Breakfast At Tiffany’s Review Blu-ray Review

• 19th Aug 2011

Has it really be fifty years since Holly Golightly asked the much sampled question, ‘How do I look?’ and seduced audiences with her effortless grace and iconic style?  Yes it has it seems, and to celebrate this anniversary Paramount are releasing the Blu-ray edition of Breakfast at Tiffany’s complete with a brand spanking new special feature. 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s is an adaptation of Truman Capote’s novella of the same name directed by Blake Edwards.  Audrey Hepburn plays socialite (*cough*, call girl, *cough*) Holly Golightly in 1960s New York.

The film opens with an immaculately dressed Holly emerging from a taxi and aimlessly walking down an eerily deserted Fifth Avenue to the heart breaking tune of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer‘s Moon River. The scene sets up the aimless and ultimately lonely nature of Holly’s existence, wandering to and from the ‘rats and super rats’ who are happy to ‘fork out $50 for the powder room’. She meets struggling writer Paul Varjak (George Peppard) and the pair immediately form a bond.  The relationship between them has a childlike innocence but Holly isn’t quite prepared to say goodbye to her playgirl lifestyle and desire to bag a millionaire. Paul himself is not adverse to accepting cash for company but soon falls in love with Holly and turns his back on his wealthy sponsor.

The Blu-ray film looks gorgeous for the most part but the occasional scene looks somewhat waxy. The main issue with this release, however, is that lack of new features, the only feature not already included on previously released editions is the fantastically titled A Golightly Gathering, a cross between a cast and crew reunion and a chance for film historians and writers to discuss the famous cocktail scene.  Here we get the lowdown on of the beautifully choreographed debauchery taking place at one of Holly’s parties.  If you need reminding, in this sequence director Blake Edwards along with choreographer Miriam Nelson play a blinder guiding the drunken guests (not to mention cat) from ever escalating ridiculous situations, from Holly setting fire to a guest’s hat with her impossibly long cigarette holder to a hysterical party guest laughing/crying in the mirror (we’ve all been there, right?).  Forget Mr Yunioshi’s (Mickey Rooney) slapstick scenes, the real humour and charm of this film come from Hepburn’s innocence and Edwards’ ability to capture the tragedy and comedy of a character simultaneously.

That said, there is no point skirting around Rooney’s portrayal of Holly’s Japanese perma-irate landlord Mr Yunioshi: It is bad, it is real bad. There may be a gap of over forty years between Richard Barthelmess portrayal of Cheng Huan in D.W. Griffith’s Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl and Mr Yunioshi but modern day reactions to both aren’t a million miles apart. Although it is tempting to consider Breakfast at Tiffany’s as a timeless classic Rooney’s portrayal drags us back into an archaic era and jars the flow of the film. Paramount addressed this with their 2009 release by including an interesting documentary short, Mr Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective (also included on this release), exploring portrayal of Asian characters in Hollywood film. Ultimately it serves to remind us that although the character is regrettable (producer Richard Shepherd‘s commentary certainly attests to this), it is a positive reminder of how audience perceptions have changed and no modern day self-respecting movie maker would dream of going down the Rooney/Mr Yunioshi route.

Even those who have never seen Breakfast at Tiffany’s will be familiar with the iconic imagery of the film, and although Peppard is excellent as the struggling writer it really is Hepburn’s vehicle. Perhaps one of the most touching scenes is Hepburn’s rendition of Moon River; here away from her glamorous outfits and big hair we see her put aside her ‘phony’ character. Dressed in casual clothes she allows both the audience and Paul access to an inner sadness masked throughout the film by an alter ego dressed in Givenchy.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is at once a comedy, a tragedy and romance film; whether in Blu-ray or standard definition you cannot help but be amazed by Hepburn’s beauty and star quality; the Blu-ray upgrade is great, and if you do not already own the 2005 anniversary edition or the later 2009 release I would certainly recommend this; unfortunately if you are already in possession of either of these you will need to weigh up how much you crave to see Hepburn in all her hi-def glory and the limited (new) special features.

So returning to Holly’s question: ‘How do I look?’ Very good, I must say; I’m (somewhat) amazed.

Laura M Hughes