When business becomes pleasure...
Elizabeth: She's wonderful, Edward. Where ever did you find her?
Edward: 976-BABE.
Edward: 976-BABE.
A 1990 Romantic Comedy starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, directed by Garry Marshall, and named for the song by Roy Orbison.
Gere plays Edward Lewis, a wealthy businessman and notorious corporate raider who hires Vivian Ward (Roberts), a Hooker with a Heart of Gold, to serve as his escort while he stays in Los Angeles. They end up falling for each other.
This movie was a genuine blockbuster when it came out, and it made then-23-year-old Julia Roberts a star; she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress as well. Richard Gere didn't do too badly out of it either.
Pretty Woman was initially intended to be a dark drama about prostitution in Los Angeles, but was reconceptualized into a romantic comedy. Today it is one of the most financially successful romantic comedies ever, making $178m in the States and another $285m worldwide for a total of $463m note , on a $14m budget with a R-rating and its subject matter to boot. The film was followed by a string of similar romantic comedies, including Runaway Bride, which teamed up Gere and Roberts under the direction of Garry Marshall once again.
A Screen-to-Stage Adaptation starring Samantha Barks as Vivian debuted in 2018 before closing one year later.
Pretty Woman contains examples of:
- Answer Cut: At the start of the film, guests at a function Edward is at wonder where he is, to which Stuckey jokes he's probably charming some woman. Cut to Edward on the phone with his live-in girlfriend in New York having a very terse break-up conversation.
- Anywhere but Their Lips: Vivian's one rule is that she never kisses on the mouth because it makes it too personal. Truth in Television: most sex workers prefer not to kiss on the mouth, not only as a personal boundary, but also to prevent the spread of infection (colds, flu, hepatitis, etc.).
- At the Opera Tonight: Vivian has an emotional reaction to La Traviata (especially considering the subject), but the real point of the scene is almost more that Edward finally sees the person she could be—a sensitive woman with an inborn appreciation for beauty—if only she had his advantages.
- Attempted Rape: Phillip attempts to force himself on Vivian. Thankfully, Edward intervenes and stops him.
- Back-to-Back Poster: The poster has Edward leaning on Vivian's back. The way they are posed hints that Edward is stiff and high-class, while Vivian is free-spirited.
- Bathtub Bonding: Vivian and Edward share a bath together where she holds him in her arms (and then to show off, her legs as well) as he describes his relationship with his father.
- Berserk Button: Though reserved in anger, when Vivian mentions the sales people at a shop refused her service, Edward is angered and takes time to help her by ensuring the next place does treat her nicely. It should be said it isn't said if this is because it was Vivian who was insulted or one of his employees was slighted that set him off.
- Brick Joke: During the shopping montage, Vivian ooh's over a tie that she thinks Edward would love. Later that night, Edward arrives at the hotel room to Vivian waiting for him wearing only the tie.Edward: (completely stopped in his tracks) Nice tie.
- Catch-22 Dilemma: A social example: Vivian needs stylish clothes in order to look respectable, but the sales staff at the high-end clothing boutiques that sell the kind of clothes she needs won't accept her as a customer because she's not dressed respectably. The hotel manager, and later Edward, have to get involved in order to circumvent this problem.
- Comically Small Demand: Even in 1990 dollars, $3,000 seems like a ridiculously small sum for a solid week of prostitution—especially considering Vivian's going rate is normally $100 an hour (168 hours in a week x $100 = $16,800). More so considering how filthy rich Edward is; she could've asked for more. The film does imply that Vivian's lying about her normal going rate and that inexperience makes her think she's asking for a big sum while Edward regards it as cheap change. Plus he's buying her an entire wardrobe of high-end clothes while putting her up in a luxurious penthouse and paying for all her meals.
- Compressed Hair: Vivian hides voluminous red hair under her blond wig.
- Cool Car: The Lotus Esprit. When the film was made, it was cutting-edge: the car so cool and obscure even lovers of cool, obscure cars had only heard rumors. Now it's practically a legend.
- Creator Cameo: Director Garry Marshall is the homeless man Edward asks for directions at the beginning of the film.
- Deadpan Snarker: Edward, much of whose dialogue involves his utterly straight-faced and deadpan replies to the things that other people say. (Apparently Gere was told during production "In this film, one of you moves and one of you doesn't. Guess which one you are?")
- Defrosting Ice King: At first, the hotel manager Mr. Thompson only puts up with Vivian's presence because Edward is an important client. As he assists her over the course of the film, he grows fond of her and becomes a Shipper on Deck.
- Downer Beginning: The two protagonists get one beginning each, both of them downers. Edward's beginning is merely about his life being shallow and empty, without any room for people really caring about each other. From there the scene flips to Vivian's life, taking the audience along for a plummet into hell. In the first few minutes we get:
- One of her fellow streetwalkers has just been murdered, her corpse getting dug up from a dumpster.
