Today’s quick review: Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) is a young socialite living in New York. Her party lifestyle is funded by gifts from her many suitors, with just enough money left over to pay the rent. When Paul Varjak (George Peppard), an aspiring writer living off the largess of a wealthy female patron, moves into the apartment upstairs, the two strike up an unusual friendship.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a romance about a pair of New Yorkers living off the generosity of others. Holly leads a social, superficial life that keeps her balanced on the edge of solvency, while Paul has put his writing career on hold for the sake of his lover and benefactor. Neither one is fulfilled, but their budding friendship offers them something they are missing in their individual lives.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is more of a character study than a proper story. Audrey Hepburn delivers an iconic performance as Holly Golightly, a desperate country girl turned urban social climber. Her goal in life is to land a wealthy bachelor to support her expensive habits, but in the meantime she is content to take gifts from the men in her social circle. Graceful, crafty, innocent, and impulsive, she is at once admired and pitied by her friends.
Paul enters the scene as one of the few people capable of helping Holly and one of the few who care enough to try. Level-headed and responsible, Paul sees clearly the trap Holly has landed herself in: friends who will not help her and a lifestyle she cannot sustain. Their interactions also show Paul what he has sacrificed by giving up on his own ambitions. But Holly’s skewed priorities and self-destructive tendencies may be beyond even Paul’s help.
Watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s when you are in the mood for a light romance that touches on themes of desperation and self-reliance. The movie offers little in the way of plot, but its two great characters are enough to make it an enjoyable and memorable watch. Skip it if you are looking for a pure comedy, romance, or drama, as it only dabbles in each of these genres.
7.7 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.5 for great characters and interesting themes.