There’s a fair body of literature and film about guys who fall in love with their prostitutes. These movies come to pretty quickly to mind.
“Never on Sunday” (1960). Melina Mercouri is Ilya, a Greek port city prostitute. Homer is a visiting American philosopher who tries to reform her in a couple weeks, a la Henry Higgins.
“Irma la Douce” (1963). Directed by Billy Wilder. Jack Lemmon is an ex-cop who falls in love with Shirley MacLaine’s Irma, a Paris prostitute. He tries to get her out of that life by paying for all her time as the mysterious “Lord X.” Some wisdom for us all in these words of Moustache, Lemmon’s friend:
“Shows you the kind of world we live in. Love is illegal - but not hate. That you can do anywhere, anytime, to anybody. But if you want a little warmth, a little tenderness, a shoulder to cry on, a smile to cuddle up with, you have to hide in dark corners, like a criminal. Pfui.”
“Pretty Woman” (1990). Richard Gere, on a week-long business trip, needs an escort for some social functions. He hires Julia Roberts, a beautiful prostitute, only to fall in love with her. A real crowd pleaser. Happy endings all around.
“The Blue Angel” (“Der Blau Engel”) (1930). Directed by Josef von Sternberg. This is a dark, dark story of the of the humiliation and breakdown of Emil Janning’s inhibited professor who falls in love with Marlene Dietrich’s Lola Lola, a cabaret singer and courtesan. His undoing begins at his first glimpse of Lola straddling a chair crooning "Falling in Love Again" in top hat, stockings, and bare thighs.
Except for “Pretty Woman,” these were all considered pretty risqué for their time, at least when they first appeared here in the States.
Is what we have here enough to label this theme a “genre”? Are there others? Favorites?
Monk
