Summary
Vivian assures Edward that he doesn’t need to try and seduce her, as she is a “sure thing,” “on an hourly rate.” Sensing that she feels pressed for time, Edward asks her what her rate is for the entire night and she tells him $300, which he accepts. The scene cuts to Vivian washing her hands in the sink, before yelling out to him that she’ll be out soon since the champagne went to her head. After she surreptitiously pushes the door closed and goes over to examine something near the sink, Edward pops through it asking her to repeat herself since he didn’t hear her. Flustered, Vivian repeats herself, hiding the object she’s holding behind her back. Edward becomes exasperated, suspecting that she has drugs, but Vivian assures him that she stopped doing drugs when she was 14, and when he grabs her hand he realizes she is simply holding dental floss. Indignantly, she says that she has strawberry seeds in her teeth, adding “You shouldn’t neglect your gums.” Bemused, Edward leaves her to flossing. He stops in the door and looks at her, and when she asks if he’s going to watch, he says he’s going, but that “very few people surprise me.” She responds, “You’re lucky. Most of ‘em shock the hell out of me.” He lingers, and she finally tells him to leave so she can floss alone.
The scene shifts to an episode of I Love Lucy in which Lucille Ball stomps grapes. Vivian sits on the floor in front of the television, laughing at Lucy’s antics, while Edward makes a business call. When he hangs up, Vivian offers him a drink—in front of her on the carpet is an assortment of snacks and alcoholic beverages. Edward jokingly tells her that he is “high on life,” which makes her laugh. She turns back towards the television and giggles at Lucy’s face as she steps into the vat of grapes. Her laugh is loud and uninhibited, and she turns towards Edward. They lock eyes and share a moment of unspoken intimacy, and she gets up and begins to put her hand up his pant leg. On the screen, Lucy runs around the vat of grapes, as Vivian takes her top and dress off, revealing silky lingerie. She leans towards him and mutes the television. As she takes off Edward’s tie and unbuttons his shirt, Edward smiles at her, and she asks him what he wants. He asks her, “What do you do?” and she whispers, “Everything, but I don’t kiss on the mouth.” Without missing a beat, Edward responds, “Neither do I,” and Vivian begins to kiss his torso, momentarily looking over at Lucille Ball on the television and smiling up at Edward.
The scene cuts to Edward in the shower, looking conflicted. He turns off the shower and goes into the main room in a bathrobe, where he finds Vivian’s wig. Curious, he looks over and sees Vivian lying on the bed, her natural hair spread on the pillow. Edward then sits down at his desk and does some more work. The camera cuts to the lobby of the hotel, the following day, then back to Edward’s room, where he is on a cell phone, still talking about the Morse deal. He signs for room service, and the camera shifts to show Philip in an office on the other end of the phone. Philip tells him that Morse wants to meet Edward in person, but that he doesn’t advise it. Edward ignores his advice, however, and asks him to set up a meeting between the two businessmen that night. Philip pleads with him not to get dinner with Morse—“he’s a feisty old guy…We say the wrong thing, we could wind up in court”—but Edward insists that there is always risk in business, as Vivian emerges from the bedroom. Before hanging up, Edward tells Philip that his car “corners like it’s on rails,” repeating what Vivian said to him. Edward hangs up and Vivian greets him, acknowledging her red hair.
When Vivian tells Edward that she will be leaving shortly, he assures her there is no rush and invites her to sit and eat breakfast with him. She sits as he tells her that he “took the liberty of ordering everything on the menu.” She tells him she slept very well, and he tells her that he only slept a little on the couch, to which she responds, “You don’t sleep, you don’t do drugs, you don’t drink. You hardly eat. What do you do, Edward?” She is sitting on the table as she says this, and Edward hints for her to take a seat. When she sits, he tells her that he buys companies for a living, companies that are “in financial difficulty,” before revealing that he is buying a company this week for $1 billion. Impressed, Vivian asks him how much of an education he got, telling him that she only got through 11th grade. He tells her he went “all the way,” and Vivian chomps on a pancake. The scene shifts, and as Edward gets dressed, Vivian asks whether he actually has a billion dollars, but he assures her that he gets some of that money from investors. Sitting before him in front of the mirror, she asks more about his job and ties his tie for him. He tells her that after he buys companies and then sells them, and more specifically that he sells portions of the company, which become more valuable than the whole company itself. Vivian asks, “So it’s sort of like stealing cars and selling ‘em for the parts, right?” and Edward cannot help but agree. Vivian finishes tying his tie, and when he asks her how she learned to tie a tie so well, she first jokes that she “screwed the debate team in high school” before revealing that actually her grandfather taught her. She asks to use his tub before she goes, to which he agrees, and the couple leave one another.
