Saturday, 21 September 2013

Love in the Afternoon (1957 Billy Wilder)

Brilliantly constructed and set up, as are the best Wilder / Izzy Diamond collaborations, and no wonder that they were so protective of their words that they had laboured over so long. Recurring gags, e.g. lady who keeps smacking blameless dog, most quotable funny lines ("A wife run away with her chauffeur. The client wants his car back.") Lubitsch is never far away from wry romantic goings-on and as though to reinforce that link it's perhaps no surprise that Maurice Chevalier is a veteran of six of his films.

Gary Cooper is way too old for Audrey Hepburn of course. Film also features John McGiver and a rare appearance from Audrey Young, a.k.a. Mrs Wilder (seen below):


Shot by William C Mellor, who was having quite a decade for himself
 Note clever use of reflections:


Not a shot is wasted - every single moment is there to drive the story forward. Where most directors might cut to the Paris skyline or something to take us from one scene to another, Wilder interposes jokes instead (e.g. kissing couple who don't notice they're being sprayed with water.) Film also incorporates Wilder's funniest ever scene involving a gypsy band and a drinks trolley:


Unusually for set designer Alexandre Trauner, the daylit Place Vendôme visible from Suite 14 of the Ritz looks rather fake.

Editor: Leonid Azar (La Ronde and early Louis Malles).
Music: Franz Waxman.
Source novel: Ariane, jeune fille russe by Claude Anet.

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