Funny Face (1957)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Stanley Donen

Writer:

Leonard Gershe (written by)

Release Date:

13 February 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Comedy | Musical

Tagline:

Presenting a Real New Dimension in Motion Picture Entertainment.

Plot:

Fashion photographer Dick Avery, in search for an intellectual backdrop for an air-headed model, expropriates a Greenwich Village bookstore...

Plot Keywords:

Photographer | Fashion | Fashion Photographer | Bookstore | Model

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Audrey Hepburn	...	Jo Stockton
Fred Astaire	...	Dick Avery
Kay Thompson	...	Maggie Prescott
Michel Auclair	...	Prof. Emile Flostre
Robert Flemyng	...	Paul Duval
Dovima	...	Marion
Suzy Parker	...	Specialty Dancer (Think Pink Number)
Sunny Hartnett	...	Specialty Dancer (Think Pink Number)
Jean Del Val	...	Hairdresser
Virginia Gibson	...	Babs
Sue England	...	Laura
Ruta Lee	...	Lettie
Alex Gerry	...	Dovitch
Iphigenie Castiglioni	...	Armande

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) | Mono

Certification:

France:Unrated | Spain:13 | Netherlands:AL | Ireland:G | Italy:T | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Finland:K-16 | Finland:S (1966) | UK:U | USA:Unrated | West Germany:6 | Peru:PT

Filming Locations:

Chantilly, Oise, France

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Many of the production staff usually associated with MGM musicals went to Paramount especially to work on this film, so it is, essentially, an MGM musical made at Paramount.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end of the film, we see Dick leave an evening fashion show party to join Jo at the church for the final dance. But a hazy filter once the church scene begins can't hide the fact that it was shot in broad daylight (complete with blue sky), even though it should still be evening.

Quotes:

Dick Avery: You are mad, aren't you?
Jo Stockton: No, I'm not mad. I'm hurt, and disappointed, and... and mad.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Gilmore Girls: French Twist (#7.7)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

How Long Has This Been Going On?

Colorful and energetic, but with a hackneyed script...

Audrey Hepburn always said she was an introvert forced by her profession into playing extroverts, and usually that strain didn't show. It doesn't show in "Funny Face" either, but her natural gamine appeal does seem to get swallowed up in the fake-happy surroundings. The Oscar-nominated screenplay about a famous photographer discovering a beauty in a mousy Greenwich Village book-clerk is only good in its early stages setting up the story, but when we find that the plot is just a romance complication, it's a let-down. The plot-thread about the philosopher in Paris is dire, and the film laughably compares a beatnik lecture to a spiritual, but Hepburn works hard to create chemistry between she and Fred Astaire (older and less enthused) and she has some feisty, enchanting moments. She does her own singing here, unlike in the later "My Fair Lady" (which coincidentally also gave Audrey a fashionable makeover), and her dancing is sprightly and fun. It's a fluttery, gay, fashion-magazine movie without enough soul in it to really be absorbing, but the Gershwin songs are sweet and the eye-popping color-schemes give it a great visual kick. ** from ****