Breakfast at Tiffany's

I am never sure which Breakfast at Tiffany's is. I can certainly think of movies which more accurately portray the human condition, but of few that are more fun.

Neither Holly nor Paul seem to represent real people. Their attraction, which is the focal point of the movie, is a character unto itself. Paul sees Holly as scared, vulnerable, and in need of rescue and enjoys his role as potential knight in shining armor to her damsel in distress. She is drawn to him because he sees beyond her facade of fabulousness to the scared little girl she is inside and which she tries (not that hard really at all) to hide. Adding to her attraction to him is the fact that he stands up to her when she treats him shoddily. This probably does not happen to her too often, and it intrigues her.

These are mostly the tricks a romance novelist uses to keep readers baited and rooting for a fictional, possibly doomed romance to work and do not reflect the real nature of love. There is, however, enough chemistry, genuine affection, and respect between the two characters to keep the story from seeming utterly implausible.

Of course, a movie doesn't have to be realistic to realistically portray what is right and what is wrong with the world we live in. Breakfast at Tiffany's doesn't do a whole lot of that either, though. After watching I can never pinpoint one solid message from it.

What it does have a lot of, as many others have pointed out, is stylish, witty, good fun. This is almost always the movie I choose on the rare occasions when my husband is working late, my son is asleep, I have energy to spare and good bottle of wine just begging to be uncorked. Believable or not, it is well-told and compelling, and remains one of the better movies a gal can lose herself in.

I've been catching up on Audrey Hepburn movies lately, and of course this is the best remembered of the lot. It's a super-stylish romantic comedy in the days when the genre still elicited laughs, rather than the groans coming out of cineplexes these days.

My problem with BREAKFAST IS TIFFANY'S lies in the script, which presents the Hepburn character as one of those annoyingly air-headed bimbos who spends the whole film at the mercy of her own ignorance. There's nothing wrong with Hepburn, who nails the character perfectly, just the slightly irritating childlike persona. She's not really a person to fall in love with, more like somebody who needs sectioning.

Still, the rest of the film is well-made, beautifully shot and rather effective, and the sweet, good-natured comedy works well. It's rare for me to see George Peppard in a romantic role, but he acquits himself well with the material. This certainly isn't my favourite Hepburn movie - I can't help but feeling it's slightly overrated - but on the other hand I can see why it's regarded as a classic by most.

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY's is an exciting and entertaining romantic comedy about a charismatic girl from high society and an unrealized writer. Film is loosely based on Truman Capote's novella of the same name.

A young and elegantly dressed lady walks around and looking in a shop windows in an early morning. After looking into the shop's windows, she strolls home. Outside her apartment, she fends off her date from the disastrous night before. Later, she meets, a pleasant and somewhat confused writer, the new tenant in her building. They develop a special relationship. She wants to marry a rich man. However, her new friend slowly falls in love with her. Both must give up of some important goals in their lives for the sake of love...

This is an unconvincing and provocative story with a touch of an inappropriate comedy, romance and melodrama. However, this distorted reality has a certain depth. The story of a nobody's-but everyone's girl is, given her past, a naive and painful at the same time. A quiet and insecure writer with an obvious problem of writer's block and hands of a beautiful and rich older lady around his neck enters in her life. It is a quite confusing situation in life.

Costume design is exquisite, the song "Moon River" is haunting as a reflection of fears, turmoil and friendship.

Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly / Lula Mae Barnes is an irresistible, irritating, bumbling and gentle woman with two names. She constantly flees away from itself. Holly is "the real fake" and "a wild thing" at the same time. Lula Mae is a person from whom Holly escapes. Ms. Hepburn is a beautiful and gentle actress, exceptional comedienne, who is an ideal choice for this role. George Peppard as Paul Varjak is often set aside as an observer. He was not the right choice for this role. George just can not follow a "twisting" step of the unreliable Holly. Mr. Edwards has tried to equalize their characters. They are unhappy, unfulfilled and they differ from some moral standards. Their relationship is based on an unconditional friendship. There is no a chemistry or love sparks. He has, in an elusive and unreliable girl, found an inspiration in his life. She has found a man who will, regardless of her excesses and lies, always be beside her and lend her a hand when she falls.

Their support are Patricia Neal (Mrs. Emily Eustace "2E" Failenson) as a cool rich woman with a beautiful smile and a magnetic gaze. Martin Balsam as O.J. Berman is very funny as a Hollywood agent. Mickey Rooney as I.Y. Yunioshi is an inappropriate and hackneyed cliché.

