Pretty Woman
プリティ・ウーマン
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A Hollywood Boulevard sex worker and a corporate raider; in the darker original script, he throws her out of his car.
Edward Lewis, a corporate raider from New York who buys companies to break them up, leaves a party in the Hollywood Hills in his lawyer's sports car, gets lost and cannot manage the gears. On Hollywood Boulevard he meets Vivian Ward, a sex worker, who drives him to his hotel for a fee. On impulse he hires her for the night. The next day, needing a companion for a week of business while he tries to take over Jim Morse's shipbuilding company, he offers her three thousand dollars to stay the week, and gives her money for clothes.
On Rodeo Drive snobbish saleswomen turn her away. The hotel manager, Barney Thompson, finds someone to sell her a cocktail dress and teaches her table manners, and Edward is astonished by the change. He tells her about his estranged, late father. At a polo match his lawyer, Philip Stuckey, suspects Vivian of being a corporate spy; Edward tells him what she is, and Philip crudely propositions her. She confronts Edward, who apologises and admits he was jealous. He flies her to San Francisco to see La traviata, the story of a courtesan who falls in love with a rich man. That night she breaks her rule against kissing, and, thinking he is asleep, tells him she loves him.
As the week ends Edward offers her a flat and an allowance. She feels it would still make her a kept woman, and tells him of her childhood dream of a knight on a white horse. Edward decides to help Morse save his company instead of dismantling it. Philip, furious at the lost fortune, finds Vivian alone, hits her and tries to rape her; Edward arrives, drags him off and fires him. Edward asks her to stay one more night, only if she wants to. She gently refuses and leaves.
Vivian gives her flatmate, Kit De Luca, money and encouragement, and packs for San Francisco, where she means to find work and finish high school. Edward has his chauffeur drive him to her building, climbs out of the white limousine and up the fire escape to 'rescue' her, like the knight in her dream. Asked what happens after the knight rescues the princess, she answers, 'She rescues him right back.'
Starring
Julia Robertsas Vivian Ward
A sex worker on Hollywood Boulevard, hired by a stranger for a week, who begins to want a different life.
Vivian Ward’s story
Vivian works Hollywood Boulevard. Edward, the lost businessman she drives to his hotel, keeps her for a week; breaking up companies to sell the pieces, she tells him, is like selling stolen cars for parts. Snubbed on Rodeo Drive, she is dressed and taught table manners with the hotel manager Barney's help. When Edward's lawyer learns what she is and propositions her, she tries to leave without her fee. After the opera she breaks her rule against kissing and, thinking Edward asleep, says she loves him, but she refuses a flat and an allowance that would make her a kept woman. After Philip hits her and tries to rape her, she packs for San Francisco to finish school. Edward climbs her fire escape; asked what happens after the knight rescues the princess, she answers, 'She rescues him right back.'
Richard Gereas Edward Lewis
A New York corporate raider who buys companies to sell them off in pieces, and hires Vivian as his companion for a week.
Edward Lewis’s story
Edward is recently divorced, has just been left by his girlfriend, and never made peace with his late father. Lost on Hollywood Boulevard in his lawyer's sports car, he lets Vivian drive him to his hotel, hires her on impulse for the night, then for the week of his bid for Jim Morse's shipbuilding company. He tells her about his father. He hurts her by telling Philip what she is, and apologises, admitting he was jealous. He takes a day off, flies her to the opera, and offers her a flat and an allowance, which she refuses. Then he decides to help Morse save his company instead of dismantling it, throws Philip out after he attacks her, and lets her go. In the end, afraid of heights as he is, he climbs her fire escape.
Héctor Elizondoas Barney Thompson
The dignified manager of Edward's hotel, who helps Vivian find a dress and learn table manners.
Jason Alexanderas Philip Stuckey
Edward's lawyer, who treats Vivian with contempt and turns on her when the takeover falls through.
Laura San Giacomoas Kit De Luca
Vivian's wisecracking flatmate and best friend, who taught her the trade.
Why it matters
Pretty Woman is a fairy tale built on a transaction. It began as J. F. Lawton's script 3000, a dark cautionary tale about class and prostitution in Los Angeles in which Vivian was addicted to cocaine and Edward threw her out of his car; Disney had it rewritten as a modern love story. The result sold more cinema tickets in the United States than any other romantic comedy. Some actresses who turned the part down called the story 'icky' or 'degrading to women'. The questions it raises have not gone away: whether sex work can be shown without either shame or glamour, how much of a romance is a rescue, and what money does to desire on both sides of a deal. The film's own answer is in its last line. She rescues him right back.