Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face

I hate to admit that it was a pop song that made me fall in love with Audrey Hepburn. It was the spring of 1996 and Deep Blue Something’s ditty about breaking up, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, was all over the radio. One dull afternoon in the life of a college student, a friend of mine admitted that she had actually never seen the film. I sheepishly admitted the same, and we went straight out and rented it. I immediately fell madly in love with the style, grace, and beauty that is Audrey Hepburn. In the many years following, I have done my best to nurture that one-sided love, and try to watch any film with Ms. Hepburn when I get the chance. Recently I sat down and watched Audrey and Fred Astaire in Funny Face.

It is a film that is first notable for being a musical in which Audrey actually sings. A feat she was famously not able to say the same of a few years later in the much-loved musical hit My Fair Lady. It is a soft, kind sort of voice a simple boy could fall in love with, but one can see why Mr. Cukor opted for another voice to sing for Eliza Doolittle.

The Gershwin’s again create some wonderful songs. Mixed with exuberance, humor and a sweetness that no other songwriter has ever matched, George and Ira created some of the world’s greatest songs. The stand out here is the simple sweet closer, S’Wonderful, but there are several numbers that are really quite good as well, “How long has this been going on?” and the title number among them. Ira’s silly, unbelievable rhymes are in full order here as well. In “Bonjour Paris” he manages to rhyme the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre with Montmartre.

Article Author: Mat Brewster

Mat Brewster is a periodic ex-pat wondering if he'll ever find a home. You can find him musing on pop culture, and obsessing over concert bootlegs at The Midnight Cafe.

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