Rags to Riches

I will admit, when I first heard the words “I rented Pretty Woman”, I considered faking a sudden illness. However, this was not really an option. I must say I was pleasantly surprised.

Julia Roberts plays Vivian Ward, a woman of ill repute in Beverly Hills. She is picked up by business mogul Edward Lewis, portrayed by Richard Gere. Lewis’s intentions, at first, are innocuous. He simply wants directions. He eventually leads Ward back to his hotel, asking her to stay a week. Hilarity ensues.

The brilliance of Pretty Woman is not in the

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

Lewis is multidimensional, being both cold and caring at the same time. Every facet of the movie leads to its success. As I watched the movie, I came to a conclusion: Pretty Woman not unlike Vivian Ward, manages to go from rags to riches in just under 2 hours. Fly-byes of the Los Angeles and San Francisco skyline are matched with point of view perspective. The movie, which was produced in 1990, was one of the first movies to seamlessly incorporate many newly conceived filming techniques. His iron fist in business is often tempered by a joke, or a half handed compliment.

The performances by Roberts and Gere have gone down in movie history as the benchmark for an outstanding performance in a romantic comedy. It is the rich character development that helps make Pretty Woman the film it is. Short but sweet, it shows the essence of the main characters:

“Vivian: You’re late

Edward: You’re Stunning

Vivian: You’re Forgiven”

Roberts, 3 time Oscar nominee and 1 time winner, portrayed Vivian as an earnest, non compromising woman, who reluctantly fell into prostitution.

I first started thinking about what thing made Pretty Woman an enjoyable experience. While these filming techniques are common place in todays theaters, at the time of filming, the time it must have taken to incorporate such methods is substantial. I then realized that is isn’t one thing, it’s many. One of the most famous scenes in the film is a prime example. Gere, who is famous for being ignored by the Academy, brings Edward Lewis alive.

Approximate Word count = 388
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.