Love in the Afternoon

This film by Billy Wilder features beautiful B&W photography. Gary Cooper stars as a supposedly smooth womanizer (Frank Flannagan) who cares little for the women he beds. Audrey Hepburn plays a younger woman (Ariane Chavasse) who is intrigued by his intrigues and becomes personally involved.

Shot in France, the film conveys a cosmopolitan air that almost sells the idea that these two might connect emotionally. But Cooper is not smooth enough to pull if off (no surprise) and the relationship between the two does not convince. It's not an issue of age; it's about chemistry and personality. Bogart in "Sabrina" offered the same problem, though less so. As an example of another pairing that worked well despite a sizable age difference, consider Stewart and Kelly in "Rear Window".

Frankly, I'm surprised that such obviously poor pairings plague numerous films, but apparently some believe that box office draws can overcome such issues.

Immensely charming comedy set in Paris where a Cinderella-type role masterfullly played by Hepburn gets closely involved with a wealthy womanizer . As the rich playboy called Flannagan (Gary Cooper) becomes interested in the daughter , Ariane Chavasse (Audrey Hepburn) , of a sympthetic private detective , Claude Chavasse (Maurice Chevalier) , who has been hired to entrap him with the wife of a client (John McGiver) who decides to shoot him . To be aware the beautiful daughter rushes to Flannagan to prevent his murder . And of course , she winds up falling in love with him . An oh-so-very shy young girl , but she lists 20 men in her past! . It's got the hit tune "Fascination" .Love is a game any number can play... especially in the afternoon...It's more likely in Paris and more LOVELY IN THE AFTERNOON!

Amusing and funny movie in ¨Billy Wilder's Sabrina¨ style also starred by Audrey Hepburn about the classic love story in which a duo of oppossite characters , after a series of incidents resulting in the two eventually become attracted to each other . This romantic comedy is intelligently and pleasingly written to gives us lots of fun , laughters and smiles . The hit of the show is undoubtedly Audrey Hepburn who gives one of the best screen acting as the naive and good girl , while Gary Cooper gives a nice acting in his usual style as a middle-aged playboy becomes fascinated by the daughter of a private detective. Here Gary Cooper seems more relaxed and agreeable than usual ; however , Cooper's a little old for the Casanova role , but Hepburn is always enchanting . And , of course , Maurice Chevalier is awesome as likeable and understanding father .

Emotive and romantic musical score and atmospheric black and white cinematography by cameraman William Mellor . This slick, smooth comedy is stunningly written I. A. L. Diamond and Billy Wilder himself , based on the novel "Ariane, jeune fille russe" by Claude Anet . Being competently directed by the genius Billy Wilder . It belongs his first and better period during the 40s and 50s when realized sensational and acerbic films as ¨Double indemnity¨, ¨Ace in the hole¨ , ¨Sunset Boulevard¨, ¨Stalag 17¨ and ¨Seven year itch¨ ; subsequently in the 60s and 70s he realized nice though unsuccessful movies as ¨Buddy buddy¨,¨Fedora¨ , ¨Front page¨and ¨Secret life of Sherlock Holmes¨. Rating : 7/10. Above average , essential and indispensable watching ; extremely funny and riveting film and completely entertaining . It justly deserves its place among the best romantic comedy ever made . It's the kind of movie where you know what's coming but , because the treatment , enjoy it all the same .

Love in the Afternoon is a late 50s Wilder classic. At least semi-classic. The story is about a French girl who falls in love with a swinger from Paris. The girl is Audrey Hepburn and the man is Gary Cooper. The first act lags. The only thing keeping me glued to the screen is Hepburn, who has such a screen presence (she's pretty).

Recent comments have also noted Gary Cooper's miscasting. I'm not sure. I agree it's hard to believe Hepburn's character falls for him. The movie just doesn't work in his favor in the first act. It does begin to work eventually. The turning point would have to be at the picnic where he obviously starts to fall for her. Cooper falling for Hepburn: more realistic. From that point everything takes off. Cary Grant could have pulled off the attraction, but I don't think he could have pulled off the 2nd and 3rd act, and Cooper did. When he's sad (dictaphone/wine cart/sauna scenes) he's a top form comic actor. Anyways - I digress.

No one can produce the feeling of heartache with so much sadness and glee as Wilder can. The gypsy band should have earned a best supporting actors nomination.

I am not a fan of romantic movies but there are a small handful that I love and by far the one I love most (of the less bigger scale types like "Gone With the Wind") is "Love in the Afternoon". I love the story, the camerawork and especially the lead players...Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn. I love these two so much that it's hard to put another great screen couple above them. They make the whole story come alive in their own way. Coop with his dry but lovable wit and charming good looks, and Audrey with her universal charm, wholesomeness and great beauty. I have read in the book "The Complete Films of Audrey Hepburn" that Cary Grant and Yul Brynner were the first two choices to play Coop's part. Thank God that neither were able to. Coop as the character of Frank Flannagan makes the film more romantic and his ever-popular sweet-guy, no-airs-of-any-kind persona makes the film less stuffy than it would with Grant or Brynner. Audrey of course is the perfect Ariane and they shine together in each other's arms. Call it a cliche but that comment fits this film perfectly. See it if you're in the mood for good, romantic farce.

This odd combination of story, characters, and cast could easily have fallen apart irretrievably in the first few minutes. That it holds together is due primarily to Audrey Hepburn's unsurpassed charm and Billy Wilder's resourceful story-telling technique. It ends up being enjoyable most of the time, sometimes very much so, in spite of itself.

The story is rather strange - for it to "work" you have to buy into a number of unlikely possibilities, and even then, you have to accept the main characters as sympathetic even when they don't deserve it. It's the kind of hollow concept that you see much more often in present-day movies, which are made for audiences who don't care about plausibility, and who are easily persuaded that a shallow, pseudo-romantic attraction between two characters automatically makes them sympathetic.

None of that is to imply anything against the stars. Audrey Hepburn is so engaging as Ariane that it makes you want her to be happy, even though much of her behavior is fatuous. Maurice Chevalier is enjoyable and is obviously well-cast, and John McGiver also adds some good moments. Gary Cooper's character doesn't work very well, but that should not be blamed at all on Cooper. The character just is not as appealing as the scriptwriters presume him to be, and Cooper should actually be commended for making him as likable (or as un-unlikable) as possible.

Wilder's skill made some strange stories work pretty well in his time, and he also deserves much of the credit for keeping this one afloat. There are also some very good sequences in the screenplay, for all that it was uneven in general. The odd thing about "Love in the Afternoon" is that if you can tolerate the poor setup and get past the obvious flaws, you can really enjoy most of the movie, because it does have several positive things to offer.