So many good reviews on this site, but just how highly rated is this film among the so-called finest of our film critics ? It is unique in the history of cinema, and yet it is not quite up there with ' The Wizard of Oz ', ' Casablanca ' or ' Gone With the Wind ' to name a few obvious ones that figure in the popular mind of Hollywood's myth making. Why ? I watched it again recently and the following day I had to watch it again. It is one of the most delicate, sensitive films ever made held together by not only perfect acting but by a song that is truly unforgettable and that goes through so many permutations during the film's duration of one hour and twenty minutes. Bronislau Kaper was responsible for this and like the director Charles Walters has ( as far as I can see ) never been given enough credit for this fragile web of magic. Leslie Caron gives one of her finest performances as the slightly melancholic girl who arrives in an unamed French town, desired by so many around her and becoming a part of a small theatre of puppets. She is supported by the wolfish Jean-Pierre Aumont ( great performance again ) and the Giant played by Mel Ferrer and they are all with her along with Marguerite and Gingertop ( the former played to perfection by Zsa Zsa Gabor and the latter another aspect of Mel Ferrer ( also pehaps his finest performance ), and at the end both live characters and puppets melt into one. This long sequence alone takes my breathe away with its magic, unsurpassed in the history of cinema. Maybe Jacques Demy comes close in some of his films, but Charles Walters got there first. As a love story it is complex and simple at the same time, a fairy tale that is bitter sweet and yet ends in pure joy. It has to be seen more than once to see all aspects of this weaving of revelations. And even after that many will wonder, what have I seen as if emerging from a dream ? See it, buy it and treasure this film. There is no other quite like it and as with all great works of art never will be.
Review of Lili
