一个美国人在巴黎1951

到底是舞台设计出身的的导演，50年代的彩色片能够拍出这么美的画面的，真的不多。如同该导演指导的《梵高传》一样，无论是梵高传中的田野乡村风光，还是这部电影中的巴黎街景、舞会，包括本片后半段大量出现的歌舞场景，都非常漂亮唯美。

女主的未婚夫登台表演歌舞

男主带富婆参加狂欢舞会

片头的巴黎的一些著名地标的镜头，也是非常值得一看的。

男主同一位钢琴家一起住在塞纳河左岸艺术街区里的一栋多层小楼中。男主那起床后要把小床升起来，然后通过各种机关摆出起居家具，也是超有意思的一段。

待续

目前看了吉恩凯利的三部影片，《锦城春色》、《美景良辰》再加上本作，都是在艺术上没什么新意的影片，无论是音乐还是舞蹈都没有让人精神一振之处，无非是换一个故事再按照流程跳一遍舞。有可能歌舞片这种类型优秀的作品本就不多，所以矮子里面拔高子，这样的作品也就算制作精良了。虽说歌舞片主要是看舞台表演，也不能说此片的拍摄手法完全没有灵感，但若是故事情节太弱、主题如同嚼蜡，就好像一颗糖徒有鲜艳的糖衣，滋味却完全没有让人回味的余地，吃掉一颗又一颗，一颗比一颗腻味，而该片竟然囊括了6项大奖，马丁斯科塞斯的纪录片里也将其标记，我想一颗糖虽然不好吃，但也不妨碍它在显微镜下的各项化验指标都达到优秀，可能是这个道理吧。

另外胡乱猜测一下这个美国人赢得巴黎美人的故事是不是有迎合外交关系的目的呢？四五十年代美国人的这种国际骄傲感和领导欲可真是赤裸裸的无处不在。

Another Oscar BEST PICTURE winner confected by Vincente Minnelli, the maker of GIGI (1958), comes a cropper as a fustypomp through the test of time, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS,a studio-bound pageant jovially trades on Gene Kelly’s terpsichorean aptitude, Oscar Levant’s pianistic virtuosity and Georges Guétary’s mellow tenor, also introducing a barely 20-year-old Leslie Caron, who fares way better on pointe than acting love-torn between two men.

The titular American is Jerry Mulligan (Kelly), an undiscovered painter trying his luck in Paris, who gets the patronage from a wealthy socialite Milo Roberts (Foch), but falls head over heels for an ingénue Lise Bouvier (Caron), who in truth is the girlfriend of a French cabaret singer Henri Baurel (Guétary), yet, Henri and Jerry have a common friend, the struggling concert pianist Adam Cook (Levant).Alan Jay Lerner’s Oscar-winning script doesn’t even try to juice up the love triangle, nor does it disperses comic relief whenever it sees fit, one glaring missing opportunity is when the three male friends share the same scene with Adam in the knowing that the other two are falling in love with the same girl, what does he do? Nothing but hangdog insouciance.

More problematically is its salient demerit of flagrant misogyny and male’s wish-fulfillment, earlier on, Jerry haughtily berates a young female student (Neill) who tries to assess his works, utterly dismisses her opinion as inconsequential, and when Milo comes to the picture, Foch was only 27-year-old then, but what the picture depicts her makes her look like a lonely, minted cougar salivating over Jerry with every step and gaze, later after being patronized with a kiss from her disillusion-stuck beau, she has to stomach a supercilious sideswipe from a floppy Adam and onlythanks to Foch’s majestic composure, the character narrowly escapes from being a total laughing stock, plus Jerry’s rapturous infatuation with a mousy Caron over an apparently poised Milo makes it distastefully difficult to suspend our disbelief, and writs large Hollywood’s morbid obsession with young girls.

Fanfare reaches its apex in the climatic "The American in Paris Ballet”, a 17 minute seamlessly choreographed sequence is spectacular with a capital S, yet, everything impresses for the eyes/ears only, a meretricious pomp punches far above its weight with its over-appreciated repute, and very likely, ranks in the lowest rung among the prestigious Oscar BEST PICTURE clique.

referential points: Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly’s SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952, 8.1/10); Vincente Minnelli’s GIGI (1958, 6.6/10). MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944, 6.7/10).