Happy New Year everyone. It’s the first weekend of 2014 and a fresh layer of snow here has covered the ground, all pretty and white. It’s been a busy week since we arrived back after Christmas holidays spent in California (hooray was that nice!).
This past week, I whipped through my first book of 2014, which was a biography/memoir my father got me for Christmas of Audrey Hepburn written by her son. My dad also gave me some of her films on DVD, which I’d never seen. We watched “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” from 1961 and Audrey seemed to light up the screen.
Although the American Film Institute ranks Audrey as the third greatest screen legend in the history of cinema, I guess I didn’t know much about her. But the 2003 book her son wrote “Audrey Hepburn, an Elegant Spirit” is quite a moving remembrance of the actress. It takes readers through her childhood living under the Nazi occupation in the Netherlands, and the absence of her father, to her storied acting career, her hiatus from film to be a mother, and later her total devotion to helping children refugees as a UNICEF ambassador.
You get a sense from the book how remarkable a person she was, which translated onto the screen in the roles she took. She seemed unique, talented and glamorous in her own understated, beautiful style. Yet despite all her success and the respect of those in the film business, Audrey had a sadness within her, her son says, whether it was from her childhood or her miscarriages, or from what she saw happening in the world, it was there. It seems though in her later life she found her calling helping refugees all over the world. Unfortunately she had much more she wanted to do but her life was cut short in 1993 by cancer at the age of 63.
The book “Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit” is a personal and touching portrait by a son of his mother. It’s filled with captivating photos, too, that lured me into her story. She had an interesting life, and was at the top echelon of her field in film, but it was also a bit sad. The book was similar to the one I had just read before: “The End of Your Life Book Club.” Both were written by sons of their bright, successful mothers, and both mothers worked for refugees in later life, and both lives were cut short by cancer.
“Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit” made me wish I had known more of the actress and her films when she was alive. I’m glad though to have gotten to know her and her work through this book. She had a special magic about her, and was an inspiration to so many, even to me now reading this so many years later. The world lost a genuine star when she passed away. Next up, I’ll need to pick up a book that doesn’t have such a sad ending. Hmm.
Also this week the Hub and I saw the movie “American Hustle,” which mainly takes place in New Jersey. It’s loosely based on the massive 1978 FBI anti-corruption operation known as Abscam, where a bunch of politicians were ultimately put in jail for accepting bribes.
I didn’t know what to expect going into this, but the film is quite entertaining, particularly because of its stellar cast. Christian Bale and Amy Adams are different and terrific as con artists, and Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper are amusing in their flitty roles. The film’s a dark comedy but dramatic at the same time, as you watch how the evolving sting operation will unfold.
I liked the ’70s soundtrack of “American Hustle” right away and thought it added a lot to the movie along with the dippy fashion and clothes of the times. But the movie seemed a bit long and I was ready for it to end. Maybe it’s so overly well done, I wanted to get out of it. I liked it okay but I think my Hub liked it better than I did.
What about you – have you seen “American Hustle” and what did you think? Or do you know much about Audrey Hepburn, or have you seen or liked any of her films?
We want to see American Hustle, but unfortunately it’s not playing anywhere locally (we live in a small town), so we’ll probably end up seeing it on DVD…as we do most movies that we want to see. I have a feeling I’d be closer to your husband’s way of thinking about the movie, that I’d love it. It just looks like the kind of movie I’d love. 🙂
Yeah you’d probably will like it Bryan. I think husband remembered Abscam and therefore it was cool to him
I think we’ve managed to see much of the Audrey Hepburn canon, but this motivated me to add Wait Until Dark and The Nun’s Story to my Netflix queue.
I’m looking forward to American Hustle — especially the soundtrack!
Yeah thanks Joy. I’d like to see Wait Until Dark too. I have a copy of it now so will likely see it next week. The soundtrack of American Hustle is a lot of fun and is excellent!
As much as I love J. Law, I haven’t gone to see American Hustle yet. For some reason it just doesn’t appeal to me despite the amazing cast. I’ll wait for it on dvd. Glad you seemed to enjoy it though!!
Thanks Brooke. I dont think Jude Law is in this one. But I think waiting for it on DVD is a fine plan. cheers!
I loved Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It’s a little sad and it took me years to realize she was a prostitute but I still love it.
You know, I just checked my reader and you are listed there, but none of your posts have been coming up lately. I am going to delete you and re-add you to see if that fixes it.
Hi Ti, I didnt realize there was such a big discussion on various sites (Goodreads etc.) as to whether the character Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s was really a prostitute or not. I guess author Truman Capote has said she wasn’t precisely a callgirl. See his comments at this New Yorker article: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2009/09/was-holly-golightly-really-a-prostitute.html.
Anyways her being that didn’t dawn on me either. Thanks for raising the issue.
I hope my site comes up on your reader now. Thanks for letting me know about this.
My son and nephew saw 3 movies over the holidays and American Hustle was one of them. They liked all 3 movies but probably liked this one the least. I can’t decide if I want to see it or not.
Perhaps it’s okay to wait till it’s on TV. But it was pretty good.
I just saw American Hustle and liked it a great deal. The music, its perfect cast, and the topic had much to do with it.
I never realized that Holly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a call girl, but I recently read The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin, and that’s one of the points that Benjamin makes in the voice of Truman Capote.
Yes when my husband & I watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 2014 we took it that Holly was a kind of call girl, which was sort of surprising since I didn’t know much about the movie before seeing it. I hadn’t read Capote’s book beforehand. But according to Capote on Wikipedia, Holly Golightly is not a prostitute but an “American geisha.” Hmm.
Hi. I came here from your comment on Carmen’s post about American Hustle. I was surprised when I saw that film by how much I liked it. Somehow the previews and hype made me think it was not as good as it was, if that makes sense. I am a big fan of Jennifer Lawrence, but haven’t got used to calling her J Law yet-:)
Also, though I loved Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the movie, I was shocked to find the ending was changed from the book’s ending. Have you read the book?
Hi Judy: She’s really called J Law? Ha. Makes me think of Jude Law. I liked her in Winter’s Bone — that’s a rough one! I haven’t read Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s but now you have me intrigued that the movie has a changed ending. Usually that’s not good when that happens. Such as with Presumed Innocent. I think I’ve only read Capote’s Other Voices, Other Rooms novel — long ago.