For those who don't get it


This is my post from 2014... you'll see how I begin disliking the film, but it slowly wins me over... perhaps those who hate it, don't make it past this point.

Okay, so I must confess... breakfast at tiffany's does win me over in the end, with fantastic character development, and unforgettable dialog. There's a few issues with the movie, but you gotta just try to forget them, because they're a distraction from a very beautiful movie that touches on the spirit of being innocent, but lost... afraid to live, truly... and what the cost of such a life... and if we both kinda like it well... that's one thing we've got.

Watching Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) for the very first time. Amazing how I know the music so intimately all of my life, that now watching the film it cracks me open like an eggshell, in a cascading waterfall of feeling.

What's with the fake Asian racism forced comedy relief of the landlord? I'm thinking that was a mistake.

20 minutes in and I'm not impressed. Nice décor, love Henry Mancini's theme, but I can't believe Truman Capote wrote this and must imagine the book is vastly different from the movie... the Japanese landlord is the director's disgrace... I am wondering if I will get through it... and am wondering why the film is considered a classic, probably because of Audrey Hepburn or some false sense of importance.

I often talk about movies where the music is vastly superior to the film, this seems to be one of those cases.

This movie made today could star Paris Hilton and be about the same movie. An entitled, thin model of a girl who gets more than she deserves and twice as much as she earns. I do love how the guy's name is OJ Berman.

When Audrey is playing Moonriver on the guitar, I am impressed she really was playing, you can tell by her fingering, it's correct, and wow she has crazy long fingers.

(Total BS this song is not included on the soundtrack or even on the single of Moon River with her face on the cover!)

I notice a lot of people that didn't like this movie at first, seem to "learn" to love it, they make excuses for it, saying it's enough to love it for Audrey's beauty and the music... well, I'm not judging the movie yet, I'm still watching it, but I tell you, If all a movie has is cosmetic, the look of the actress and the emotional manipulation of a beautiful musical score, well, you've fallen for it hook line and sinker, that's not quality film, that's being a pushover.

I love when she puts Paul's book on the mantle, as if it's so quaint up there... just another thing to look at, she'll never read it.

One thing I do agree with Audrey on, from the movie:

"You mustn't give your heart to a wild thing. The more you do the stronger they get, until they're strong enough to run into the woods or fly into a tree... and then into a higher tree... and then into the sky!"

"Do you think she's deeply and importantly talented?" Ha! Love that conversation about the stripper.

A sterling silver telephone dialer is all they can afford at Tiffany's... love it!

Talking to the clerk at Tiffany's about Cracker Jack's toys. That's currently my favorite scene.

I kind of like her sofa which is half a bath tub.

"She's a phony, but she's a real phony, you know what I mean?"

I believe I do.

Wow, if these lines don't break your heart, nothing will.

Paul Varjak: Holly, I’m in love with you.
Holly Golightly: So what?
Paul Varjak: So what? So plenty! I love you. You belong to me.
Holly Golightly: No. People don’t belong to people.
Paul Varjak: Of course they do.
Holly Golightly: I’m not going to let anyone put me in a cage.
Paul Varjak: I don’t want to put you in a cage. I want to love you.
Holly Golightly: It’s the same thing.
Paul Varjak: No it’s not. Holly…
Holly Golightly: I’m not Holly. I’m not Lula Mae, either. I don’t know who I am! I’m like cat here, a couple of no-name slobs. We belong to nobody and nobody belongs to us. We don’t even belong to each other.

Poor kitty in the rain.

You know what's wrong with you, Miss Whoever you are? You're chicken. You've got no guts. You're afraid to stick out your chin and say, "Okay, life's a fact. People do fall in love. People do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness."

“You call yourself a free spirit, a "wild thing," and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it's not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.”

Midway through, when they break away from the BS, and you start into the adventure of their friendship and her spirit, the movie really deepens quickly, and with fantastic writing, heart and meaning.

Unforgettable dialog that touches on the spirit of being innocent, but lost... afraid to live, truly... and what the cost of such a life.


www.jmberman.com
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[deleted]

Paris Hilton?!?!

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I turn off the film when Holly and Paul are in the cab to avoid the "cat scene." I know it is just a movie but in real life cats and dogs are turned out by their owners all the time with the delusion that they will survive. Not at all. A domestic indoor cat is not a "wild thing." A high percentage of pets in shelters actually belong to a families that are unaware that their pet is missing. Many are still kill shelters.

Frankly, Holly isn't a very nice person. I like that people come to New To to transform themselves but if it weren't for Paul, she wouldn't have become a nice person.

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Frankly, Holly isn't a very nice person. I like that people come to New To to transform themselves but if it weren't for Paul, she wouldn't have become a nice person.


I would not say that Holly is not a nice person. Rather, she is fragile—delicately poised, if you will—and temperamental, in addition to being eccentric and irreverent.

I know it is just a movie but in real life cats and dogs are turned out by their owners all the time with the delusion that they will survive. Not at all. A domestic indoor cat is not a "wild thing." A high percentage of pets in shelters actually belong to a families that are unaware that their pet is missing. Many are still kill shelters.


Well, the point, of course, is that she ultimately recovers the cat—it is the convention of a romantic comedy.

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Paul recovered the cat. Holly caught up to them both.

"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne

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Sorry, I just finished rewatching the film and no, Holly is the one who recovered Cat. Paul just tried looking for the poor thing first. But it was Holly who ultimately found him after catching up with Paul :)

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