"Breakfast At Tiffany's" (1961)

Rating: 12

Genre: Classics, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Directed By: Blake Edwards

Written By: George Axelrod

Released: October 5^th, 1961

Runtime: 115 minutes

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Summary:

Holly Golightly (played by Audrey Hepburn), is a pretty and amiable socialite with slightly fanciful ideas. She has such a flippant lifestyle that she won't even give her cat a name believing it would be too much of a commitment to a relationship. She soon becomes friends with a new neighbour in her apartment building, Paul Varjak (played by George Peppard), a struggling writer. He is in intrigued by her prettiness and quirky mannerisms: in public she is confident and sophisticated, attending many parties in designer clothes, but alone, she adopts a very childlike and vulnerable air. The film was directed by Blake Edwards, with the screenplay written by George Axelrod based on Truman Capote's book of the same name.

Review:

I've been meaning to see this film for a while. Now that I have...I'm not actually sure what to say to it! It's really good, don't get me wrong...but...Well, I don't know what I was expecting! In certain ways I found it the tiniest bit bizarre...if that's the right word. There's a huge innocence to Holly's character, she's very airy-fairy, and not really with it much at all. She appears to simply meander or even float through life on her looks and huge zest for life. Audrey Hepburn is fantastic playing such a role. Really amazing. She was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

There's a real innocence about the movie as a whole actually. It possess the same qualities as any other 60s movie: similar kind of dialogue and manner of delivering such dialogue, as well as the fade-in/fade-out transitions. You don't find them so much in more modern movies I've found. But I found them really noticeable in this movie.

There are some funny moments. Mr Yunioshi for one is a funny character. He reminded me of a more highly-strung version of Mr Heckles on the TV show Friends in the way he's constantly perturbed by disturbances from other residents in the building. I loved the cat too! She's so cute! There are moments where you just can't but smile.

The film received an academy award for Best Original Music Score for the song "Moon River" by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer. The song was tailored to Audrey Hepburn's limited vocal range, based on songs she had performed in 1957's "Funny Face".  I think the song represents Holly's character perfectly. The words, the tone...if her character was a song then this would be it. It's a lovely song.

I love the fashion in the film too. Especially her sunglasses, which are considered a very iconic feature of the film. Another image in the movie of Holly with her hair in a high chignon and carrying an oversized cigarette holder is also considered one of the most iconic images of 20th century American cinema.

I like this film a lot. It's one of the classics and definitely worth a watch!

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