Sex and the City (film)

"Sex and the City" is a film adaptation of "Sex and the City" about four female friends: Carrie Bradshaw, Samantha Jones, Charlotte York, and Miranda Hobbes, dealing with their lives as 40-something year olds in New York City. The series often portrayed frank discussions about romance and sexuality.

The world premiere took place at Leicester Square, London on May 12, 2008, and premiered on May 28, 2008 in the United Kingdom and May 30, 2008 in the United States.

Storyline
Set 4 years after the events of the series finale, the film begins with Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big viewing apartments with the intention of moving in together. Carrie falls in love with a penthouse suite far from their price range, which Big immediately agrees to pay for. However, Carrie experiences doubts over the wisdom of this arrangement, explaining that they are not married, and as such she would have no legal rights to their home in the event of a separation. She offers to sell her own apartment, and quelling her fears, Big suggests that they get married.

Miranda Hobbes is finding balancing her home, work, and social life ever more difficult, and confesses to the girls that she hasn’t had sex with Steve in six months. She is devastated when Steve reveals he has slept/had sex with another woman, and immediately separates from him. Samantha is living with Smith, who has a successful television career playing a Doctor on a prime time soap opera. They live in a seaside luxury apartment in Malibu (near Los Angeles), where Samantha is finding it difficult to take time for herself. She is traveling frequently between L.A. and New York, and grappling with her persistent desire for sex with other men; her handsome and sexually active next-door-neighbor, Dante (Gilles Marini), in particular. Charlotte is happy in her marriage to Harry, with their adopted daughter, Lily.

Carrie's wedding plans escalate into such a lavish event that Big begins to experience doubts. Carrie is given a Vivienne Westwood wedding gown after modeling it for a photo shoot in "Vogue". Carrie reads to Big from a book of famous love letters she has borrowed from the New York Public Library. She teases Big for never having sent her a love letter. While returning "Love Letters of Great Men, Vol. 1" to the library, Carrie sees a wedding being held there and chooses it for her own venue.

After an argument with Steve at the rehearsal dinner, Miranda, still upset about Steve's indiscretion, tells Big bluntly that he and Carrie are crazy to be getting married, as marriage ruins everything. On the day of the ceremony, Big cannot go through with it, but repeated attempts to telephone Carrie fail. A devastated Carrie flees the wedding. Big changes his mind and intercepts Carrie as he sees her limousine drive away. Carrie, humiliated and betrayed, furiously attacks Big with her bouquet while he earns scathing looks from Miranda and Charlotte. The four women subsequently take the honeymoon that Carrie had booked to Mexico, where they de-stress and collect themselves.

Upon her return to New York, Carrie hires an assistant, Louise (Jennifer Hudson), to help her move back into her old apartment and manage her administration. Charlotte learns she is pregnant after a visit to her doctor. Miranda eventually confesses to Carrie about what happened during the night of the rehearsal dinner, and the two have a brief falling out. After reflecting on the argument she had with Carrie, Miranda agrees to attend couples counseling with Steve, and they are eventually able to reconcile. Samantha begins over-eating to keep from cheating on Smith with Dante, but eventually realizes that their relationship is simply not working, and that she needs to put herself first. The two break up, and she moves back to New York. Charlotte for several months is concerned that something might happen to the baby, because she feels her life seems to be too perfect.

A surprise encounter with Big at a restaurant leaves Charlotte so outraged that she goes into labor. Big drives her to the hospital, and waits until baby Rose is born, hoping to see Carrie. Harry passes on the message that Big would like her to call him, and that he has written to her frequently, but never received a reply. Carrie searches her correspondence, before realizing that Louise has kept his e-mails password-protected from her, after Carrie earlier announced she wished to sever all communication with him. She finds that he has sent her dozens of letters copied from the book she showed him in the weeks before their wedding, "Love Letters of Great Men, Vol. 1", culminating with one of his own where he apologizes for screwing it up and promises to love her forever.

One hour before the locks are due to be changed on their shared penthouse apartment, Carrie travels to the home Big had bought for them to collect a pair of mint condition blue Manolo Blahnik shoes she had left there. She finds Big in the walk-in closet he had built for her, and the moment she sees him, her anger at his betrayal dissipates. She runs into his arms and they share a passionate kiss. After spending the final hour in their apartment together making up, talking and apologizing to one another, Big proposes to Carrie properly, using one of her diamond-encrusted shoes in place of a ring. They later marry alone, in a simple wedding in New York City Hall, with Carrie dressed in the original dress she had bought in a vintage shop and the blue Manolos. After Big kisses the bride, he whispers into her ear "Ever thine. Ever mine. Ever ours.", a line Carrie read to him from "Love Letters of Great Men, Vol. 1" earlier in the film. They hold a get-together at a local diner with their friends. The film ends with the four women around a table in a restaurant, sipping cosmopolitans, and celebrating Samantha's 50th birthday, with Carrie making a toast to the next 50.

Development
At the end of Sex and the City's run in February 2004, there were indications of a movie being considered following the series. HBO announced that Michael Patrick King was working on a possible script for the movie which he would direct. As a result, the immediate follow-up idea for the movie were dropped.

It was in mid-2007 that the plans for making the movie were announced again. This reportedly resulted after Cattrall's conditions being accepted along with a future HBO series.

In February 2009 it was officially announced that a sequel will be made including all four actresses and writer-director Michael Patrick King. The sequel, Sex and the City 2 was released May 27, 2010.

Filming
The film was prominently shot in New York between September-December 2007. As a defense strategy, scenes shot in public or in presence of number of extras were termed by Ryan Jonathan Healy and the main cast as "dream sequences".

Costumes
As in the TV series, fashion played a significant role in plot and production of the movie. Over 300 ensembles were used over the course of entire film. Field rose to fame particularly after designing for the series from 1998 to 2004, wherein she popularized the concept of using designer clothes with day-to-day fashion.

While dressing the characters for the film, Field decided to stay clear from the latest fashion trends defining the characters and instead focused on the evolution of individual character and the actor portraying it, over the last four years. While Samantha's dressing was influenced by American TV soap opera "Dynasty", Jackie Kennedy was the inspiration for Charlotte's clothes. Miranda, according to Field, has evolved the most from the series in terms of fashion. This was influenced significantly by development in actress Cynthia Nixon in past years.

The tutu outfit that Carrie models for the other girls is the same outfit she wears on the show's credits.

Hats for Vivienne Westwood in the film are made by Prudence Millinery.

H. Stern loaned more than 300 pieces of jewellery to the film.

Costumes were also selected from collections by haute couture designer Gilles Montezin.