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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 2141
Released: January 8, 2002 |
| Our Price: $5.79 |
| Used Price: $4.89 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
NAIVE CELLIST AUDREY HEPBURN DEVELOPS AN INTEREST IN AMOROUSMAGNATE GARY COOPER.
Description of Love in the Afternoon:
Fairy-tale Paris doesn't get more enchanting than Billy Wilder's Love in the Afternoon, an ode to picnics on the grass and champagne at the Ritz. Audrey Hepburn (who had already made Sabrina with Wilder) is at her best as the inexperienced cellist with a fascination for millionaire American playboy Gary Cooper. Maurice Chevalier (who else?) is Hepburn's father, a private detective with ample evidence of Cooper's crowded history of l'amour. Alongside the sheen of the romance is Wilder's unerring sense of craftsmanship; watch how inanimate objects such as a liquor tray, a white carnation, or the little dog in the suite next door are developed into sublime running gags. The age difference between the two leads has often been questioned, but perhaps this is what gives the gossamer material the whiff of welcome melancholy. The final three minutes leave no doubt that Wilder hatched the best endings in Hollywood history. --Robert Horton
Love in the Afternoon Reviews:
Ok, folks, let's be real 
2009-12-16 - Ok, I'll be the first to admit I like this movie, as I'm a fan of Billy Wilder, Audrey Hepburn and Gary Cooper, and of course Maurice Chevalier, and classic movies in general. The age difference between the two main characters doesn't bother me, I guess being a lover of classic movies I'm so used to it, but even in "real life" I don't see that as a necessary hindrance. What is disturbing is the fact that this guy is an admitted adulterer and fornicator who is so heartless that he almost caused one woman to commit suicide and who has no conscience whatsoever apparently, sees a pretty young, untouched thing who is attracted to him because of the very things she should be repelled by, plays hard to get and lies to him about supposed sexual conquests that if were true would be equally disgusting as his escapades, and he "falls in love" with her after several meetings (with a space of some months inbetween) to the point of marrying her and her otherwise doting father is somehow happy with the turn of events. But otherwise, I agree it is a "cute" movie.
Mesmerizing! It is my favorite romantic comedy! 
2009-09-19 - I really love "Love in the Afternoon"! I had a big kick out of it and I don't understand why some people dislike it.
To me, the film is a masterpiece. It succeeds in so many levels like no other romantic comedy. The story is wonderfully acted and told. Intelligent script explores human soul layer after layer- all the silly things we do when we are in love and all the illogical explanations which we make to justify our madness, it is all there. The underlying dramatic theme,that love often breaks our hearts is seasoned with the right dose of humor to provide a pleasant comic relief. The movie is beautifully shot and the music score is to die for. The two leads, Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn have tremendous on-screen chemistry and make a fantastic,fun to watch on-screen couple. The supporting cast and "The Gypsies" are pretty amazing too.
Gary Cooper is Frank Flannagan, a handsome American, very wealthy, mature and confirmed bachelor. He likes women, champagne, everything luxurious and lives live to the full. He never gets serious about a relationship. His philosophy is "Don't get attached. People should always behave as though they were between planes". A fateful meeting with beautiful, young French Ariane changes his attitude. She saves his life and they spend together his last afternoon in Paris. He leaves for America and forgets her. She doesn't forget him, she is deeply in love. A year later they meet again and this time he falls for her, but she plays mysterious and elusive, and drives him crazy. Eventually they come together by the end of the film -a beautiful, romantic and memorable end!
I really enjoyed the movie and laughed out loud at the many funny scenes. There is one particular scene, where Flannagan, totally obsessed with Ariane and jealous of "her past" falls into pieces. He drinks the whole night and listens to Ariane's voice message in which she tells him of her "itemized list of lovers". The Gypsies play his favorite music. There are trolleys loaded with alcohol literally "flying" forward &backward between Flannagan and the band, while his playing Ariane's message zillion times forward and backward, and the music starts and stops in the same manner. Hilarious!
Gary Cooper's ability to maintain delicate balance between the dramatic and the funny side of the situation is unsurpassable! His age did not bother me the slightest. On the contrary, I thought, at 56 he is still a great actor and strikingly handsome man. His body is lean and well toned , he is wonderful to look at and worthy of love. And as a matter of fact the age difference between Flannagan and Ariane is a crucial point in the story.
