C'est mon gigolo

It needed some time away from it. I've always considered Just a Gigolo as a rather negative film, a big departure for Marlene Dietrich. And this really is not the best film to watch. Yet it becomes much more interesting if we place it among the series of films from the 1970s that spontaneously began to admire interwar decadence. Whether European or American. There is indeed a bit of Cabaret and The Great Gatsby with Redford in Just a Gigolo. We get a nicely wooden Bowie in the lead role, and a spectacular Dietrich, right up to the end of her days. Then there are the legendary hits "Johnny" and "Ich Küsse Ihre Hand, Madame," but unfortunately they are included in new and worse arrangements. The more interesting performances are given by Sydne Rome (in the hands of worse directors a stripped actress, while the better ones have her wearing clothes) and the darling Curd Jürgens. The icing on the cake is the endearingly intractable problem of two different versions left over after the original material was cut by more than half an hour. In this way, the audience can argue forever about which version of Just a Gigolo is better. I'm looking forward to Kästner's novel anyway. (20/10/2020)