I can't believe it's taken me this long to see Breakfast at Tiffany's. Sometimes you find that when you finally see one of cinema's classics, your expectations exceed the movie, but not this one.
Although it's essentially a light and frothy rom-com confection (and pretty much became the template for hundreds that followed it), it's delivered with such panache and aplomb, it's hard not to love.
Loosely derived from a novella by Truman Capote, it's the story of the slightly eccentric and vulnerable socialite, Holly Golightly, who breakfasts to 'bet the reds' outside Tiffany's jewellery store, owns a cat with no name, and earns $100 a week to visit an ex-mobster at Sing Sing prsion. When a young writer, Paul Varjak (a scarily young George Peppard) moves into the same apartment building, he falls under Holly's spell.
It's a perfect piece of cinema, a lushly produced time capsule to a slice of American that never existed outside of the cinema. It manages to walk the thin line between Hollywood saccharine and Capote cynicism and leave you with a wistful, warm glow that cinema just doesn't do anymore (or not often, at least).
It's hard to pinpoint just where 'the magic' of Breakfast at Tiffany's resides. Certainly in the glowing cinematography of Franz F. Planer, and in the light comedic touch that director Blake Edwards would also later bring to the Pink Panther movies. But of course, it's also in the iconic Audrey Hepburn, a stunningly beautiful woman who simply glows in every frame of this movie. There's none of the implied eroticism of Louise Brooks or the man-eating sexuality of Ava Gardner; Hepburn's allure is harder to define: elegant and vulnerable, quirky and bittersweet all at the same time. Despite the almost inescapable images that this film conjures, one has to see her in action to see the allure, the spell she could cast.
One of those movies that if you could, you would happily live inside for the rest of your life. Ah, the magic of Hollywood!
2 comments:
Just ordered La Antena and Breakfast at Tiffany's (£2.99 for the spec ed!) from Play. Although, gawd knows when I'll get chance to watch em, with the way things are at moment. Seen BaT a few times before, and always meant to pick it up. Watched My Fair Lady over Xmas, which is also worth a look, as Hepburn is charming as hell in that too. Much better than Pretty Woman!!!
I can't believe it took me this long to see Breakfast at Tiffany's, but it's definitely made me a Hepburn fan. Luckily most of her films are pretty cheap on amazon, so I may be picking a few up. The one I got with Tiffany's on also has Sabrina and Funny Face on it. Watched Sabrina last night and it's just a classic Billy Wilder comedy.
And La Antena you'll love when you get round to it.
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