Gorgeous, classy and talented Audrey Hepburn is delightful to watch. I will never forget her in the final scene. She makes it so moving! Gary Cooper is amazing too. Actually, amazing is understatement. Flannagan is forced to make the toughest decision in his life and he must make it fast, now or never! Cooper has no lines, only a few words for the last five minutes screen time, but his tormented facial expression says it all. I felt his desperation and pain as though, I was on that departing train deciding "to be or not to be". The final could have easily become too syrupy but it isn't. There is no sugar-coated dialog and no excessive weeping, and it works magnificently.
The message I got from the film is that true love has no age and conquers all. If you are among the few lucky ones who have found their match, surrender completely and enjoy your "life sentence"!
I could keep on writing and marvel about the film but my review is long enough as it is. I hope, I gave you some idea what to expect and I am leaving you now to make your mind up. If you decide to go ahead and see "Love in the Afternoon" the chances are you will enjoy two very nice and memorable hours. Seriously, they don't make'em like that anymore!
Solid Wilder; hypocritical critics. 
2009-01-12 - Audrey Hepburn (who was an excellent actor and an even better human being) MADE HER FILM CAREER by playing the sweet young thing opposite the much older man. Seriously, people, how can you try, sentence and condemn this film because "Gary Cooper is too old for her," but talk about how much you love films like Roman Holiday, My Fair Lady, Charade, or even lesser movies like Sabrina or War and Peace?
Humphrey Bogart: 30 years older.
Gary Cooper: 27 years older.
Henry Fonda: 24 years older.
Burt Lancaster: 16 years older.
Cary Grant: 25 years older.
Rex Harrison: 21 years older.
Gregory Peck: 13 years older (but when she was only 25 and he was pushing 40).
If you can relook at the film for what it is, you find one of Billy Wilder's good, but hardly great pictures.
Many of the qualities that make Wilder one of the greats--a strong central cast, well-oiled comedic timing and engaging dramatic pacing--are present and accounted for. Cooper plays an excellent smirking, older lothario (hardly an uncommon trope it the annals of American film, so get over it) in a daring, but well-acted departure from the Will Kane/Longfellow Deeds mold. Maurice Chevalier tones down the croaking Frenchman routine to play a subtle and endearing character, despite his obnoxious occupation. And Audrey Hepburn delivers a remarkably self-controlled performance in what was doubtless a difficult role to assume.
The gypsy band and the comedy of errors are vintage Wilder. Ditto for the typically 'Wilderian' pace, which never lags, and never goes too long without a joke. All of Wilder's story-telling signatures are there, especially his career-long preoccupation with the qualities that make up 'human decency,' and, despite his generally cynical take on modern American life (at home and abroad), his aptitude for teasing out a satisfying romantic ending.
A movie is not always the sum of its parts; a great cast and a strong script can make for a disastrous picture if not assembled properly. Wilder, even when working with inferior material (I'm thinking especially of some of HIS OWN weaker scripts) could never be accused of shoddy directing. And Love in the Afternoon is, above all, well-assembled.
Its script is not as daring or captivating as Double Indemnity's, nor as moving and utterly human as the Apartment's. It's on-location filming is not as impressive as is Ace in the Hole's, nor as memorable as The Long Weekend's (remember Ray Milland's agonizing pawn shop hunt?). Wilder made good use, initially, of the Place Vendôme, but otherwise he fails to make the most of what Paris has to offer.
It's solid, it leaves an impression and stays with you, but it's hardly Wilder's best work. For another director, Love in the Afternoon would be great; for Wilder, it's just good.
love in the afternoon
2008-12-06 - Audrey Hepburn, always lovely, couldn't possibly have fallen for a man who looked as old as Gary Cooper. Apart from that, I thought the supporting actors were good, the script was good, the directing was good. Too bad about Gary Cooper.
incredible waste of time - VERY dated 
2008-10-18 - The wisdom of Amazon kept recommending this to me. Why - because I bought Two For The Road several years ago?? That purchase was based on love of that film and its timeless reflection on love/marriage. Love in the Afternoon cannot be compared in any way save for the presence of the lovely Audrey Hepburn. She shines in both films but the latter doesn't come close to being saved by her inclusion.
Gary Cooper - are we kidding? Who in the name of William Shatner (an Olivier by comparison) ever considered him an ACTOR?? His wooden, plodding recitation of lines was a hideous waste of time, energy and celluloid. I can understand a town full of people planning his demise at high noon.
