Breakfast+at+Tiffany's-+Joelle+Bellini

Joelle Bellini 3/31/11 Block 2

// Breakfast at Tiffany's //
 In the novel, Breakfast at Tiffany's, written by Truman Capote the narrator, a writer, who remains unnamed through out the whole story, falls in love with the main character, Holly Golightly. She is a young pretty girl around the age of nineteen, who lived in the apartment just below the narrator. When ever Holly is feeling down she buys some breakfast and goes window shopping at Tiffany's and Co., the jewelry store. The book took place during the late 1940's to the early 1950's in World War II. From beginning to end, the unnamed narrator and a few other characte﻿rs are having flashbacks of Holly. Both Holly and Fred (what Holly called the narrator) used the same phone at the same bar, owned by Joe Bell. Holly was constantly forgetting her key and having to ring the door of her neighbor, Mr. Yunioshi. He was a photographer who was getting fed up with her ringing the door at four in the morning and waking him. One day, she decided to buzz "Fred", they ended up talking for a while that morning. Holly wanted to call the nameless narrator Fred, because he reminded Holly of her brother, who she is very close with, who was fighting in the war. Pretty soon the two became close friends, but Fred was falling in love with her at the same time. Little did he know that she was falling for someone else, Jose, a very rich Brazilian. Holly ends up marrying him, and moving away. Which is the present time in the book, Fred is unaware of where she is. No one from the area knows of her whereabouts. All the men were getting a tad bit delusional. Mr. Yunioshi had arrived back from a trip to Africa. During the time of his trip hecame across a wood carving. One he claimed to be Ms. Golightly, the maker wouldn't allow him to take it back, he took pictures instead. All the men in Joe Bell's bar were astonished, they were truly convinced it was the amazing lady who used to live in the Brownstone building. After a long time of wondering and waiting, Fred got a letter from Holly. She had Jose, and was now living with a different rich, older man. The letter had no address to write back to, so Ms. Golightly said she would send another letter with her new address, she never did.



The movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's, was based on Truman Capotes book, Breakfast at Tiffany's. This movie stayed true to the book insome ways, and was way off in others. One thing that stayed consistent to the book were the lines. For example, when Holly Golightly meets the narrator,or so called Paul Varjak, for the first time in the film. In the beginning of the book, around page ten to page twenty, the film copied the novel exactly, word for word. But, the film was not full of flashbacks that Paul had, it from the time he met Holly until the time she met José. Also, most of the scenes were exactly how one would imagine them from the book. The setting helped make the transition from book to film easier. The movie payed close attention to how the novel described the setting of New York City. Everything about the Brownstone building was perfectly how one would consider it to be, from the inside of everyones place to the outside of the whole place. There were no mistakes in setting aspect of the film, except for the inside of Holly's apartment, it seemed too plain. In one of the scenes from the book, Holly is sitting on the window, near the fire escape. She sings and plays her guitar when performing a from OKLAHOMA!, which was mirrored perfectly. Specifically the way a little country accent came out while she was singing. Although, she wasn't coloring her hair at the same time, which happened in the novel.



//Mr. Yunioshi, yelling at Holly Golightly// There were many changes from book to film. A few characters were added here and there. The time that the movie took place was a little different. The biggest change was the ending, it went from sad for Paul to happy for Holly and Paul. The character who played Holly's neighbor added some comedy to this romantic-drama. He was always being disturbed in mid-bath or in deep sleep. On his was to the door, he would constantly be bumping his head or something silly. The book made Mr. Yunioshi a bit stern, with no fun side. The film did too, but it didn't give off as much of a serious vibe. The character who played Paul's decorator was an addition from book to film. She was around Mr. Varjak's age, but didn't live in the same building. She and Paul were a little bit more than close friends. Her addition did not change the film in a major way, she made no difference. The casting seemed to be spot on, Audrey Hepburn made this movie a classic. She did an excellent job, although she was about fifteen years too old for the part. Another actor who really stood out in the film was George Peppard, he played the roll of Paul Varjak. Anyone could see the strong chemistry that Audrey and George had, which made the film all the better. José Luis de Villalonga played the part of José, Holly's husband. Even though it wasn't a leading roll, he was simply wrong for the part, not memorable. Another major change from book to film was the time difference. The book took place during World War II, from the late 1940's to the early 1950's. In the book, Holly and Paul spent a lot of their time in the bar together to use the phone because the war was going on. The movie took place during the time they were filming it. Which was about tenlater during the 1960's, and the bar didn't even exist in the film. The biggest change of all was the ending of the film. At the end of the book, Holly ends up getting married twice, and neither man was Paul. She moved out of the country and sent a post card to Paul every once in a while. Then suddenly they just stopped. Everything stays pretty much true to that until the last ten or so of the film. Paul and Holly are on their way to the air port. Holly is supposed to be taking a plane to Brazil to go live with José. But then things take a turn for the better. Paul ends up confessing his love for Holly, she turns him down by explaining no one owns her therefore he is not allowed to love her. When he storms off something hits her, Holly gets out of the cab and never looked back.

Although the book is excellent and a fun read, if one were to choose to see the film or read the book, the film would be the better choice. The book is a little bit harder to follow with Paul continually having flashbacks and memories of Holly Golightly. Also, when reading, readers can get attached to Paul as a character. He has no name in the book and falls in love with a girl who runs away. Meanwhile the film has a happier, more uplifting ending. It is a comedy-romantic-drama where Holly and Paul fall in love and live happily ever after.



//Paul Varjak and Holly Golightly//