My review is specifically for Gigi, as I did not read The Cat. 

Gigi is a novella barely much longer than a short story. If you have seen the movie, then you have pretty much read the novella, only there was more content in the film than the written work. Many people find it uncomfortable nowadays. That's perfectly fair - there is a strong implication of grooming, questionable age gaps, and paedophilia (the last one in the film). It isn't supposed to be representative of that. This work is absolutely a product of its time. That doesn't make it any less wrong or uncomfortable but this was reality. The story is a reflection on female independence, what it meant to the French, and the lengths a woman would go to make a living for herself in a world where it was impossible to do so. 

Courtesans were a social class unto themselves and I'd equate them to the taxi dancers of the 1930s or to modern day sugar babies. They are women who make their livelihoods by being escorts. "Kept women" in other terms. Of course, it's an elaborate form of prostitution but then again so is regular work. The French, being the French, have turned Love into an artform, kind of how Geishas train for years to sell the illusion of themselves as an art and being untouchable, courtesans perfected the 'art' of the illusion of love. This is what Gigi's family specifically were trained for and have trained her for. This is the way they know to guarantee that the women in the family have comfortable livings and are secure. 

Again, it's important to remember that this takes place in turn of the century Paris, for goodness sake they're known for having a different set of morals, ethics, and views on love, romance, and all things sensual than the rest of Europe. And for what it's worth, courtesans were more respected than those who worked in the theatre, and miles more respected than prostitutes. They really were the Kardashian's of their time. It's a very small view into the world of a woman of that era. It's uncomfortable when you look at the realities of it but I don't think it's meant to be so. To me it appears it's meant to show that there is no better or worse when it comes to independence for women. They are all the same trap, and we are all just trying to find our way to live the way we wish in a world that hasn't been and still isn't a woman's world. We are the commodity, we mold ourselves to their world, exist in the only ways we can accept for ourselves.

It just so happens that for Gigi's family, acceptable for themselves is the life of a courtesan, and for Gigi herself it was marriage.

I feel like if i read this when I was in college I would have found a way to write a whole dissertation on this. Words cannot express how dear this story is to me and how much I love the film. I'm only sorry it isn't longer, more detailed, I'd love to have read this as a 400+ page novel. 

I read Gigi for class. It was meh. I’m probably missing a lot of context though.

It wasn't love, but I liked these two stories. The characters are all very compelling. I'm interested in (finally) reading more Colette.