Lili

"Lili" is one of the sweetest, most enchanting musicals Hollywood has ever produced. Not that most of the Hollywood musicals are ever realistic, but this particular story is more of a fable than an imitation of life. The character of Mel Ferrer is reminiscent of the Beast in "the Beauty and the Beast", a tortured soul aching for love, and as any girl worth her salt would know, tortured souls make the best kind of heroes!

The two dance/fantasy sequences are charming, especially the latter one, where Lili grows from an awkward, love-sick child into a woman of character and determination, all in a few steps of waltz. Oh, and the puppets are totally adorable!!

First of all, to correct a comment made by at least one person here, the movie came before the stage musical "Carnival." Second, the movie is far superior to the stage musical. True, it's short. So? True, there's just one song. But the one song, "Hi-Lili Hi-Lo," is better than anything in "Carnival." So much for comparisons. The movie absolutely defines movie magic. It creates an unforgettable world with an unforgettable heroine played with genius by the great Leslie Caron in a performance nominated for an Oscar and deserving of a win (she was beaten by the charming but less-inspired Audrey Hepburn). Anyone who passes up the chance to see "Lili" is denying themselves one of the prime treats in all of cinema. I've seen it countless times and never fail to laugh and cry. But where is the DVD??? Give, already!

This is one of my all time favorite movies, and I have taken every occasion to see it again after the first time in 1953. Leslie Caron is perfectly cast as the homeless orphan who falls in with a circus troupe and becomes part of their puppet act, only to fall in love with the embittered puppet master. In the end, the lovers get together after Lili (Leslie Caron) gets to display her ballet dancing talents.

Of all the popular overblown, oversexed "coming of age" movies (mostly about male coming of age - starting with "The Summer of '42"), none has the honesty and truth of "Lili". Why? Because coming of age has less to do with sex (as most men think) than it has to do with an awareness of evil. The most telling line in the film is spoken by Paul's partner, who chides Paul for slapping Lili and says, "She is realizing that there is cruelty in the world, and she is learning to protect herself from it." Like Eve in the Garden of Eden, Lili's loss of innocence comes with her knowledge of evil, not her loss of virginity.

And unlike other coming of age movies that have the young actors tossing around "cute" sexual comments that don't ring true for a callow young person (because they were obviously scripted by a jaded 50-year-old male), "Lili" rings true with every note (as Paul says, "She's like a little bell that gives off a pure sound every time you strike it."). Her naivety is far more true to form -- when she is warned by one of the puppets that the lecherous puppet Renaldo "is a wolf", the innocent Lili replies, "I thought he was a fox." This is exactly the way a kid would really respond -- not "getting" the sexual reference and thinking that the comment was about the species of the animal.

I understand Audrey Hepburn beat out Leslie Caron for the Oscar that year with her amateurish performance in "Roman Holiday" -- what a travesty that was, since Audrey's performance had none of the depth and exquisite vulnerability of Leslie's performance in "Lili".

Last night, driving with a friend, she popped a CD into the player in her car and Jimmy Durante's voice sang a song I had not heard in about 35 years - "Hi-Lili Hi-Lo." The emotion of this movie that I saw as a young child, perhaps six years old, came rushing back to me.

I don't remember a lot of things from when I was six but I do remember being entranced and a bit haunted by the movie Lili. I was easily able to relate to Lili's encounter with the puppets that became her confidants and friends when the adult world became too hard to handle. The initial charm of the magician character that, as all too often became the case for people in my young life, turned to emotional unavailability. The course by which Lili's fear of the puppeteer gets dissolved through understanding. And most of all the hauntingly beautiful song and dance sequence.

I don't remember much of the plot but I am very much looking forward to seeing this movie again. If it was available on DVD I would immediately buy it for my own children.