Love in the Afternoon

The May-December romance in this 1957 comedy feels more like March-December with the casting of elfin young Audrey Hepburn as music student Ariane Chavasse opposite Gary Cooper as cynical American playboy Frank Flannagan, a globetrotting millionaire businessman who romances women (often married) in every port of call. Ariane is the daughter of a private detective (Maurice Chevalier) who has files dedicated to Flannagan's exploits, which fascinate Ariane. When she breaks into Flannagan's hotel room to warn him of a cuckolded husband with murderous intent, she ends up returning for afternoon meetings as an innocent pretending to be a woman of the world with a history of lovers (using stories borrowed from her father's files) while limiting Flannagan's advances to long kisses. When she suddenly disappears, Flannagan inevitably hires a private detective to find her: naturally, Ariane's father. Directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, this is an American comedy with a continental attitude inspired by the work of Ernst Lubitsch (with whom Wilder collaborated early in his career). The craggy Cooper was 55 at the time but appeared older, while Hepburn was in her late 20s but looked like a teenager. Despite Hepburn's longing glances and swoony performance, there is little chemistry to the romance, but Wilder's light, smooth touch turns what could have been a leering, uncomfortable situation into a playful farce and the Paris locations add romantic atmosphere. Bowing on Blu-ray, this is recommended. (S. Axmaker)