The scene shifts to Phil on the phone, calling Edward, and telling him that Morse is all set for dinner and that he is bringing his grandson, perhaps “grooming him to take over.” Edward knows his grandson, whom he describes as a “very intense young man named David. Plays polo.” Phil reiterates that he doesn’t feel comfortable with Edward going alone to the business meeting, urging him to take a date, to “keep it social.” As Philip says this, Edward hears Vivian singing joyfully and uninhibitedly in the bathroom. Edward walks into the bathroom, as Phil confusedly asks who is singing. He finds Vivian singing in the bath with headphones in, and tells Phil that “Housekeeping is singing.” When Phil offers to get Edward a date, Edward watches Vivian comically singing along to her Walkman with her eyes closed, and tells him that he already has one. As he hangs up Vivian continues to sing before opening her eyes and realizing he is watching her. Edward then tells her that he has a “business proposition” for her, and that he wants her to spend the week with him—he leaves on Sunday. Edward tells her that she would be his “employee,” that he will pay her to be at his “beck and call.” Vivian is intrigued, but wonders why a handsome man with so much money would ask to pay her to do something that he could get many women to do for free. He insists, “I want a professional. I don’t need any romantic hassles this week.” She gives him a quote for her time—$4000—but he suggests that what he is asking for is only worth $1800. She fires back that he wants her available during the day as well, and he offers her $2000. When she asks for $3000, he agrees. “Holy shit!” Vivian exclaims, laughing and submerging herself into the bubble bath. Edward calls to the underwater Vivian, asking her if she agrees. She comes up for air, her face covered in bubbles, and replies “Yes.”
The couple walk out of the bedroom, as Edward tells Vivian that he will be gone for most of the day and that he wants her to buy some new clothes, handing her a hefty sum of cash. He tells her that they will be going out in the evenings and that she should buy conservative clothes. “Boring,” she counters. “Elegant,” Edward corrects her. As he goes to leave, she tells him that she would have stayed for $2000, and he insists that he would have paid $4000. She tells him that she is going to treat him so well that he won’t want to let her go at the end of the week, but Edward tells her that at $3000 for the week, he will let her go. After he closes the door, Vivian smiles and says to herself, “But I’m here now,” and runs into the bedroom, throwing herself onto the bed and screaming with glee. “Three thousand dollars!” she exclaims, burying her face in a pillow. Sitting up abruptly, she calls Kit, who she tried to reach the previous evening. She tells Kit everything, and Kit is startled and overjoyed to hear of her commission for the week. Kit asks her a number of questions, wondering what is wrong with Edward that he would make such a deal. She probes Vivian, asking if he’s ugly, before asking when she’ll get the money. When Vivian tells her she’ll get it at the end of the week, Kit flags the delayed payment as “what’s wrong with him.” Vivian assures Kit that he already gave her $300 and that she’s going to leave some of it at the front desk of the Regent Beverly Wilshire for Kit to pick up later that day. Kit brushes her teeth, before writing down where to go. Before they end their talk, Vivian asks Kit where she can buy fancy clothes in Beverly Hills, and Kit tells her, Rodeo Drive.
The scene shifts to the lobby of the hotel, where a well-dressed Italian man talking to a hotel worker turns and stares at Vivian as she walks up to the front desk. At the front desk, Vivian leaves the envelope of money for her friend “Kit De Luca” and walks out the front door past the Italians and other hotel guests. The hotel worker asks the front desk girl if she knows Vivian, but she tells him she does not. Out on the street, the camera pans to show Rodeo Drive, a glitzy neighborhood for shopping, and Vivian walking briskly down the street. “Wild Women Do” by Natalie Cole plays as Vivian crosses the street, and close-up shots of various stores are shown. Vivian looks in the windows of the stores, marveling at the elegantly attired mannequins and expensive jewelry. She sees a man and his son drive by in a convertible, and looks at the signifiers of wealth with a curious wonderment. She walks into a fancy store, where a worker arranges flowers in a pot. Various employees and customers in the store look at Vivian with an unchecked disdain and confusion—how could such a tackily dressed woman show her face in such an expensive store?
Vivian is undeterred and begins to look at the clothes on the rack. “May I help you?” asks one of the salesgirls, skeptically. Vivian insists that she’s just looking around. When the woman asks what she’s looking for, Vivian tells her that she needs something conservative, and the salesgirl widens her eyes in agreement. Vivian asks how much an outfit on one of the mannequins costs, and the salesgirl tells her that she doesn’t think it will fit her. Sensing the employee’s snobbery, Vivian tells her, “I didn’t ask if it would fit. I asked how much it was.” The salesgirl asks the other one how much the outfit costs, and the other salesgirl simply says, “It’s very expensive.” The initial salesgirl continues the snobbery telling Vivian, “I don’t think we have anything for you. You’re obviously in the wrong place. Please leave.” Vivian walks out, head hung low.
