← Back to the films
Original illustration: A black evening glove draped over a casino chair, with a guitar, roulette table and burgundy curtains beneath Gilda lettering.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

Film noir

Gilda

RomanticTense Great first watch · Easy Film noir

A gambler joins a Buenos Aires casino and discovers that the owner’s new wife is the woman whose memory he has been trying to erase.

Year
1946
Director
Charles Vidor
Country
United States
Length
110 min
Language
English

What to expect

Rita Hayworth’s performance turns visibility into strategy within a triangle organised by jealousy and ownership. Songs, costumes, mirrors, and withheld history make Gilda both a star image and a person resisting the meanings men assign to her.

How to ease in

Do not expect the characters to explain their shared past clearly. Read the casino as a workplace built on surveillance, then watch how each performance changes who appears to possess the room.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes intimate-partner violence, coercive control, misogyny, attempted assault, gun violence, alcohol, gambling, and sexual humiliation.
Momo's Note May contain spoilers Who is Momo? →
Open the note ↓ Close the note ↑

Everyone watches Gilda, yet watching never becomes understanding. I keep returning to the moments when she turns the gaze into a spotlight she can direct—even when the stage itself remains a trap.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

Credits & versions

Credits
Production
Virginia Van Upp · Columbia Pictures Corp.
Cinematography
Rudolph Maté

Version map

Criterion presentation110 min110 minutes is attached only to the named Criterion presentation. No unsupported cut, score, territory, frame rate, source element, or restoration detail is inferred.Source: The Criterion Collection — GildaRuntime reference · Checked 2026-08-21

Where to go next

Want a gentler, shorter, or stranger next film? Ask Momo for something like this →
Momo is on shift. Visit Momo Cinema →

Continue through the catalogue →