Short Stories, Irish literature, Classics, Modern Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction, The Japanese Novel, Post Colonial Asian Fiction, The Legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and quality Historical Novels are Among my Interests








Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Love in the Afternoon - A 1957 Movie Starring Audrey Hepburn, Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier- directed by Billy Wilder - run time 2 hours and ten minutes

 




Love in the Afternoon is Available on YouTube 



Love in the Afternoon takes place in Paris. Claude Chavasse (Maurice Chevalier) is a private detective. He investigates  an adultery case: Monsieur X (John McGiver), his client, believes his wife is having an affair with another man. She is, indeed, having an affair with Frank Flannagan (Gary Cooper), a businessman already well-known for his many love-affair scandals. When Monsieur X learns the news, he only has one idea stuck in his mind: to kill Frank Flanagan. Claude Chavasse tells him that it would be a regrettable idea, but his “project” is already all set in his mind: he will go to the Ritz Hotel where Frank stays, surprise him with his wife and kill him. Fortunately, Claude Chavasse’ daughter, Ariane (Audrey Hepburn), stops him. She goes to the Ritz, enters in Flannagan’s suite by the window, explains the situation to Flannagan and Madame X, takes Madame X’s hat, this one runs away by the window, and when Monsieur X enters in the suite, he realizes that his wife is not having an affair with Flannagan. This is only the beginning of the film, but that’s what set the story and that’s how Frank Flannagan and Ariane Chavasse will meet. As you can imagine, a love story eventually starts between them and the rest of the film is the evolution of their love. Of course, for the sweet, fragile and innocent Ariane, it is not easy to be in love with a man like Frank Flannagan. She invents some incredible stories to grab his attention.This movie is named Love in the Afternoon because every time Ariane and Frank meet, it’s during the afternoon, most of the time at 4 pm.


I found this an enjoyable film.. The relationship between the Hepburn and Cooper characters required some suspension of my reaction to their age difference. 


I will next post on Breakfast at Tiffany's 

Mel Ulm

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