Is there any city on the planet more romantic than Paris? New York may have its energy, and Cottonwood, Idaho may have the World's Biggest Beagle, but if you're in love, Paris is the place to be. Fittingly, almost all of the characters in An American Paris have romance on the brain, and the result is a narrative love buffet: we've got love at first sight, unrequited love, love that's really more like lust, and an honest-to-goodness love triangle. In An American in Paris, love isn't just in the air; it's in the water, it's in the paint, it's hiding under every café table stacked high with stinky cheese. Hey—maybe that's why everybody's always bursting into song.
Questions about Love
- Does Jerry's infatuation with Lise seem legit to you? By his own admission, he knows almost nothing about her.
- Is Milo in love with Jerry? How can you tell? If she isn't, how would you describe her interest in him?
- Did Lise choose the right guy?
- Everybody in An American in Paris is head-over-heels about somebody—except Adam. What's Adam's role in this tangled, lovey-dovey narrative? Does the story need him?
Chew on This
In An American in Paris, the line between love and lust is blurrier than a Monet painting.
Jerry isn't in love with Lise; he's in love with what she represents: beauty, mystery, and Paris.