What is the point of this movie?
I kept waiting for the plot, but I never got it.
shareWhat is the point of this movie?
Truman Capote asked the same question when he saw the film. share
...and now he's dead!
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MovieChat Forums > Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) Discussion > What is the point of this movie?
What is the point to any movie? We all make our own points to art, literature, music, and film. The point of Breakfast At Tiffany's is Holly is this terrible, unhappy person whose only chance for a happy life is with this man who will help her find her way. It's a love story and a story about overcoming lifes cruel truths if you ask me. I realized this pretty quickly, so the rest of the movie had a point. If you asked Capote, he might've said I don't know or your guess is as good as mine. If you ask a writer what's the point they'd all say the same.
shareAs far as I can tell, the point is that Audrey Hepburn was a very cute and famous actress, and this was a chance for her to be filmed.
There is no other possible explanation for this movie.
As far as I can tell, the point is that Audrey Hepburn was a very cute and famous actress, and this was a chance for her to be filmed.
There is no other possible explanation for this movie.
Wow, well-said. So true. Just like so many "brilliant" flash in the pan starlets who came and went after her. share
Just like so many "brilliant" flash in the pan starlets who came and went after her.
You are calling Audrey Hepburn a "flash in the pan starlet?" She was in many major films from the early 1950s until 1989 ~~ and from the '50s through the '60s she was in many highly-rated movies ~ her best films ~ and was consistently highly regarded as a fine actress.
For those of us gals who were kids/then young teens in the '50s and young college/then career women in the '60s, she was one of the top role models for those of us who were thin and brunette!
She was always classy ~~ right up there with Jackie Kennedy ~~ during that time! share
"She was always classy ~~ right up there with Jackie Kennedy"
Audrey Hepburn was far above that gold-digging, drugged bimbo Jackie Kennedy. Hepburn had talent and a brain.
hilaryjrp, "flash in the pan"? what are you, ignorant?--Audrey Hepburn was voted the third greatest actress of all time--you must be living in a cave
sharePlease let's not cite that daft list by the AFI elitist. The same daft list had her and Monroe above frigging Ingrid Bergman; James Dean above Keaton and Poiter; Fred Astair above Gable & Tracey with actors/actresses like Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Deborah Kerr, Monty Clift, Jack Lemmon, and Paul Newman nowhere to be seen.
One day in the year of the fox came a time remembered well...
I agree about Hepburn - both- and Monroe.
shareThe point was that Holly--a very shallow, materialistic, immature woman--finally grew up and chose a stable relationship over a childish gold digger fantasy.
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Emojis=💩 Emoticons=
atomicgirl24-894-130281 says > The point was that Holly--a very shallow, materialistic, immature woman--finally grew up and chose a stable relationship over a childish gold digger fantasy.I'm not one of those who believes the movie has no point. I think there is a point but I don't agree with your assessment. I agree that Holly was shallow, materialistic, and immature but, at the end of the movie I wondered how much she had actually grown. She was in big trouble with the law, her rich husband prospect had jilted her, and she was feeling desperate and alone. That's not exactly growth; it's circumstance.
In my opinion, for Holly, latching on to Paul is par for the course. When she was young, hungry, and had no place to go, she latched on to Doc; her rescuer. She stayed with him for as long as he was useful then she ditched him, moved to New York, and reinvented herself.
When she realized she wasn't getting anywhere financially; her money making schemes weren't enough, she decided to hook a rich man. First it was Rusty. She described him as an unattractive pig yet she'd do and say whatever was necessary to get him to marry her. When that fell through she immediately moved on to José. As we see, she started the transformation; learning all about South America and how to speak Portuguese.
Paul, as I see it, is simply another stepping stone on Holly's path to nowhere. He wants to rescue her and she needs him at the moment so he'll do... for now, but how long will that last? Is she in love with him? She claimed to love Doc too; a lot of good that did him.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate] share
I think it all comes down to whether you see whether you see Holly as a naive childlike dreamer too easily taken advantage of and needing a man's protection, like most of her admirers do, or a conniving grifting con artist the way most of us see her as.
I can't buy for one second she didn't know why Tomato was paying her for her conversation. Or believed her Brazilian millionaire was going to marry her. I think Holly was exploiting her looks while she still could, feathering a nest for herself and her baby brother.
