Gigi

The story

A home, a motorcar, servants, the latest fashions: the most eligible and most finicky bachelor in Paris offers them all to Gigi. But she, who's gone from girlish gawkishness to cultured glamour before our eyes, yearns for that wonderful something money can't buy.

What critics & audiences say

Tomatometer90%Fresh#57 of 98 winners

IMDb6.625K votes#92 of 98 winners

Metacritic82/ 100#56 of 93 winners

TMDB6.2/ 10

Fun facts

1. Gigi won all nine Academy Awards it was nominated for, and the next day the MGM switchboard answered calls with 'M-Gigi-M.'Wikipedia · Accolades
2. Frederick Loewe found the title tune while Alan Jay Lerner was in the bathroom; Lerner recalled rushing out with his trousers still around his ankles to say 'Play that again.'Wikipedia · Filming
3. Unhappy after previews, Lerner and Loewe offered to buy 10% of the film for $300,000 to pay for changes, then $3 million for the print; impressed, MGM agreed to eleven days of reshoots.Wikipedia · Release
4. The song 'Say a Prayer for Me Tonight' was originally written for Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady but was cut during the pre-Broadway run; Lerner disliked the melody but was outvoted.Wikipedia · Development
5. Audrey Hepburn, who had starred in Gigi on Broadway, declined the film role, and Leslie Caron's singing voice was dubbed by Betty Wand.Wikipedia · Casting
6. Shooting in Maxim's mirrored Paris dining room was a logistical nightmare, so cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg attached lights to the walls with suction cups to keep equipment out of the reflections.Wikipedia · Filming
7. Maurice Chevalier's musing about losing interest in wine and women in favor of performing inspired Lerner and Loewe to write 'I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore' for him.Wikipedia · Development
8. Bosley Crowther wrote that Gigi bore such a resemblance to My Fair Lady 'that the authors may want to sue themselves.'Wikipedia · Critical reception
9. Gigi's nine Oscars set a record that lasted just one year, until Ben-Hur won 11; its success also earned Maurice Chevalier an honorary Academy Award.Wikipedia · Accolades
10. The Gigi soundtrack album cover appears on the cover of Pink Floyd's 1969 album Ummagumma, though it was airbrushed out in some countries over copyright fears.Wikipedia · Popular culture