一个美国人在巴黎1951

通常歌舞片，把表演者和观众带到一段亲密关系中，随之这些被表演者“舞台以外”的冲突，例如追求、爱情和婚姻等加强了。然而男主角“另外的女人”比起女主角“另外的男人”对于叙事来说，是一个更为重要的角色。她们通常是一种诱惑的，道德上可疑的类型，并且通过对比，去放大女主角的美德。

“音乐标志着迈向表演的进程，当所有威胁到表演存在的争吵都结束时，他最终庆祝表演本身。”歌舞片中表演融合、调停了冲突的态度和角色的生活方式，所以它通过表演本身来庆祝歌舞的本性与以婚姻为代表的文化的结合。由是，熟悉的文化仪式被谱成音乐，并把环境转化为一个理想化的乌托邦王国。如其中的艺术学院舞会，对于巴黎的唯美主义者来说，舞会是巴黎人审美季节的高潮。它也为男女主角的超现实梦幻芭蕾提供了叙事背景。在这个辉煌的，长达20分钟的终场歌舞中，这对恋人的冲突，奇迹般地在一个豪华，充满活力的法国油画和文化的致敬中被消解了。

除了那个生硬的大团圆结尾，终场歌舞在这类电影类型中最伟大的成就恐怕就是展现了精英和流行艺术的共存，并伴随以高形式美。

目前看了吉恩凯利的三部影片，《锦城春色》、《美景良辰》再加上本作，都是在艺术上没什么新意的影片，无论是音乐还是舞蹈都没有让人精神一振之处，无非是换一个故事再按照流程跳一遍舞。有可能歌舞片这种类型优秀的作品本就不多，所以矮子里面拔高子，这样的作品也就算制作精良了。虽说歌舞片主要是看舞台表演，也不能说此片的拍摄手法完全没有灵感，但若是故事情节太弱、主题如同嚼蜡，就好像一颗糖徒有鲜艳的糖衣，滋味却完全没有让人回味的余地，吃掉一颗又一颗，一颗比一颗腻味，而该片竟然囊括了6项大奖，马丁斯科塞斯的纪录片里也将其标记，我想一颗糖虽然不好吃，但也不妨碍它在显微镜下的各项化验指标都达到优秀，可能是这个道理吧。

另外胡乱猜测一下这个美国人赢得巴黎美人的故事是不是有迎合外交关系的目的呢？四五十年代美国人的这种国际骄傲感和领导欲可真是赤裸裸的无处不在。

Another Oscar BEST PICTURE winner confected by Vincente Minnelli, the maker of GIGI (1958), comes a cropper as a fustypomp through the test of time, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS,a studio-bound pageant jovially trades on Gene Kelly’s terpsichorean aptitude, Oscar Levant’s pianistic virtuosity and Georges Guétary’s mellow tenor, also introducing a barely 20-year-old Leslie Caron, who fares way better on pointe than acting love-torn between two men.

The titular American is Jerry Mulligan (Kelly), an undiscovered painter trying his luck in Paris, who gets the patronage from a wealthy socialite Milo Roberts (Foch), but falls head over heels for an ingénue Lise Bouvier (Caron), who in truth is the girlfriend of a French cabaret singer Henri Baurel (Guétary), yet, Henri and Jerry have a common friend, the struggling concert pianist Adam Cook (Levant).Alan Jay Lerner’s Oscar-winning script doesn’t even try to juice up the love triangle, nor does it disperses comic relief whenever it sees fit, one glaring missing opportunity is when the three male friends share the same scene with Adam in the knowing that the other two are falling in love with the same girl, what does he do? Nothing but hangdog insouciance.

More problematically is its salient demerit of flagrant misogyny and male’s wish-fulfillment, earlier on, Jerry haughtily berates a young female student (Neill) who tries to assess his works, utterly dismisses her opinion as inconsequential, and when Milo comes to the picture, Foch was only 27-year-old then, but what the picture depicts her makes her look like a lonely, minted cougar salivating over Jerry with every step and gaze, later after being patronized with a kiss from her disillusion-stuck beau, she has to stomach a supercilious sideswipe from a floppy Adam and onlythanks to Foch’s majestic composure, the character narrowly escapes from being a total laughing stock, plus Jerry’s rapturous infatuation with a mousy Caron over an apparently poised Milo makes it distastefully difficult to suspend our disbelief, and writs large Hollywood’s morbid obsession with young girls.

Fanfare reaches its apex in the climatic "The American in Paris Ballet”, a 17 minute seamlessly choreographed sequence is spectacular with a capital S, yet, everything impresses for the eyes/ears only, a meretricious pomp punches far above its weight with its over-appreciated repute, and very likely, ranks in the lowest rung among the prestigious Oscar BEST PICTURE clique.

referential points: Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly’s SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952, 8.1/10); Vincente Minnelli’s GIGI (1958, 6.6/10). MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944, 6.7/10).