When business becomes pleasure...
A 1990 film from
Touchstone Pictures named for the song by Roy Orbison. Richard Gere plays Edward Lewis, a rich man who hires Vivian Ward, a
Hooker with a Heart of Gold to hang out with him while he stays in LA. They end up falling for each other.
This movie was a genuine blockbuster when it came out, and it made
Julia Roberts a
star; she received an
Academy Award nomination for Best Actress as well.
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, with an estimated gross of 464 million US$ (adjusted for inflation). 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.
This film contains examples of:
- Anywhere But Their Lips: Vivian's one rule is that she never kisses on the mouth because it makes it too personal. She does kiss Edward on the mouth when she starts to fall in love with him.
- At The Opera Tonight: Vivian has an emotional reaction to La Traviata (especially considering the subject).
- Cool Car: The Lotus Esprit.
- Dispense with the Pleasantries: Subverted where it at first seems to be this, but turns out to really be about redirecting the flattery to someone else.
[After Edward informs salesclerk Hollister that he will be spending an obscene amount of money buying clothes for Vivian at Hollister's shop]
Hollister: Mr. Lewis? How's it going so far?
Edward: Pretty well, I think. I think we need some major sucking up.
Hollister: Very well, sir. You're not only handsome, but a powerful man. I could see the second you walked in here, you were someone to reckon with...
Edward: Hollister.
Hollister: Yes, sir?
Edward: Not me. Her.
- During her first night with Edward, Vivian's impatient with his lack of urgency to get to the sex part, asking if they can just "hurry this along." This prompts Edward to ask for her rate for the whole night so she can finally relax.
- Does Not Like Shoes: Vivian, who is often barefoot.
- 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 digged up from a dumpster.
- She has to avoid her landlord and need a new john really quick, because her roommate has taken all the rent money for drugs or something.
- Some scumbag guy is really keen on oppressing her and becoming her pimp.
- Executive Meddling: Of the profitable variety.
- Fashion Shop Fashion Show
- Farmer's Daughter
- Grand Romantic Gesture: Edward's reenactment of Vivian's fairytale story.
- Happily Ever After: Oh yeah.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Edward's lawyer is George Costanza.
- Vivian's roommate is Maya Gallo.
- Hector Elizondo, a shining example of this trope, is the hotel manager.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold
- Inter-Class Romance: The plot, really.
- The Key Is Behind the Lock: 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.
- Knight In Shining Armour: The knight rescuing the imaginary Princess Vivian.
- Lighter and Softer: The final film compared to the dramatic spec script.
- Lipstick and Load Montage
- Love Redeems
- The Makeover
- Makeover Montage
- May-December Romance: Richard Gere is eighteen years older than Julia Roberts.
- No Fame, No Wealth, No Service: She gets that at a Rodeo Drive store, but she gets to tell them off later.
Vivian: Hey, do you remember me? I was in here yesterday, and you wouldn't let me buy anything. You work on commission, don't you? [holds up shopping bags] Big mistake! Big. Huge!
- Platonic Prostitution: Well, it starts that way.
- 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.
- Rags to Riches
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Vivian getting a makeover.
- Shopping Montage
- 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.
- Star-Making Role: For Julia Roberts.
- Throw It In: The scene where he shuts the jewelry box on her hand was originally just an on-set practical joke. But they thought her reaction was better than just having her gently touch the necklace as intended.
- 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.
- Unproblematic Prostitution: While actually averting this trope completely, the movie managed to become the most famous example of the trope due to people's extremely low expectations for the treatment of sex worker characters. To the dismay and moral outrage of many viewers, the movie averted the once upon a time mandatory tradition that The Hooker with a Heart of Gold must be killed off before the story is over.
- What Could Have Been: Was originally designed to be a dark comedy, with Richard Gere's character abandoning Vivian, Viv being a cocaine addict, and she and her roommate leaving for Disneyland at the ending.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Vivian delivers one after Edward outs her as a hooker.
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