I think everyone agrees with me. When she had her brother to worry about she couldn't cut all ties to her former life. So in the end, the easiest thing for Holly to do would be to hop on a plane to another country, play the innocent little waif and look for another rich sugardaddy.
By choosing Paul she knows she'll have to pay the piper, maybe even facing prison. But she did so because she knows he will stay with her through it, and a guy who will stand by her without exploiting her is the one thing she's never had.
If this movie had been directed by Billy Wilder--who would have taken a more realistic and cynical approach to the story--I would agree with you 100% that Holly hadn't grown at all. Wilder is the only director at the time who would've had the balls to play out Holly in this way and been able to get away with it.
The thing is, though, is that it was directed by Blake Edwards, who more or less played it safe throughout his career with these very upbeat, sentimental endings. Look at Micki and Maude, where Dudley Moore's character knocks up two women and gets to live happily ever after when they find out. So that's why I believe that this is what the movie was about, about Holly finally "growing up" and choosing love over materialism.
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IMDB, flagging ppl for bull💩 since 1995.
atomicgirl24-894-130281 says > So that's why I believe that this is what the movie was about, about Holly finally "growing up" and choosing love over materialism.You're entitled to your opinion; just as I am to mine. I don't even doubt that you're right about how Edwards wanted us to feel at the end of the movie but that doesn't change my opinion.
It may be a 'happy ending' but that's only because we leave them during the early, happier stages of the relationship. Based on past history, we know what's coming next. She's been there before; she has a history of making poor choices in men and in life choices. Now she's done it again. I don't see what's changed.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate] share
Is this a joke? Can't possibly be that obtuse.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
The movie is beautifully shot and is a nice love story about a cat with no name and how he became a big part of two peoples lives.
Often represented as a misquotation by Ronald Reagan of the words of John Adams (second President of the United States), defending soldiers in the ‘Boston Massacre’ trials in March 1770. In the course of his speech, he uttered the words:
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the states of facts and evidence.
In his address to the 1988 Republican National Convention, Ronald Reagan introduced a section of his speech with the words:
Before we came to Washington, Americans had just suffered the two worst back-to-back years of inflation in 60 years. Those are the facts, and as John Adams said, ‘Facts are stubborn things.’
This paragraph, and the following four paragraphs, finished with Adams’s words. However, at the end of the third paragraph, Reagan made a verbal slip, which he immediately corrected. A transcript of the speech reads,
'Facts are stupid things – stubborn things, should I say. [Laughter].’
However, despite its origin as a slip of the tongue, ‘Facts are stupid things’ has taken on a life of its own in the world of quotations.
From Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.
- See more at: http://oupacademic.tumblr.com/post/60397790031/misquotation-facts-are-stupid-things#.dpuf
There are a lot of repeated references in the movie. The cat and Varjak's book (Nine Lives). The friend motif - Holly tells Varjak they are friends when she slides into his bed, Varjak's new book is entitled My Friend, Doc says he needs a friend.
I think it's a movie about friendship. Holiday never had a reciprocal friendship, except, maybe, the one with Fred, her brother.
Cats can be good friends, if you find the right one; people even better.
The point was a girl who wouldn't let anybody love her. She pushed people away & was dooming herself to a terrible, lonely future. Until she finally wised up at the end. Ever hear the song Desperado by the Eagles: You better let somebody love you before it's too late.
shareThe point was a girl who wouldn't let anybody love her. She pushed people away & was dooming herself to a terrible, lonely future. Until she finally wised up at the end. Ever hear the song Desperado by the Eagles: You better let somebody love you before it's too late.
Agree, but it was about the man Paul as well. He didn't believe in himself, and learned to be independent, taking care of Holly..he and Holly are two sides of the same coin, prostituting themselves needlessly. They find what they need in each other. Sure it's romantic, but a well done film. share
You're right. It was Paul's movie too.
shareThe movie is about all these things..but it is also about a song..and the mood of that song. That song IS the movie, pretty much from start(instrumental) to finish( with a chorus singing the words).
And the song plays very sadly when Doc is "thrown away" and has to ride that lonely bus back to Hicksville.