Review of Breakfast at Tiffany`s

Introduction

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a thoroughly charming film based on a Truman Capote`s story. Audrey Hepburn is Holly Golightly, a small-town girl turned New York sophisticate. George Peppard plays Holly’s upstairs neighbour Paul, who, after being bemused by Holly’s innocence and manic personality, falls in love with her. The movie is faithful in tone to Capote’s novella for most of its length, faltering only at the end to give us the obligatory Hollywood happy ending.

Video

If you excuse some film grain (which is really only to be expected with a forty year old film), the video transfer is fine. The film has been given a 16:9 anamorphic transfer and it does the film justice. The image is clear and colours are rich and warm. The New York of the early 60s is beautifully captured.

Audio

Given that this is a forty-year-old film, the soundtrack is, unexpectedly, a DD 5.1 remix. All this means is that Henri Mancini’s glorious score is given more room to breathe with (mostly) the string section being moved to the rear. Nice but not essential. Otherwise the sound is as good as you could possibly expect from the source; crisp and clear.

Mancini’s score and the featured song, “Moon River” are gorgeous and capture the feel of the film perfectly.

Features

Other than the trailer and copious language subtitle options, none.

Conclusion

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a lovely film which, with a few exceptions, has aged exceptionally well. The exceptions are the constant smoking of the leads (would be unusual to see in a film today) and Mickey Rooney’s turn as a Japanese photographer. This might (possibly) have been funny 40 years ago, but is so cliched and stereotypical that it becomes offensive rather than humorous.

Otherwise it works beautifully. Speaking of beautiful, Hepburn is truly gorgeous, fey, winsome and utterly beguiling. She got an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Holly. Peppard is perfect as the disillusioned writer upstairs who, while being kept by an older woman, starts to fall in love with Holly.

The supporting players Patricia Neal and especially Buddy Ebsen give excellent performances, light but with just the right amount of pathos.

The comedy is mostly subtle and observational (unusual for director Blake Edwards who went on to the slapstick Pink Panther series) and never fails to provoke a smile.

The package is rounded of by a beautiful Henri Mancini score, which is a constant pleasure and is enhanced on this DVD by a 5.1 remix.

At the time the main criticism of the film was the ending which is much more upbeat than the Capote ending. I think it works. Everybody needs a happy ending.

Highly recommended.