonAudrey Hepburn, always lovely, couldn't possibly have fallen for a man who looked as old as Gary Cooper. Apart from that, I thought the supporting actors were good, the script was good, the directing was good. Too bad about Gary Cooper. Rating:  - incredible waste of time - VERY datedThe wisdom of Amazon kept recommending this to me. Why - because I bought Two For The Road several years ago?? That purchase was based on love of that film and its timeless reflection on love/marriage. Love in the Afternoon cannot be compared in any way save for the presence of the lovely Audrey Hepburn. She shines in both films but the latter doesn't come close to being saved by her inclusion. Gary Cooper - are we kidding? Who in the name of William Shatner (an Olivier by comparison) ever considered him an ACTOR?? His wooden, plodding recitation of lines was a hideous waste of time, energy and celluloid. I can understand a town full of people planning his demise at high noon. Rating:  - Afternoon Delight that is 'ALL-RIGHT'Gary Cooper has always been the perfect guy to me. I was skeptical about the somewhat coolish Audrey Hepburn playing opposite the Coop-man. My fears were unfounded. They are able to project a definite chemistry on film. It is a sweet romance--she, as a cellist has a crush on the much older playboy. Is it strictly a sweet romance? No. There is plenty of humor in this. One of my favorite scenes is the one in which the innebriated Cooper keeps pushing the service cart back and forth, as he is in a blue funk and self-medicating to the max. It is a classic. The great scene however is the ending scene in which they have split up and she runs after the train. He comes to the doorway of the train and sweeps her onboard, sensually cementing their relationship for good. This scene rivals the beach scene in From Here to Eternity (Lancaster, Kerr) in sexiness. A great and scintillating movie. The interiors are elegant. |
