Spoilers. Observations. Opinions. Charming film. The haughty little French girl loved by two men in An American in Paris is now an orphan, waif, naive and homeless. Leslie Caron plays the innocent well, here. She pulls it off. She also pulls off a fantasy sequence in which she is more adult such as wearing the slinky red dress. Another more adult fantasy sequence had her dressed in a short red dress in which she served imaginary food and drinks to imaginary bistro clientele. It was common for 1953 era women to aspire to be "waitresses". That sexist term had been replaced by "server". Today, many more women are educated to acquire professional careers, not to schlep hash and suds in a saloon. There were too many pink dress waitresses in this film. Paul, the former dancer, was injured "in the war". I assume that that meant World War Two, which ended in 1945 -- eight years before this 1953 story took place. War was still being mentioned in 1950s films. France was greatly damaged in that war. People were devastated. Here, people make the best things and decide to attend a carnival and enjoy themselves. This fun show is truly a ray of sunshine in their formerly dreary lives. The puppets are adorable, and are exciting to watch when they come to life in the fantasy "walk down the yellow brick road" dance scene near the end. Caron is a great dancer, but I don't see enough of that here. In the down the road fantasy, Paul (Ferrer) dances very well and quite sensually. He is no longer the angry man with the limp. I am a degreed historian, actress, singer, dancer, film critic and movie reviewer.

. . . as the 16-year-old title orphan patches together a wounded warrior's shattered psyche despite having less than half of ANNIE's emotional maturity. At least "Lili" starts out totally naive to the ways of the world, as her late watchmaker dad apparently home-schooled her (not very well) in some sort of bunker throughout WWII, and for seven years afterward. When Lili arrives penniless and friendless in an essentially random French town, she's nearly raped in her first five minutes off the bus. Following some circus people much like a stray dog, Lili turns out to be sort of an idiot savant at discussing her most private emotions with four puppets to entertain small crowds. She's hopelessly in love with the show's fair-haired magician, while never being able to remember that the dreaded "Angry Man" who voices the quartet of beloved puppet confidantes is totally manipulating her nightly public therapy sessions. It turns out that Angry Man has fallen head-over-heels for Lili, and is bitterly jealous of the magician. A former star dancer crippled in WWII, the war has split Angry Man into multiple personalities. It's Lili's task to solve his really complicated puzzle. See how she does.

This is a cute little movie, and a sweet love story. Leslie Caron is very likable as a naive 16-year-old all alone in the world, who is taken in by a traveling carnival company. Mel Ferrer is the brooding puppeteer who only expresses his true feelings through his alter-ego hand puppets.Acclaimed in its day and still well-loved by many, LILI (1953) nevertheless feels like the obscure film it has become. There are elements of the story that would play best in the minds of children, such as accepting that a 16-year-old would forget that puppets aren't living personalities. (Not to mention any issues of grown men longing after teenage girls.) Personally, it's just not my "style", I suppose. (The puppets are... I don't want to say "creepy", but...) The whole thing is wrapped in a sort of hokey childlike innocence that doesn't really work for my jaded adult mind. It's alright as a curiosity and Caron is great in an early dream sequence (with Zsa Zsa Gabor).

This film was a spirit of France upon their shows and Melodies by a brilliant dancer , actress and singer Lisile Caron upon this film which was a preparation roots for a more marvelous movie (Gigi) with Louis Jordan and the second one in France The country of arts , culture , beauty and merry melodies.The Muppet's of this story played a great role and cause for making a magic moment in this film which made a funny feelings for audience to be fond of this film every moment because of their eternal story , songs , shows and acting.An Important point in art (the finishing) which enter any art work in the eternity as this film by a brilliant end by the funny spirit of Muppet's that congratulated the lovers on their marriage after the victory of their love in spite of hard situations.