Love in the Afternoon

I can't believe that I am about to say this about an Audrey Hepburn movie, but I watched Love in the Afternoon this weekend, and it was a total crapfest. Well, it wasn't the film that was horrible, it was the plot... if that makes any sense.

Audrey was perfection, as usual, but she played a part that was both like and unlike the roles to which I have become accustomed. She portrayed many ingenue roles throughout her career, but always with sass or strength -- or both. It's difficult to watch her in this role - an ingenue with invented strength throughout that gives way to insipid adolescent fawning. Girl Power be damned, apparently. (Of course, this was 1957. But still.)

Audrey plays Ariane, the only daughter of a French widower and a cellist at the Paris Conservatory. A private detective who specializes in philandering spouses, her father has built quite a reputation as a discreet investigator. When Ariane overhears the machinations of one of his clients, a distraught husband, to shoot his wife's lover, Frank Flannagan, she races to his rescue and saves the day.

Frank Flannagan, played by Gary Cooper, is an American millionaire playboy with scores of women in cities around the world. Ariane falls for him, but remains anonymous. Her tall tales of her many lovers eventually irks Mr. Flannagan enough to drive him to... that's right -- her father! He wants this mystery girl investigated, and soon!

I don't know what it was that turned me off so badly -- Gary Cooper was a little old to play against Audrey (he was 56, she was 28), but that wasn't an issue for me, especially since the majority of her leading men were significantly older than her (Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday, Cary Grant in Charade, Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady... the list goes on and on). The storyline seemed forced and insufferable and I just didn't find the Frank Flannagan character to be all that likable.

I did catch the point of the film: that love will find you no matter how you try to put it off, and that in itself was charming. The ending actually surprised me, and in a way made the whole theme of the film... work. I guess. Doesn't mean that I agree with it.

I've still got a few Audrey films to see before I can check them all off of my list, and while this one was extremely well-acted and has a few sweet scenes, I'd recommend Funny Face or Sabrina if you want to see an ingenue. At least then you'll get to see Audrey as a strong woman.