Vivian pulls her jacket closed as she tromps down Rodeo Drive in her thigh high boots, and sad music plays. Back at the hotel, she walks through the front entrance, and is apprehended by the hotel manager who asked about her before. He asks if she is staying at the hotel and if she has a key. She tells him she forgot her identification and that she is staying in the penthouse with Edward, but is unable to give his last name. As the elevator door opens, Vivian points to the elevator attendant and says, “He knows me!” The hotel manager calls Dennis over, and asks if he recognizes Vivian. He tells him that Vivian is staying with “Mr. Lewis.” Vivian tells him that she is staying with Edward Lewis, and walks briskly into the elevator. The hotel manager follows her into the elevator and Vivian yells indignantly, “What do you want now?”
In another room, we see a plant being watered in close-up as the hotel manager asks Vivian’s name. She gives him her standard line, “What do you want it to be?” but here it takes on a new meaning—the implied answer is that he wants her to be anyone but herself, that he doesn’t want a prostitute staying at his hotel. The shot shifts to show the hotel manager looking up from watering the plant and threatening Vivian, “Don’t play with me, young lady.” She relents and tells him her name, before he tells her that “things that happen at other hotels” don’t happen at this one, but as Edward is a “special customer” he is willing to overlook this situation. He vaguely looks at her and says, “I’m assuming you are a…relative.” Taking the hint, Vivian agrees that she is a relative, and he asks her another leading question, “Now you must be his…?” Vivian responds “Niece.” This satisfies the hotel manager who tells her that he doesn’t want to see her in his hotel again after Edward’s departure.
Before dismissing her, he tells her that he wants her to dress more appropriately, but this infuriates Vivian. She tells him that she was trying to buy more appropriate clothes, but that the women at the store wouldn’t help her. Frustrated, she pulls out the wad of cash that Edward gave her and tells the hotel manager that she needs to buy a dress for tonight but is being thwarted at every turn. He hands her a handkerchief, seeing how she upset she is, as well as the crumpled pile of cash she has handed him. As the manager goes to the phone, Vivian worries that he is calling the cops, but soon realizes that he is calling a department store, and asking for someone named “Bridget” in the women’s clothing department. Vivian blows her nose noisily, and the manager looks somewhat scandalized, before telling Bridget over the phone that he is sending Vivian to the store, and that she is the niece of a special guest of the hotel—here we learn that the manager’s name is Barnard Thompson. Vivian smiles, realizing that Barnard wants to help her get new clothes.
The scene shifts to video footage of a brown and ugly industrial property shot from above, as Phil tells a dark boardroom of businesspeople who are watching the film that “the real estate possibilities are endless, but most of the yard we’ll just level.” A man interrupts the meeting to tell Phil that they have word from Morse. Phil turns on the light and asks for the update, so the messenger tells him that “Morse just got the inside track on a $350 million contract to build destroyers for the navy.” This business transaction puts more pressure on Edward’s company, and the messenger tells Edward that perhaps they should walk away from the deal. This does not sit well with Phil, however, who insists that they have put too much time into working on the case to walk away now. The room erupts into argument, but Edward stops them, urging them to relax. He asks if they know anyone on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Phil tells him they know “Senator Adams.” Edward assures them that the Navy will not buy anything from Morse for $350 million before “going to Appropriations first.” Edward walks out, and Phil asks if he’s ready for the meeting tonight and who he is taking. Edward simply replies, “Nobody you know,” and leaves.
At a large department store, a salesgirl cordially tells a customer that she will notify her as soon as an item comes in, and Vivian looks at her reflection in a mirror on the counter. Bridget, the saleswoman, comes up behind Vivian and greets her in a friendly manner. When Bridget asks what Vivian’s plans are, Vivian tells her that they have dinner plans and sits up on the counter, which alarms Bridget, who urges her not to sit there. Flustered, Vivian lowers herself from the counter, and Bridget tells her that she will need a cocktail dress. Bridget leads her up the stairs to the cocktail dresses, saying that they will find something that her uncle will love. Bridget correctly guesses that Bridget is a size 6, which surprises Vivian. As they climb the stairs, Vivian confides, “Bridge, he’s not really my uncle.” “They never are, dear,” Bridget responds. Back at the hotel, Barnard talks to a hotel guest, and Vivian interrupts them to tell him that she purchased a dress. When she asks if he wants to see her purchases, he says he does not, and that he is “sure they’re quite lovely.” Vivian thanks him for his help in putting her in touch with Bridget. He smiles at her and she goes back up to the room.
