Plot & Song Synopsis GIGI

GIGI (Film 1958) -- Plot Synopsis  (Musical numbers in Bold Italics)
(Main Title Music with turn-of-the-century period drawings behind the credits).  The film opens in the leafy Bois de Boulogne in 1900 Paris with elderly but debonair bachelor Honore Lachaille narrating to the camera his admiration of all the attractive women on view and ends with a song about the young girls playing nearby who will soon be attractive young women themselves (Thank Heaven for Little Girls).  His nephew Gaston, a younger bachelor man-about-town, joins him for a carriage ride but complains that he is dissatisfied with his life (It's a Bore).  Gaston leaves Honore and goes to his only solace--a quiet visit with one of his uncle's old mistresses, Mamita Alverez (Grandmama).   She lives with her impetuous teen-aged tomboy granddaughter Gigi, who is taking lessons from her former courtesan aunt, Alicia, in the ways to be alluring to men -- not for marriage or love but for financial security thru romantic alliances.  However, Gigi reacts to the Parisian obsession with such things negatively (The Parisians)   Gaston takes Gigi to a skating rink where they meet Gaston's current romantic flame, Liane.  Gaston and Liane go to a party at Maxim's and he is forced to admit to himself that Liane's attentions are not completely on him  (She is Not Thinking of Me).  When Gaston and Honore catch her being unfaithful, Liane unsuccessfully attempts suicide to which Honore congratulates Gaston on his "first suicide!"  But Gaston is still bored with his life and continues to visit Grandmama and Gigi who beats him in a game of cards.  For a reward, Gaston says he will take Grandmama and Gigi on a trip to the seaside resort of Trouville.  They celebrate with Gigi's first champagne (The Night They Invented Champagne).  They all have a grand time at Trouville where Grandmama has an unexpected visitor in her old beau Honore and they reminence about their love affair of long ago but with different memories  (I Remember It Well).  Knowing that Gaston is now free from Liane and has taken Gigi to the seashore, Aunt Alicia thinks he might be interested in Gigi as a mistress and intensifies her lessons in such things as how to choose good wine and cigars, serve tea, sit elegantly, and wear nice clothes.  However,when Gaston comes calling, he is appalled when Gigi models her new adult gown for him.  He does not accept that she is an adult ready for such clothing.  When Grandmama tells him that he cannot see Gigi alone anymore unless he promises to secure her future, he tells her that he is shocked and disgusted because she is still a child.  He roams the streets of Paris in deep thought, at first upset that Grandmama would think Gigi was at an age when she was mature enough to be physically desirable and  then upon reflection realizes that she has changed and he did feel an attraction to her  (Gaston's Soliloquy and Gigi).  He goes back and tells Grandmama that he indeed does want to take Gigi as his mistress and will take care of her in the grandest style.  Gigi becomes angry and resents the offer of becoming Gaston's mistress which she considers demeaning.  Gaston leaves and asks Honore for advice.  Afterward Honore muses that he no longer has these problems  (I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore).  When Gigi relents because of her love for Gaston, he decides to take her to Maxim's although she is very anxious about such a visit (Say a Prayer for Me Tonight).  All goes well at Maxim's except that Gaston begins to feel conscience-stricken and goes back to the house and asks Grandmama if he can have Gigi's hand in marriage.  The film ends where it began at the Bois de Boulogne, with Gaston and Gigi married and riding together in a fashionable carriage with Honore's apparent blessing (Thank Heaven for Little Girls reprise).