- She has to avoid her landlord and needs a new john really quick, because her roommate Kit has taken all their rent money to buy drugs...
- ...from an especially skeevy guy who is entirely too keen on becoming Vivian's pimp.
- Elite Man–Courtesan Romance: Wealthy businessman Edward Lewis hires Vivian to act as an escort for him for a week. Over that time he gradually falls in love with her, and she with him.
- Falling-in-Love Montage: On their penultimate day together, Vivian convinces Edward to take a day off from work, a concept rather foreign to him. Their day is montaged with less luxurious but more intimate activities than he's used to — relaxing in the park, eating at a local Greasy Spoon type — culminating with her passed out on his shoulder on the ride home. That night, she breaks her taboo by kissing him on the mouth and their lovemaking is more passionate than typical hooker-client, ending with her saying she loves him as they sleep.
- Fashion-Shop Fashion Show: After the first place Edward takes her, this happens.
- Farmer's Daughter: Vivian started life in a rural town in Georgia before escaping to the Big City.
- Flowers of Romance: Edward arrives at Vivian's apartment building in a limo and then climbs the fire escape (despite his fear of heights) with a bouquet of roses clutched between his teeth, in order to persuade her to stay with him because she wants to, not because she's paid to do so.
- Formal Full Array of Cutlery: Vivian is prepared for a formal dinner by Barney who explain her the difference between salad fork (the only one she's able to recognize) and meat fork, by counting prongs. The usual application of the trope is then played at the dinner when Mr. Morse confesses he's never understood which fork is for what, demonstrating himself as personable and down-to-earth despite his comfortable situation.
- Get Out!: Edward to Phillip when he stops his attempt to rape Vivian.
- Grand Romantic Gesture: Vivian reveals her dream of being a princess swept off her feet by a handsome knight on horseback. Later, to reveal he truly loves her, Edward does his best to recreate her dream in real life. The truly grand part of this gesture is that a) Edward, previously pragmatic and undemonstrative, does his best to do something spontaneous and heartfelt; and b) he does so by conquering his extreme fear of heights to climb to Vivian's window.
- Hate Sink: Philip Stuckey is a greedy lawyer who has advised Edward Lewis for ten years on his business acquisitions and made a lot of money off the different companies being deconstructed with Stuckey only caring for how much Edward makes him off of it all. Stuckey finds Edward’s blossoming romance with hooker Vivian Ward to be very threatening and devalues her as nothing more than a prostitute getting too involved, especially when she convinces Edward not to break up one particular company. It’s because of this that he believes he has the right to come onto Vivian and when she eventually fights back, Stuckey maliciously slaps Vivian and then attempts to rape her.
- Helping Another Save Face: Vivian, at dinner with the heads of the company Edward is targeting, makes a faux pas by comparing oysters to snot. James Morse, the kindly old man who runs the company, gently agrees with her.
- Hidden Depths: While Vivian's the primary example, Edward has a love of music: he plays the piano beautifully, he takes Vivian to the opera, and if you listen carefully, you learn that the reason he has to leave California on Sunday is because he has tickets to the Met in New York. Even with unlimited money, you have to be a serious opera lover to fly cross-country because you don't want to miss the Met.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Vivian is practically the modern resurrection of the trope. She's a hooker, but she's bright, sensitive, honest, and dreams of bettering herself, and she's managed to avoid the pitfalls (drugs, pimps, etc.) that she sees harming her fellow sex workers. After her time with Edward, she decided to move to San Francisco and get her GED.
- Knight In Shining Armour: Evoked directly by Vivian, who relates this specific fantasy to Edward.
- Lighter and Softer: The final film compared to the dramatic spec script. The movie was originally going to be a dark, serious drama about a pair of sex workers both trying to escape their line of work, only to be held back by drugs and society.
- Lipstick-and-Load Montage: During the open credits, we watch as Vivian rolls out of bed (at eight at night), wriggles into her skintight skirt, zips up her boots, and applies her makeup, all showing in loving tight shots.
- Love Confession: After passionate sex that's more personal than professional, Vivian whispers to Edward that she loves him, thinking he's asleep. As she closes her eyes, he opens his.
- Love Redeems: Edward's growing love of Vivian helps him turn from being a cold, ruthless businessman, to a logical but caring man who seeks to protect the very business he was just looking to buy and destroy.
- Makeover Montage: Vivian receives one with the assistance of Makeover Fairy "Bridget from women's clothing," who helps take her from an attractive streetwalker to a refined woman.
- Mistaken for Junkie: Edward interrupts Vivian in the bathroom and thinks she's doing drugs. Turns out she's only flossing strawberry seeds from her teeth. (May also be a
Development Gag, as the original script wrote Vivian as a drug addict.)
