Pretty Woman is a 1990 romantic comedy film. The film centers on down-on-her-luck prostitute Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) who is hired by a wealthy businessman and corporate raider, Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) to be his escort for several business functions, and their developing relationship.

Pretty Woman was initially intended to be a dark drama about prostitution in Los Angeles but was reconceptualized into a romantic comedy. The film was a critical success and became one of 1990’s highest grossing films, and today is one of the most financially successful entries in the romantic comedy genre, with an estimated gross of $464 million USD.[1] Roberts received a Golden Globe Award for her role, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in her first blockbuster hit which brought her worldwide acclaim. Screenwriter J. F. Lawton was nominated for a Writers Guild Award and a BAFTA Award. The film was followed by a string of similar romantic comedies, including Runaway Bride, which teamed up Gere and Roberts under the direction of Garry Marshall once again

Corporate raider Edward Lewis (Gere) is having trouble driving the Lotus Esprit he has borrowed and stops to ask for directions on Hollywood Boulevard. Vivian Ward (Roberts), a hooker with a heart of gold, thinks he is trying to find “a date” and walks over to his car. A lost Edward agrees to pay Vivian for directions. Rather than giving him the directions he wants, Vivian jumps in the car and offers to show him personally. On the way to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel (Beverly Hills), Vivian comments on his bad driving. Much to her surprise and delight, Edward asks her to drive the rest of the way. Despite the Lotus’s famously stiff clutch, she demonstrates driving skill and takes him to his hotel without mishap. Vivian, who thinks she has charmed Edward, is at first rejected and says she will return to her corner by taxi. When Edward sees her a few minutes later waiting at the bus stop, he offers to hire her for an hour, which after some awkward conversation (on his part), becomes a night.

Edward explains his business to Vivian–he buys large companies, breaks them up and sells them in smaller parts for profit. Vivian compares it to a chop shop, where stolen cars are cut up for parts and usually sold for more than the whole car is worth. Edward acknowledges the validity of the comparison for the first time. He later reveals the origin of his business methods to Vivian: when he was a boy, his father divorced his mother to be with another woman, and emptied his wife’s bank account as well as taking his own money. Consequently, his mother died in poverty, and Edward grew angry and bitter over time. He told Vivian that his father was the president of the third company he took over, broke up and sold off. His revenge was taken, but his appetite for more still lives on.

An idyllic few days ensue, during which time Edward flies Vivian by private jet to San Francisco for a performance of Verdi’s La Traviata. The opera (which is not named in the film) is the story of a Parisian courtesan who falls in love with a wealthy young man, paralleling the growing relationship between Edward and Vivian. The story makes a tremendous impression on Vivian, as Edward had predicted. For the occasion, Edward dresses Vivian in a skin-tight bright red haute couture gown, with a diamond necklace and earring set valued at $250,000 lent to him by a famous jeweler. That night after the opera Vivian wakes Edward with a kiss, symbolic of the change in the relationship of the pair (she had previously stated that she never kisses her clients as it is just “business”).

As the week starts to end and Edward prepares to return to New York. Edward tells Vivian he wants to see her again and offers to supply her with an apartment, a car, and as much money as she needs, including credit cards so she can shop. Vivian refuses and says she wants the whole thing–commitment, or nothing at all. She describes a fantasy from her childhood–rescue from a tower by a knight on a white horse- “the fairy tale”. Before he leaves he says, “I’ve never treated you like a prostitute.” After he’s gone, she whispers to herself, “You just did.”

Rodeo Drive featured prominently in the film

As the time draws near for Edward to finalize his buyout of Morse Industries, he loses his bitter lust for vengeance against his father, and decides to partner with Morse instead–to build warships, rather than breaking up a shipyard and selling it for scrap. Phil is shocked and upset to hear this, and goes to Edward’s hotel to confront him. He finds Vivian alone in the penthouse, and after blaming her for Edward’s backing out of the takeover, attempts to rape her. He slaps her and calls her a whore. Edward arrives and pulls Phil off Vivian. When an enraged Phil calls Vivian a whore again, Edward punches Phil and orders him to leave the penthouse.

While easing each others injuries Vivian and Edward have conversation about what each other wants, and Vivian states she wants “the fairy tale.” Edward says he’s not capable of offering that. He asks Vivian to stay the night, not because he’s paying her but because she wants to, but she declines the offer. Vivian leaves, but first says good-bye to Barnard and thanks him for his kindness.

The next day, Edward checks out of the hotel. Barnard notices his pensiveness and remarks how difficult it must be to give up something so beautiful, supposedly referring to the diamond necklace. He also notes that Darryl, Edward’s usual driver, had dropped Vivian off at her apartment the day before. Edward asks Darryl to drive him to Vivian’s apartment in a white limousine; he arrives as Vivian is packing to move to San Francisco. Edward has flowers, and opera music is blaring from the car. Although nervous, Edward controls his fear of heights and climbs the fire escape to Vivian’s apartment. Vivian meets him on the landing, and he asks what happens in her fantasy after the knight on the white horse rescues her. “She rescues him right back”, says Vivian, and they kiss.