My Fair Lady is another of those films which I both feel like I should have watched a long time ago, and feel like I did watch a long time ago. Like, for example, 'The Great Escape', the story of My Fair Lady, or rather the story of Pygmalion, is one that has been referenced in pretty much everything so much that it has become part of the national consciousness. Perhaps that is why it's taken so long for me to watch it. Also the fact it's a 3 hour musical kinda put me off. It's not that I have anything against musicals, I rather enjoy them, but the last 3 hour musical I watched was 'O' Lucky Man', which despite being an interesting film full of things to enjoy, is also pretty hard going at times.
So with the story already in my subconscious the film must have basically unfolded as I thought right? Not quite. First of all nothing could have prepared me for just how terrible Eliza Doolittle's voice is at the start of the film, it's not often I wince at a film, but seriously, it's painful. Secondly I wasn't prepared for the overall tone of the film which left me quite unsettled. The way I understood it the film was a story of a transformation from common flower girl to a proper 'lady'. I knew there was a bet element to the film, but the fact I'd seen this story represented in one way or another a few times in other films (always with happy results) and that it was a musical (which are usually quite joyful) made me think this would be an enjoyable romp.
Let me preface this part of what I am about to write by saying if you've not seen the film you may not want to read on... The story, as I saw it, is far from a happy one. Eliza is basically supporting her father, who leeches money off her to support his drinking habit, when she decides to try and change her life by asking for speech lessons, and indeed offering to pay for them she is effectively laughed out of the room for no other reason than her idea of what constitutes a lot of money is a pittance to the two wealthy men she is approaching. Then a bet is made that she can be turned into a lady of high society (the idea being that one of them thinks that it is impossible... and he's supposedly the nice one). Then when things are looking up, she's learned to talk in a way that doesn't make my ears bleed, and a young man named Freddy falls in love with her, well that's when things get even worse.
When Higgins and Pickering have finished their bet and Higgins has won they congratulate themselves on a job well done, with complete disregard to the emotional journey that Eliza has been though, a disregard which is evident in the entire film. This is addressed to a degree in the film, and whilst Pickering seems to feel some remorse for his actions, Higgins doesn't seem to care one bit. Then just as she asserts herself and stands up to Higgins (with the help of his mother who turns out to be the one character I can abide by the end of the film) that's when Higgins uses the excuse that he's nasty to everyone to excuse his actions. But do you know what the absolute worst thing is.... It works! and at the end of the film Eliza goes back to Higgins to live with him. This seems to be billed as a happy ending and all! I just didn't buy it. And if you're not convinced on a human level, the films attitudes toward women is pretty horrible too. For example Eliza's father sells Eliza to Higgins (who later claims he owns her) for £5 and the film contains a song called 'why can't a woman be more like a man'. So yeah, a little off.
Overall the film has its charms, the songs are memorable and the basic idea for the plot is a good one, which is why it has lasted so long and been used so many times over the years. But the film left me sour on so many emotional levels by the end of it, I disliked most of the characters and lost all respect for Eliza in the final scene, which left me feeling no empathy of fondness for anyone in the film, so I ended up not caring about them. I would say everyone should watch this film once, as it is interesting to see the origins of so many plot devices, however I can't say I care to watch it again... ever.
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