And so we bid farewell to Louis Jourdan, resistance fighter and actor who died recently at the grand age of ninety three. I think I only ever saw him in one film but happily it was, in my opinion, one of the greatest and it occupies a place in my Top Ten Favourite Films, er, in which there about 32 films, actually, give or take 10 more - well, I can't make up my mind! But Gigi is definitely in there, a charming and bitter-sweet tale in which I fell in love with Leslie Caron and envied Louis Jourdan his effortless French charm. The story, based on one by Collette, is beautifully filmed with several nods in the direction of the French impressionist painters of old, and Paris never looked so good. The songs were witty and sharp as well as romantic, and the performances simply terrific. I don't know why, because it's none of my business, but I am delighted to find out that in 1945 M. Jourdan married a lady he had met in the resistance and they shared a life together until she died last year.
Farewell, mon brave, and thank you!