Upstairs in the room, the phone is ringing and Vivian picks it up. It is Edward, who instructs her, “Never ever pick up the phone.” Playfully, Vivian responds, “Then why are you calling me?” When he asks her if she bought clothes, she tells him she bought a cocktail dress, and he tells her to meet him in the lobby at 7:45, assuring her that it isn’t a date, but business. He tells Vivian he’s taking her to a very elegant restaurant called The Voltaire. They engage in playful banter and hang up. Moments later, however, Edward asks his secretary to call Vivian again. When an assistant comes up behind Edward and tells him that Phil wants to see him, he instructs her to tell Phil that he’s “in the middle of a very important phone call.” The phone in the hotel room rings again and Vivian runs to pick it up. “I told you not to pick up the phone,” Edward says. “Then stop calling me!” responds Vivian and Edward snickers, hanging up yet again. “Sick,” Vivian says, laughing to herself. The scene shifts to show Barnard in the hotel lobby again, and Vivian comes up beside him, and tells him that she has a “little problem.”
Analysis
At every turn, Vivian is established as a wholesome character, soft where another girl in her position might be edgy, charming where another girl might be coarse. This is exemplified in the moment when Edward finds her using dental floss in his bathroom. While Vivian insists—after Edward accuses her of using drugs—that she stopped using drugs when she was 14, she seems less like a former user and more like a scolding sibling. Vivian’s charm is her innocence and her memorable contradictions. When she sits on the floor watching reruns of I Love Lucy, she looks like a child gleefully catching up on her favorite shows. Vivian is lovable to Edward, and leaves a lasting impression because she is so unexpected, so wide-eyed, and so earnest. She might be hardened by the life of a prostitute, but it has done little to dampen her joy and her charm.
Just as Vivian’s innocence is endless, so is Edward’s wealth. Even though he is afraid of heights, he lives in the penthouse suite simply because it is "the best" and he wants to experience "the best" at all times. He orders champagne and strawberries, because strawberries bring out the subtleties of the champagne. The thing he knows how to do best is make money, and he has a seemingly limitless supply. This is exemplified by the fact that he is willing to pay $3000 (and as he admits, $4000) for a week with an escort. Edward wants everything that money can buy, including a charming companion.
The movie is witty and quickly paced, and the situations the characters find themselves in are built to delight. After all, it is a romantic comedy, and seeks to have broad appeal. As the two begin to court one another—even if they do frame their connection as strictly contractual—their chemistry and rapport makes them an undeniable love match. Richard Gere portrays Edward as cold in some ways, while endowing him with a shyness that makes him all the more sympathetic. Vivian's appearance in his life begins to melt his icy veneer, and gets him to open up. Julia Roberts portrays Vivian as likable and warm, if sometimes lacking the appropriate etiquette for the situation at hand. Indeed, the ways that Vivian is rough around the edges often only adds to her charm. She is earnest and appealing as she attempts to fit into high society, and much of the pleasure of the film comes from seeing her begin to open up and fit in more in Edward's wealthy circles.
What makes the film a less than traditional romantic comedy is the nature of Edward and Vivian's relationship, initially: that of client and employee. Edward makes Vivian a "business proposition" and sees his hiring of her as preventing him from having to get entangled in anything more complicated. Neither Vivian nor Edward are looking for anything more complicated than a professional relationship. He tells her, “I want a professional. I don’t need any romantic hassles this week.” And when they have agreed upon a price, she playfully tells him, “I would’ve stayed for two thousand," to which he responds, “I would’ve paid four.” This moment anticipates their romantic connection, and is played flirtatiously, but it remains in the language of business and transaction.
The way the film is shot both glorifies the extreme wealth that Vivian’s acquaintanceship with Edward brings, as well as critiques the anxious social fragility and icy snobbery that it entails. Happy music plays as shots of various store fronts on Rodeo Drive are shown. Brand names are shown in close-up—Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton—to show the exclusive market that is suddenly accessible to Vivian. When Vivian goes inside a boutique, however, she finds how limited her access really is. Still dressed in clothes that signify her poor background, Vivian incites vitriol and snobbery from the salesgirls, who bluntly ask her to leave. Even though Vivian has the money in her pocket and is able to afford clothes from the store, her appearance renders her unfit in the eyes of the fancy girls who work in the store. Thus, Pretty Woman shows that money is not enough to grant Vivian access into the world of the wealthy elite. Wealth is as much social as it is financial, and Vivian has yet to understand the requirements. Even if Edward is so taken with Vivian’s authenticity, charm, and down-to-earth straightforwardness, in the eyes of the world, she is not a lady. Later, when she is questioned by the hotel manager, we see an elegant plant being watered in close-up as the skeptical hotel manager asks her about herself. Images and objects of wealth might be present and close-by, but Vivian is blocked from easy access to them, given the snobbery and skepticism that follows her from all sides.
