Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961): What The Heroine Audrey Hepburn Really Wanted?
Breakfast at Tiffany’s: Plot Of The Film, Meaning Of The Title & Ending, Similar Films
Country: USA
Genre: drama, melodrama, comedy
Year of production: 1961
Director: Blake Edwards
Actors: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal
tagline: “The fairest Lady Audrey Hepburn in one of her most luxurious hits”
Awards and nominations: In 1962, the film received a Golden Globe nomination and several Oscar nominations.
The plot and meaning of the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” revolves around a simple thought: it’s hard to sell yourself, trying to buy others is stupid, and arranging a personal life based on market relations is very difficult even for very gifted people in a very prosperous country.
Summary
Brief summary of the film. Once upon a time there was a girl Holly and her nameless cat. And the girl had a little tradition: every morning she had breakfast at Tiffany & Co – in the most fashionable establishment. There visitors were treated to the sweetest dreams, there the most dazzling society of New York gathered – society of high class and the level of cut …
Gorgeous Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly. Frame from the film.
To Holly, Tiffany’s was the most wonderful place in the world. Here it was easy to do nothing – just walk around and watch, dreaming that the future groom from the list of “America’s richest men under 50” would buy her one of the top-notch shiny trinkets.
Beautiful and daring Holly enjoys driving wealthy men crazy. After receiving $ 50 for a hairdresser from a fan, in return she makes lengthy promises, which, of course, mean nothing.
Every day was Holly’s last. She liked to be forever desired and forever unattainable, like a black cat in a black satin dress who walks by herself.
This is exactly what Paul Varjak saw Holly one sunny morning. He’s a scribbled second rate novelist. A few years ago, he released a collection of nine short stories. Now he lives in the care of his decorator and continues to dream of a writing career.
He is handsome with a dazzling smile. His typewriter ran out of tape a long time ago, and his sponsor is a woman. The only thing Paul is capable of is wearing expensive suits, tasting quality alcohol and smiling…
Frame from the film.
On the day of his arrival in New York, Paul helped Holly find the missing shoe. In the process of searching, he fell in love with her. Imagine his surprise when, late in the evening, Holly climbed into his window and, with her usual spontaneity, called him Fred. Holly seems to have fallen in love too. The point is small – to prioritize. This is where it all starts…
The film was based on the book of the same name by Truman Capote. The director significantly changed the very history and character of the heroine: Truman Capote Holly is a typical gold digger. In the film, “not everything is so clear.”
The meaning of the name
Why is the movie called “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”? The meaning of the name is quite simple. We all always strive to go where we will be comfortable, where we will feel at home. Holly loves Tiffany so much because she is Tiffany. She is not looking for love – she is looking for money and entertainment. Taking money from her wealthy “clients”, in return she gives them her beauty.
Sometimes it can help an ordinary person who has no more than ten dollars in his pocket. Of course, for that kind of money, he cannot get all the splendor that wealthy gentlemen get … “Tiffany” will not give up her most expensive treasures to an ordinary person, and Holly will not give up her love. But if the jewelry store has no choice, then the person has one. People can belong to each other, but not for money.
The meaning of the film
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the story of a girl for sale, a girl who was afraid to sell herself cheap. Most often, she meets male “rats” trying to buy her cheap. However, there are others – those with whom relations are not built on a market basis …
“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is a rather unpretentious story. In his work, Capote probably tried to reveal the contrasting contradiction between the modern, purely external, chaotic, commodity-market life of New York and the well-structured, familial and firm lifestyle of the eternally conservative Texas.
George Peppard played the role of Paul Warjak. Frame from the film.
He paid much attention to the problem of social relations in the “Capital of the World” – relations that are easily converted into currency. And only love, according to the author, is the only measure of everything.
On the one hand, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is a rather banal story with a very clear idea, and without any hidden meaning. The plot of the film is simple, not involving serious analysis and search for interpretations.
But, on the other hand, it is truly a cosmogonic canvas, with deep penetration into the very core of female nature and female love.
The film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” reveals to us two complex characters and shows an unbanal love story through the prism of each character’s personal problems and complexes.
In the center of the plot is the wandering of two restless souls, served under the sauce of witty situations and dialogues. Part of the meaning of the film can be understood if you pay attention to the situation with the names. Holly is a mask. The girl’s name is different – Lola-May, and the double name symbolizes the duality of her personality. He also has a “double” name (Paul-Fred). He, too, is looking for himself, seeking to tie up with the position of a paid lover and engage in honest writing.
Nameless cat. Full resident of the house. It’s just a cat. Holly does not call him in any way, because “she has no right to give him a name, because they do not belong to each other.” She partly identifies with him and appreciates his independence in him. The cat, as it were, emphasizes with its existence her state of “loneliness in the crowd” – after all, he was as homeless and wild as she once was.
Frame from the film.
Paul and Holly are interested in each other. In her eyes, he was not a “rat”, but became a friend. Holly became his inspiration. She awakened in him the desire to stop being selfish and start living for someone else but himself.
Realizing this, he decisively broke with his former life. And as a token of gratitude, he told Holly that people want to belong to each other. Because that’s the only way they can find happiness. The point is that Paul helped her get away from the eternal run from herself.
Holly wanted everything at once. But at the very bottom of her soul lay the desire to get something of her own. My man. Your apartment. Your cat…
In the course of the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” Holly quite dramatically breaks up with the cat. The finale does not give us an idea of who Holly Golightly became or was, but somehow it became clear that the heroine found the very place “where it is so quiet and solemn, where nothing bad will happen to her.”
When she realized this, in the pouring rain she rushed to look for her abandoned cat, because now she could give him a name …
The explanation of the ending is the most banal: the cat will definitely be found, and love will triumph.
Frame from the film.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a light (but not lightweight) movie. This is a melodrama with elements of drama, and a mini-musical, and a situational comedy, and even a tragedy.
Its meaning is that two losers with a baggage of unresolved personal problems, having met and fell in love with each other, suddenly became happy. Holly realized that she could only become truly free if she gave her heart to someone who was trustworthy.
Paul realized that responsibility for a loved one can give strength to go forward and create. It so happened that these two imperfect people are an almost perfect couple …
Similar films
Here are some movies similar to Breakfast at Tiffany’s:
- “Prince from New York” (1992, USA). The main character is a modern Cinderella. Once, dreaming about how she would marry a rich New Yorker, she rammed another car with her car;
- “From 5 to 7. Lovers Time” (2014. USA). In the center of the plot is a dizzying romance between a young writer and the wife of a French diplomat;
- “Angie” (1994, USA). The main character is pregnant and preparing for the wedding. Suddenly, she realizes that she doesn’t want to get married and takes on a bold challenge to both society and herself.
