eros the bittersweet

audrey hepburn

To kill time and boredom (no, actually let me use a more ‘apt’ term – it would be ‘to slaughter’) the last couple of days, I saw as many movies of Audrey Hepburn as I could. I think about a month back, I stumbled upon a fake (for the nth time) DVD of most of the movies that Audrey did. As you would imagine – yes, I am talking about those 24-in-1 DVDs. Ahahaah.

Seeing her movies again made me remember spending my Sunday afternoons with my dad as a kid. My dad was a huge cinephile and we had a whole lot of fun watching old, classic movies – some of which were: Marjorie Morningstar, An affair to Remember, Casablanca, Dial M for Murder, From Here to Eternity - and of course – Ms. Hepburn’s films. I remember my aunt sending us VHS cassettes from the States so we could watch all these nice movies – back then we did not have cable TV – whether paid for or illegally connected ahahaha.

I saw Love in the Afternoon, where Audrey was paired with Gary Cooper – an enchanting little story about a reserved, quiet lady falling for a rich, debonair womanizer. Audrey is Ariane Chavasse, the daughter of a private eye whose past time is playing cello and rummaging through her dad’s files. She discovers that a man, Frank Flannagan (Gary Cooper’s character) is about to be shot by one of her father’s disgruntled clients – so she rescues him, pretending to be his paramour and eventually falling in love with him.



My Fair Lady is a lovely musical filmed in 1964, the inspiration for this film is George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. Audrey plays a character somewhat different from her personality – Eliza Doolittle is a loudmouth Cockney flower girl whose shrilling blabber annoys just about everyone – except for Rex Harrison’s Professor Higgins - who passionately teaches Eliza to properly say ‘The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain’ and gives her a makeover that sure will make all men swoon.


When I woke up Tuesday morning, I watched Two for the Road, a movie directed by Stanley Donen – a non-linear and creative movie about a couple going through a mid-life crisis. Audrey and Albert Finney play Joanna and Mark Wallace. There were rumors that Audrey and her co-star had an affair during filming. During this time, Audrey’s marriage to fellow actor Mel Ferrer was already on the rocks. Two for the Road remind me so much of ‘The Story of Us’ (with Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer) – it shows different eras of the couple’s relationship – and how love and patience and understanding truly can revive that which they think has died and waned - and the fact that marriage is not just about loving the person for what he/she is but for what he/she will become.




Last but not the least, I saw Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It is my favorite, among all of Audrey’s movies. The story is quirky, Holly Golightly definitely is a force to reckon with – born as Lula Mae Barnes, she escaped the laid-back life in Texas and went to New York where she transformed herself into a smart, stylish socialite. Holly became an iconic character in American Cinema, but in one of her interviews, Audrey confessed that the role was the ‘jazziest of her career,’ and since she’s an introvert, she mentioned that playing an extrovert character was the hardest thing she ever did. Her chemistry with actor George Peppard was unquestionable. He was terrific as Holly’s ‘Fred’ and pseudo boytoy and writer Paul Varjak (V-A-R-J-A-K). The story is based on Truman Capote’s novel of the same title – only that in the book, Holly is really a – how should I put this – a whore. I suppose they tried to ‘reduce’ her character to someone who actually goes out with men but does it stylishly – as Audrey by then is already revered as a darling in Hollywood. In the movie, Audrey wore clothes that she and Hubert de Givenchy designed – the two would develop a lasting partnership and friendship and Audrey was often the muse for many of his designs.


I have been an Audrey Hepburn fan since I was in grade school – I remember buying a poster of hers (a picture taken shortly after she filmed Roman Holiday) and opening an email account called tiffany’sbreakfast@mailcity.com. To this day, she continues to be a wonderful inspiration – not only because of gamine and elfin appearance or for her widely acknowledged sense of chic but also for her humanitarian efforts and for leaving this generation with endearing and enduring classic films.



this was her photo on the poster i bought eons ago


Born Audrey Kathleen Ruston (May 4, 1929) in Belgium, she’s the only child of Briton Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston and Dutch baroness Ella van Heemstra. She was a proficient ballerina and also had a successful career as a thespian. In January 20, 1993, she succumbed to cancer, died and was interred in Vaud, Switzerland. She has often been called one of the most beautiful women of all time – and in my humble opinion – is the number one Hollywood fashion icon – unequaled, unparalleled, unrivaled.

0 comments:

 

anais nin

and the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

t.s. eliot

i should have been a pair of ragged claws.

frida kahlo

i hope the exit is joyful and i hope never to return.