Monday, March 24, 2014

Breakfast at Tiffany's - Movie Review

Based on Truman Capote's novella - isn't it amazing how many hit films are based on novels - I have been wanting to watch this 1961 classic for a long time. It's the story of Holly Golightly "a real phoney" in the words of her benevolent Hollywood agent friend, and her pursuit of riches by climbing the social ladder, and her love story with an equally clueless writer, living off his rich girlfriend. The movie is enhanced a thouand times by Audrey Hepburn's portrayal of the role. Else it would have been just another story.

Holly (Audrey Hepburn) meets Paul Varjak (George Peppard) a new neighbour. He learns of Holly's ambitions to scale the social ladder and secure her life, and she of how he has secured his life as a struggling writer by hitching on to a rich lady friend. The perpetually broke Holly talks of how she is never able to save, lives off dressing room tips that rich boyfriends - the rats and super-rats as she calls them - give her and the 100 buck tip she gets for visiting notorious gangster Sally Tomato in jail. Paul is drawn to the girl-woman who lives on the edge, in her pursuit for riches and comfort. Couple of twists later and the inevitable stop by the cops to question her about Sally Tomato finds us leading to a dramatic ending when all's well - without rich financiers as lovers and prospective wives and husbands.

Audrey Hepburn is brilliant as Holly Golightly and she holds the movie together with her capricious, naive and flamboyant performance. Apparently Capote wrote the story with Marilyn Monroe in mind and felt let down when they made the movie with Audrey Hepburn. George Peppard and the rest kind of fit in through the Japanese character jarred a bit. The title, I don't know what it was about except that Holly goes to Tiffany's the jewellery store whenever she wants to feel good and uplifted about life. Perhaps the first shot explains it, when she gets off a cab and stares into the windows of Tiffany's munching on a pastry and drinking coffee before she goes home to bed. Breakfast at Tiffany's.

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