A modern fairy tail

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2019)

"Pretty woman" is a modern fairy tail evidently based on the story of Pygmalion (1913, George Bernard Shaw) c.q. the film "My fair lady" (1964, George Cukor).
The film thanks much of its success to the chemistry between arrivÃ© Richard Gere and rising star Julia Roberts.
Much of the charm of the Pygmalion story lies in the mutual influence of refined gentleman and woman of the street. In the first half of "Pretty woman" the influence seems rather one sided, nemely from gentleman to streetwalker. The reverse influence only gets going in the second half of the film.
Even then the story is not wholly unambigious. Is the softening of the tough businessman Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) really attributabe to Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) or has he found a stepfather in the general manager of the company he wants to buy and strip?