'"This is the city. Paris, France. It is just like any other big city, London, New York, Tokyo, except for two little things. In Paris, people eat better and in Paris people make love, well, perhaps not better, but certainly more often. They do it any time, any place."
— Claude Chavasse
Love in the Afternoon is a 1957 Romantic Comedy film adapted from the 1920 novel Ariane, jeune fille russe by Claude Anet, directed by Billy Wilder and starring Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn and Maurice Chevalier.
Set in Paris, the film involves Ariane Chavasse (Hepburn), a young music student and the daughter of private detective Claude Chavasse (Chevalier), who is investigating the trysts of American businessman Frank Flannagan (Cooper). Upon learning that a jealous husband is about to shoot Flannagan, Ariane attempts to warn him personally, leading to a budding relationship between the two.
Mostly acknowledged to be Wilder working In the Style of one of his filmmaking mentors, Ernst Lubitsch. This was also Wilder's first collaboration with screenwriter I. A. L. Diamond; the pair would work together on ten more films, including such classics as Some Like It Hot and The Apartment.
Not to be confused with the last of Éric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales.
Tropes used in the film:
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Ariane falls for Frank, even if she knows that he is a womanizer. Her father calls Frank "very objectionable and quite immoral and utterly no good."
- Artistic License – Law: In the end, Claude Chavasse says that Ariane and Frank were married by a judge in Cannes, a city on the French Riviera. In France, civil ceremonies are performed by the mayor or one of his deputies, but not by judges.
- At the Opera Tonight: Both Ariane and Frank attend the opera with different people. Ariane can only focus on Frank, and Frank can only focus on how bored he is.
- Bilingual Bonus: The Japanese newspaper article on Frank Flannagan does not mention him, but rather reads "The great newspaper king Kane dies". This is the same article used in the montage in Citizen Kane, with the name and picture of Frank Flannagan added in.
- Blatant Lies: Ariane's romantic history.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Mr. Chavasse doesn't let Ariane read his case files, which are full of illicit love affairs, and has a full dossier on Michel, her hopeless suitor. He is initially opposed to her relationship with Flannagan and tries to persuade him to break up. Finally Subverted, because when Flannagan proposes to her he seems to be happy about it.
- The Casanova: Frank Flannagan.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The cuckolded husband who features in the opening scenes and winds up causing Frank and Ariane to meet then disappears from the movie, until towards the end, when he pops up again and recommends Ariane's father Claude as a detective for Frank.
- Contrived Coincidence:
- One year after their first encounter, Frank and Ariane meet by chance at the opera.
- Frank encounters the cuckolded husband who wanted to kill him by chance in a hammam. This guy recommends Ariane's father as a detective for Frank.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: The cuckolded husband wants to kill Flannagan when he hears that his wife spends her evenings in Flannagan's suite.
- Dance of Romance: Invoked by Frank. In order to seduce the many women he invites in his suite, he hires a band and invites them to dance to the music with him.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: Flannagan represents everything that Mr. Chavasse despises. Chavasse says that Flannagan is very objectionable and quite immoral and utterly no good. This does not stop Ariane from being attracted to him.
- Diegetic Switch: The waltz "Fascination" is used as a motif for Frank and Ariane, both playing over the soundtrack and sung/played In-Universe. In one scene the music seems to be playing over the soundtrack while Frank's in the hammam, only for the camera to turn and reveal that Frank's musicians have actually followed him into the shower, and are playing, while soaking wet.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Michel makes his feelings for Ariane no secret, but she just brushes him off.
- Dress Hits Floor: In this case it's Fur Coat Hits Floor. Frank tells Ariane to take off her coat as the two make out, and we see the coat fall like a dress.
- Fake-Out Make-Out: Flannagan and Ariane pretend to make out when a jealous husband breaks into Flannagan's hotel room.
- Gay Paree: Everyone is in love in Paris; children, animals, even the undertaker at a funeral!
