Breakfast at Tiffany's: Falling in love with a beautiful and confused socialite – Audrey Hepburn

Most people do not find themselves in a face-to-face circumstance with a mentally unstable person. To come across a neurotic person is more common and produces unexpected situations, but this too is rare. So falling in love with a neurotic person must of course be quite a rare instance, and such is the story of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a 1961 film which was directed by Blake Edwards and stars Audrey Hepburn as the protagonist in one of her most successful roles.

Paul Varjak is a writer who has stumbled upon a block for the past five years. His last published work was a book of nine short stories and he hasn’t had any luck with his writing ever since. But all that is going to change as he moves into a building with Holly Golightly for a neighbour. Holly is a young socialite who spends most of her days sleeping and nights out at parties with her high society friends. As the two form a bond of friendship, Paul soon realises that Holly puts on a completely different persona as a socialite, that of a confident young lady, and is completely different when it is just the two of them as she is a vulnerable, sensitive woman. Every interaction between Paul and Holly ends differently and Paul comes to terms with the fact that Holly is a confused and neurotic person he is falling in love with.

The film perfectly portrays the feminine beauty of Audrey Hepburn. From her style and manner of speaking to her dressing sense and confidence, the films hits the hammer on the nail when it comes to bringing her best foot forward. She has also put in a stellar performance as a neurotic, undecided individual while showing off her beauty which is absolutely mesmerising. The supporting role by George Peppard shows a patient man who enjoys being a voyeur most of the time while only playing a part in proceedings when they concern him. There is, however, a terrible portrayal of a Japanese character speaking broken English and stumbling like a fool all at the expense of igniting a flame and adding fuel to a fire of a stereotype for the sake of comedy.

The film’s execution has quite a few striking positive points. In the scene where Holly is informed of the death of her brother, she lays havoc to her bedroom and an overhead shot shows the mess in the bedroom which is a perfect symbol for the mess in Holly’s life. The low angle, almost-360 degree pan shot which captures Holly and Paul discussing her future in Brazil is well filmed. There is also meaning in the lack of naming of Holly’s cat which can be seen as Holly’s lack of having a proper identity for herself and thus failing to provide one for her pet. Holly’s adopted family name of Golightly can be seen as a tongue-in-cheek representative of her lifestyle as well.

The film shows Audrey Hepburn in a great light. Her performance of the song Moon River in this film is also quite special. The film’s biggest negative point is its racial stereotyping of a Japanese character which was played by a non-ethnic person. However, the film is like an old grandmother; although it is wrong, it is easily forgiven with the understanding of it being done in a different zeitgeist without any malice, and you can love them in spite of it.