LILI

US, 1952, 81 minutes, Colour.
Leslie Caron, Mel Ferrer, Jean- Pierre Aumont, Kurt Kasznar, Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Directed by Charles Walters.

Lili has been regarded over the decades as a classic musical. Though small scale in time and in budget, it is full of charm and enjoyment. Leslie Caron had made a great impression in her film debut, An American in Paris. She went to MGM and appeared in a number of musicals and small-scale dramas. She was quite impressive in such films as The Glass Slipper and in Gigi. However, she is probably best known for her role in Lili, the orphan, the waif, who lives in a French Circus and talks to the puppets. She learns about life and love. While the plot might sound trite, it is treated most humanely and beautifully. The film is based on a story by Paul Gallico, The Love of Seven Dolls. The attractive music and the theme song were most popular. All in all Lili is one of those enchanting musicals for all audiences.

1. Why was this a good film for all audiences of all ages?

2. How was it a modern fairy tale? The overtones of Cinderella? How did it steer its course between sentiment and sentimentality? What was the nature of its charm? Its popularity? The place of the song, "Hi Lili, Hi Lo"?

3. The film was set in a circus world, with the magic of the carnival. the puppets, the dolls. How did this create the magical fairy tale world for the real story? Comment on how the film used the real dolls in the ballet to make the moral point at the end? How did this all combine to give realism and fantasy and a moral? Consider the film as a fable.

4. How attractive was Lili herself? Lesley Caron's performance? Sympathy for an orphan? Her being lost in the town, her work in the shop and being exploited, her being attracted to the carnival, her infatuation for Marc? Why was she infatuated with him? Why did he not respect her? Why did he exploit her? Her work as a waitress and her inefficiency, the comedy in this? Her being sacked and the sudden turn of the comedy to tragedy in her contemplation of suicide? The role of her imagination as she worked as a waitress ? Lili as a dancer (the talents of Leslie Caron as a dancer)? Her being rescued by the puppets, her talking with the puppets, how attractive was this? Why did it attract people? How was she changed by her talking to the puppets? Her disillusionment with Marc, the interference of Rosalie? Why did she run away? How important was the dream ballet for her, everyone turning into Paul? Why did she realise the truth? How happy could she be in the future?

5. How optimistic was the film? Despite the sorrows and even the sorrow to death and suicide, there was always hope. How much goodness was there in the film? How much truth about human nature? How much of the loveliness of life? How much about the nature of false love? The reality of true love? Were these genuinely presented in the film?

6. Paul as a hero? His bitterness about the reality of his life? Why could he not face the truth? His reliance on the puppets as masks? His inability to come out of himself? His jealousy of Lili? How strong was his love for her? How well did the film show his love by his talking through the puppets? How was he also transformed by Lili? Would he have a happy future?

7. Jacquot: How attractive a character? How kindly to Lili? How good a person?

8. Marc: The typical lady killer, his kindliness to Lili and yet his exploiting of her? How disappointing are characters like this? His forgetting of Lili? His being tied down by Rosalie? (How typical a jealous wife was Rosalie? Could you blame her?)

9. How attractive was the ballet along the road? As typical of Lili's imagination? And yet the resolution of her difficulties within the imagination and ballet? Everyone turning into Paul? Her understanding of him behind the puppets? The fact that he used so many masks?

10. Lili is considered a classic. Why?