Love in the Afternoon (1957)

Fairy-tale Paris doesn't get more enchanting than Billy Wilder's Love in the Afternoon, an ode to picnics on the grass and champagne at the Ritz. Audrey Hepburn (who had already made Sabrina with Wilder) is at her best as the inexperienced cellist with a fascination for millionaire American playboy Gary Cooper. Maurice Chevalier (who else?) is Hepburn's father, a private detective with ample evidence of Cooper's crowded history of l'amour. Alongside the sheen of the romance is Wilder's unerring sense of craftsmanship; watch how inanimate objects such as a liquor tray, a white carnation, or the little dog in the suite next door are developed into sublime running gags. The age difference between the two leads has often been questioned, but perhaps this is what gives the gossamer material the whiff of welcome melancholy. The final three minutes leave no doubt that Wilder hatched the best endings in Hollywood history. --Robert Horton Amazon.com

SUPERB !!!

Both Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn are superb in this story of falling in love and unknowingly being in love. It is beautifully and tenderly acted and lived. It is well-filmed in black-and-white. It could have used some of Hayley Westenra's recordings as background music. Maurice Chevalier does an excellent job of playing Audrey's father and narrator filling in pieces of the story. June 13, 2008

A film that gets better as it goes along.

At first I thought I would be disappointed in Billy Wilder's "Love in the Afternoon." The first half plays like tired Parisian boulevard comedy, with little spark or interest, despite Wilder's direction and screenplay and the presence of Gary Cooper, Maurice Chevalier and especially the always delightful Audrey Hepburn. In the second half, however, the film's wit becomes sharper, and its emotion deeper. That's because Wilder, that sly old fox, allows the film to build as its characters' emotions change, and expects the audience to have the patience to sit still and watch.

I don't understand the general criticism of this film, that Cooper was too old for Hepburn. It was typical throughout Hepburn's early career to pair her with much older leading men (Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, William Holden, Fred Astaire) who brought her delicate, pensive, Cinderella qualities out in bas-relief. Hepburn has better chemistry with Cooper than she did with the notoriously prickly Bogart in an earlier Wilder film, "Sabrina," and--as other reviewers have noted--Wilder has some pointed fun with both Cooper's age and his well-deserved offscreen reputation as a womanizer. Notice that Wilder doesn't shoot Cooper in close-up until the last half-hour of the film, bringing his wrinkles and his general air of exhaustion to the forefront. This has great power, for it shows the previously carefree playboy in all his world-weariness, finally ready to admit that one woman has irrevocably won his heart.

Much of "Love in the Afternoon" isn't as good as it should be, but the last half--and particularly the last five minutes--make the film worthwhile. Just have the patience to go with it. June 8, 2008

Now I Get It

This film is definitely understood better with age. When I first saw it I was 16, and falling in love with Gary Cooper seemed yucky. All these years later, I look beyond that bit of miscasting and I get it: she grew up around adults, preferred their company, and was a hopeless romantic. He was a wealthy womanizer who longed for the purity and innocence she represented; he would have never considered marrying the experienced women he seduced. The story of how they finally get together is truly a delightful romantic comedy! May 16, 2008

Billy Wilder's little jokes on Gary Cooper

I enjoyed Love in the Afternoon for all the reasons the other writers here have. But here is another aspect to it: I think Billy Wilder was having a good time making fun of Gary Cooper.

In his mid 50s, Coop was bedding the likes of Anita Ekberg and Gina Lollabrigida - likely they were younger even than Audrey Hepburn at the time. On at least one occassion, paparazzi had followed Coop to Ekberg's apartment and spied on the couple with binoculars (time the lights went on, went off) just like Maurice Chevalier spied on Cooper in the film. Then there are Cooper's famous Swedish twins in the film - reference to Miss Ekberg's large breasts?

And then there is the personality of Frank Flanagan, the unsophisticated, wealthy, American businessman (pave over the Venice canals!), a little bit tongue-tied and slow (Adriane makes fun of his French) - a bit like Mr. Cooper himself, no? Like his character, Cooper was a very wealthy man at the time.

I love Gary Cooper in all his films, but moreso in this one because his charming,though complex, personality is actually part of the story. I wonder whether Gary knew what Billy Wilder was up to???
May 12, 2008

Granddad gets his

I'm sorry, but as much as I adore Audrey and as much as I adored (note past tense) Gary, by the time he made this movie, he looked like he needed to be dusted off and Audrey still had the ingenue, stick-figure, innocent doll look. I almost upchucked when he kissed her. I am well aware there are many, many older men/younger women romances. I don't have anything against them, per se, but WHAT is it that she would have seen in him... except his wrinkles? I know I'm being cruel, and I'm no spring chicken, but I didn't sense any sparks between the two of them. I saw Audrey's face before the Coop goes in for a kiss... and it was: "Okay, I have to kiss him, let's make this good." The cover of the DVD looks like Grandpa is holding his debutante granddaughter. This was some old studio lecher's idea of a hot film. The public went to it because that's what they were given. I can't imagine this kind of film being a hot property now, but what do I know? March 22, 2008

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