An American in Paris story
An American in Paris is a 1951 American musical romantic comedy film inspired by the 1928 jazz-influenced symphonic poem (or tone poem) An American in Paris by George Gershwin. Starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron (her film debut), Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, and Nina Foch, the film is set in Paris and was directed by Vincente Minnelli from a script by Alan Jay Lerner. The music is by George Gershwin with lyrics by his brother Ira, with additional music by Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin, the music directors.
15 total · 2 choice · 7 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| love triangle | choice | Jerry became besotted with Lise. Lise was engaged to Jerry's friend, Henri. Milo pursued Jerry. After Lise turned him down, Jerry went with Milo. Later, Jerry and Lise got together, all the other relationships notwithstanding. |
| romantic love | choice | The story turns on Jerry and Lise falling in love and overcoming the slight complication that she was already devoted to another man. |
| choosing between lovers | major | Lise was torn between Henri, to whom she felt duty-bound, and Jerry, whom she truly loved. The film concludes dramatically with Lise choosing Jerry with Henri's approval. |
| coping with heartbreak | major | Jerry was devastated when Lise told him that they could never be together. |
| man vs. woman | major | A central drama of the story was Milo pursuing Jerry. Jerry made it clear that he, as the man, preferred to do the pursuing. When he finally came around, Milo proclaimed that she could at last feel like a woman. Jerry kept insisting that he would pay her back when she spent money on him. |
| painting | major | Jerry was an aspiring painter who had yet to sell a single painting. Milo decided to become his patron, though perhaps more because of romantic interest than for the sake of his art. |
| selling out for money | major | Jerry was faced with deciding whether he should accept patronage from Milo, knowing her interest in him was romantic. |
| struggling artist character | major | Jerry Mulligan was a happy-go-lucky, American World War II veteran scraping by as an aspiring artist in Paris. Though he lived a comfortable life there by all appearances, viewers are made to understand that he was living a precarious existence. This is evidenced by, among other things, his unsuccessful attempt to borrow 300 francs from a friend to cover the cost of a lunch he'd planned to have in Montmartre. |
| unrequited love | major | Milo tried as she might to court Jerry, but his romantic attentions were squarely focused on Lise. |
| coping with romantic rejection | minor | Milo schemed to become Jerry's favorite even though he told her in no uncertain terms that he didn't want her. She was very upset when he flirted with Lise. |