In An American in Paris (1951), Gene Kelly plays Jerry Mulligan, an American painter living in Paris who falls for Lise, played by Leslie Caron, a young woman already engaged to another man. Directed by Vincente Minnelli, with music by George Gershwin, the film builds to a long ballet in which Jerry dances through the world of French painting.
Kelly co-choreographed the film and gives a performance that is both romantic and athletic. An American in Paris won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Kelly received an honorary Academy Award for his achievements in film choreography, a recognition of how much he had expanded what a musical could do.