This is an odd collection of turbulent and false feelings, which is a comic and melodramatic at the same time, and even occasionally pleasant to watch.

An army of fans consider this Hepburn's signature role and in many ways it is, even if she overcame miscasting to portray it. Based on a rather biting novella by Truman Capote, he (somewhat surprisingly) wanted Marilyn Monroe to play the role. The casting of Hepburn couldn't be more different, yet she made it her own and in the process created an icon that is every bit as lasting as Marilyn's skirt-over-the-subway-grate or Bette Davis's off-the-shoulder, chain-smoking Margo Channing. She plays an offbeat, effortlessly sophisticated party girl in New York City who subsists on the favors of various rich men. Though her livelihood couldn't be more tasteless, somehow Hepburn's presence adds a sheen of innocence and sweetness to it. When blocked writer Peppard moves in upstairs ("kept" by married socialite Neal), the two find themselves developing a friendship which eventually begins to turn into love. But since they are both people who use their bodies to earn their keep and are heavily dependent on others, the chances of their relationship lasting are slim at best. To read the above synopsis, one would expect a gritty, vulgar film. However, in director Blake Edwards' hands and with Hepburn floating around in exquisite Givenchy gowns, the movie is a candy box of color, style, humor and romance.

Even when she's hungover or just getting home from an all-nighter (as in the famous opening scene), Hepburn strikes a graceful and glamorous figure. In fact, it's when she's trying to act disoriented or disheveled that her performance is at it's weakest. It's as if she was so inherently stylish that she had to try (too) hard to present anything else! She does a very fine job with the role, even if the character's past is nothing short of preposterous. Peppard comes off as blandly attractive, but wooden. His arrogance regarding his role (fiercely protecting the traditional leading man image) not only undercut his own performance, but also slighted that of Neal's who was diminished as a result. However, sentimental filmgoers probably prefer his more heroic approach and Neal would certainly recoup her losses, earning an Oscar a short time later for "Hud". The most controversial aspect of the film is Rooney's portrayal of an Asian man who lives above Hepburn and who is awakened at all hours by her lifestyle. Whether or not one is offended by the over-the-top stereotype of the buck teeth and slant eyes, the role is not funny anyway! It's all way too forced and obvious, with his pratfalls in sight long before they occur. (A lamp exists RIGHT over his bed for the express purpose of giving him something to hit his head on continuously. Move it, already!) There are many memorable moments in the film including a sequence of Hepburn and Peppard doing things they've never done before, Hepburn sitting on the fire escape plaintively singing the Oscar-winning song "Moon River" (which is used throughout the film by master composer Henry Mancini) and wacky party scene (a prelude to Edwards' "The Party"?) in which all sorts of outre things take place including the cry "Timber!" when a tipsy guest begins to collapse. There's a surprising frankness, for the time, regarding Peppard and Neal's relationship. It seems to be one of the earliest Hollywood films in which the leading man is implied to be nude under the covers in his bed. The film is not without its flaws. Some of the dialogue is annoyingly indulgent and the storyline is fairly patchy (with a tacked on ending.) Still, with the sparkling presence of Hepburn (in some mind-blowing hats and costumes) and the slick work of Edwards, it is easy entertainment.

A lot has been said about this film, so I won't repeat too much of it. I just thought the following points stood out for me as wonderful:

-The telephone Holly keeps in a suitcase so she won't hear it. Holly. Ahhhh... Holly. Like some kind of female opposite of James Bond (stick with me here), men all want her, women all want to be her. We need to see *more* eccentric women in leading roles, as opposed to the dull boring stodge of overpaid 'sex symbols' like Julia Roberts or Nicole Kidman who can be pretty or serious but never interesting.

-George Peppard in his finest role, and brilliant it is too. It's a real shock to my generation that has been more accustomed to seeing him tragically underused on trash like the A-Team. It made me want to see more of his early films, and wonder what happened in the intervening years (alcohol, apparently :-( ). An icon of male sensitivity, and there are few enough of them around too.

-That chap who sells them the telephone dialler in Tiffany's. A tiny role that achieves its aims perfectly and makes life seem better, which is what you want really.

Many have said Tiffany's is too saccharine and cheerful, but I think it actually hits the perfect balance of cynicism and sentiment. There are moments of intense depression (which people often forget) as well as hopeful optimism, and these two working together are what make the film so uplifting and memorable.