- The Gentleman or the Scoundrel: Michel is the gentleman. He is an honest young man who selflessly helps Ariane. Frank is the scoundrel who seduces many women. Ariane falls for the scoundrel.
- Happily Ever After: The film ends when Flannagan proposes to Ariane and the closing monologue says that they are now married and live in New York.
- I'm Not Pretty: Ariane's opinion on her appearance: "I'm too thin, and my ears stick out, and my teeth are crooked and my neck is much too long."
- Ladykiller in Love: Frank with Ariane.
- Love Triangle: Michel courts Ariane, but she ignores him, while she falls in love with Frank. She finally marries Frank.
- Madonna-Whore Complex: Frank is interested in Ariane only because she claims to be a whore, but he finally proposes to her only because he hears that she is actually a madonna (he is her first and only lover and she has waited for him during the year he spent womanizing around the world).
- May–December Romance: Ariane is stated to be 18, and though Frank's age isn't given, no attempt is given to make his character seem young. Cooper was 55 at the time of filming and Hepburn was 28 in Real Life. The large age gap was one reason for the poor critical reception the movie received.
- Missing Mom: Ariane's mother.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: The cuckolded husband plans to shoot Flannagan. Subverted because he changes his mind when he finds Ariane instead of his wife in Flannagan's suite.
- Old-Fashioned Rowboat Date: Frank and Ariane have a date on a rowboat, but the trope is subverted by the fact that Ariane uses this meeting to tell Frank about her many (but imaginary) lovers.
- Opening Monologue: It explains that in Paris people make love often and everywhere. The closing monologue tells that Ariane and Frank are now married. They are delivered by Claude Chavasse, Ariane's father.
- Operation: Jealousy: Ariane claims to have many lovers to get Frank's attention. She says that Franks considers himself immune to love, but has a weak point: he can be jealous.
- Parent-Preferred Suitor: Mr. Chavasse investigated the case of Michel, Ariane's suitor, and came to the conclusion that he is a good match, but Ariane ignores his courtship.
- Police Are Useless: They can't investigate until after a crime has been committed.
- Pretty in Mink:
- Ariane borrows an ermine coat as part of her first seduction of Frank. The coat was a gift a rich man planned to give his mistress, then his wife after the reconciled, and then his mistress again when he saw his wife wearing an apparent trinket from an affair.
- One of Frank's dates wears a white ermine wrap when they attend the opera.
- Really Gets Around:
- Frank Flannagan has many relationships with many women in many cities in many countries.
- Ariane claims to have many lovers to get Frank's attention.
- Running Gag: With the lady and her barking dog in the neighboring hotel room.
- Sand In My Eyes: In the train station, a deeply moved Ariane claims to have soot in her eyes when Frank is about to leave.
- Sherlock Scan: While Mr. Cravasse takes a while to catch onto his daughter having an affair with Flanagan, he shows eerie observational skills in some situations. For example, he knows that Ariana hasn't been with Michel because she has a callus from carrying her own cello case.
- Shout-Out: At the opera, Frank and Ariane attend a performance of Tristan und Isolde, an opera in which infidelity plays an important role.
- Slippery Slope Fallacy: Played for Laughs when a police officer delivers this line:A police officer: Now really, Madame, if we were to assign a policeman to every one of these situations [he means clandestine love affairs in hotels]... No, Madame, it just staggers the imagination. It would take more than the entire Paris police force. It would take the fire department, the sanitation department and possibly the Boy Scouts. Certainly, we don't want young boys in short pants involved in situations like this.
- Translation Convention: The French characters speak English among each other.
- Twin Threesome Fantasy: Frank Flannagan mentions meeting a pair of twins in Sweden. Later, they call him up when they get to Paris.
- Uptown Girl: Frank Flannagan is an American millionaire, while Ariane is the daughter of a French private detective who lives in a small flat.
- Worst News Judgment Ever: If the clippings that Ariane seeks out are any indication, the entire world has nothing to talk about other than Frank's love life.