- My Horse Is a Motorbike: Vivian wanted someone to carry her off on a white horse. Cue the white limousine.
- No Fame, No Wealth, No Service: Vivian gets this at a Rodeo Drive store when the sales ladies refuse to assist her because they believe she can't afford to shop there. She gets to tell them off later once she's looking more respectable:Vivian: Do you remember me?
Salesperson: No, I'm sorry.
Vivian: I was in here yesterday. You wouldn't wait on me?
Salesperson: ...Oh.
Vivian: You work on commission, right?
Salesperson: Ah, yes.
Vivian: Big mistake. Big. Huge! I have to go shopping now. (She walks out of the shop.) - "Not So Different" Remark: Edward starts on his way to a Heel Realization when Vivian points out that his "buy the company, sell off the pieces" business tactic is just like a chop shop with a stolen car. He also is fascinated with Vivian because he sees her operate as a sex worker the way he does as a businessman.Edward: We both screw people for money.
- Odd Name Out: In the mostly ad-libbed shopping scene (see Video Example), the store manager (Larry Miller) calls to the shopgirls:Store Manager: Mary Pat, Mary Kate, Mary Francis, Tovah, let's see it, c'mon ...
- Princess Phase: When Vivian was a little girl she would pretend she was a princess... trapped in a tower by a wicked queen. And then suddenly this knight... on a white horse with these colors flying would come charging up and draw his sword. And she would wave. And he would climb up the tower and rescue her.
- Pretty in Mink: The spec script involved Edward renting Vivian a white fur coat to wear during their time together. When she had to give it back, Edward just thought she was upset due to not keeping the coat.
- Pygmalion Plot: Somewhat subverted. Edward does give Vivian a physical makeover, but her personality never really changes.
- Rags to Riches: As it seems Vivian and Edward are going to be very close, she will end up a very rich woman.
- Running Gag: Edward has a whole bunch of luxuries that he can't take advantage of because of various aspects of his personality (a Lotus Esprit when he can't drive stick, a penthouse suite and a balcony seat at the opera when he's afraid of heights). When asked why he owns it, he replies "It's the best." The gag reaches its zenith at the end, when the acrophobic Edward is climbing up the fire escape of Vivian's apartment building; he calls up, "It had to be the top floor, right?" Vivian answers, "It's the best."
- Scary Black Man: In the alternate DVD version, the hotel's personal driver, Daryl. Vivian's pimp comes asking for money and threatens Edward, who is trying to smooth it over. Edward kindly suggests not to harm him and leave, and on cue, Daryl opens his coat to flash a handgun. Vivian's pimp wisely withdraws himself.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Slightly subverted. Vivian was always beautiful, but with a few lessons in table manners and a new wardrobe, she's also able to pass for classy.
- Shopping Montage: Subverted and played straight. Vivian tries to go shopping on Rodeo Drive, but is crushed when she's asked to leave immediately by salesclerks who judge her for her apparent lack of money. With a little help from Edward and the hotel manager, she's able to go on a real spree later.
- Slut-Shaming: Less for Viv's profession and more for her fashion sense, but the film makes it clear that many of Edward's high-class friends see her as a person only because they don't know what she does for a living.
- Snobby Hobbies: Edward is shown playing polo at one point, and also takes Vivian to the opera.
- Stylish Sunhats: Call girl Vivian needs to buy better clothes for herself, but a boutique denies her service. After Edward's, her escort, intervention, she enters a Shopping Montage and ends up buying lots of fancy, classy clothes. The next day, she is wearing a fancy white dress with a line of black buttons and a black sunhat, then goes to the boutique that rejected her the day before. The sales woman doesn't recognize Vivian with her upgraded attire. Later in the movie, now that she has improved her fashion sense, she accompanies Edward to the polo race course wearing a simple, yet elegant sunhat.
- Titled After the Song: Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman." The song is featured in one of the film's most iconic scenes.
- Toplessness from the Back: How Vivian is framed when she greets Edward after her day of shopping, wearing only a necktie.
- Troubled Sympathetic Bigot: Edward keeps looking down on Vivian, in spite of not wanting to and in spite of his prejudice against her being proven wrong. Of course, he's rather oblivious to the whole thing, innocently arguing that she should accept being treated like a commodity because he's a nice buyer. As he comes to see Vivian as a person, he begins to realize that he's been treating everyone like a commodity, when they, like Vivian, are so much more.
- Would Hit a Girl: Phillip attempts to rape Vivian, and slaps her when she resists.
- Wrote the Book: Late in the film, Edward says that "I know about wanting more. I invented the concept."
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: During a heart-to-heart conversation in bed, Edward tells her that she could do much more with her life because of her intelligence and kindness. Vivian responds that when you hear the opposite for so long, you believe it.
