Lili (1953)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Based on the story by Paul Gallico, Lili stars Leslie Caron as the title character, a 16-year-old waif who runs off to join a carnival. Embittered, crippled puppeteer Mel Ferrer treats Lili with contempt; only by speaking through his puppets is Ferrer able to express his genuine love for the girl. Before this happens, however, Caron must overcome her crush on magician Jean-Pierre Aumont, who is married to the contentious Zsa Zsa Gabor.
- Actors:
- Leslie Caron, Mel Ferrer, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Kurt Kasznar, Amanda Blake, Alex Gerry, Ralph Dumke, Wilton Graff, George Baxter
- Directors:
- Charles Walters
- Writers:
- Helen Deutsch, Paul Gallico
- Others:
- Leslie Caron, Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Bronislau Kaper, Arthur Krams, Edwin B. Willis, Robert Planck
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Music & Musicals, Romance
- Collections:
- BAFTA Nominations Competition 2024
- Awards:
1954 BAFTA Best Foreign Actress
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Reviews (1) of Lili
Musical Whimsy. - Lili review by Steve
Short and very sweet musical fairytale set in France after WWII, but really in an idealised provincial fantasy town of button shops and circuses. Leslie Caron stars as a homeless orphan who joins a carnival and falls in love with a philandering magician while being distantly admired by Mel Ferrer's inhibited, saturnine puppeteer.
As common with folktales, the story conceals a trauma. We never discover what past sorrow causes Lili to retreat in her mind to a make believe world of puppets, but its burden is palpable. Ferrer was disabled in an accident, but there is also an impression he remains distressed by the war. And the film acutely captures the pain of unrequited love.
OK, Leslie Caron played many gamine ingenues in her career and Lili is that persona pushed to its extreme. But she is very moving as we watch her mature from shunned waif to a beautiful girl with a trusting but discerning heart. It is a story of wish-fulfilment, of a child learning how to love and becoming a woman.
The puppets and the carnival world are wonderfully realised. The photography is lovely, with the primary colours of the sunny days absorbed into the inky blues of night. It is a whimsical, enchanting and optimistic film with virtue triumphant over cynicism.