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Turning a depressing wistful book into a Movie in which hope is

posted 8 years ago by lonnieanixt
3 replies | jump to latest

Think of the book:" Breakfast at Tiffany's" and what spring to mind. The answer is nothing because very few people have read it or will ever read it. The theme of the book is loss and loneliness, of a time long since faded into history and lead characters who will never know true happiness.

Now think about the Movie, and what springs to mind: New York City as the ultimate of romantic Cities, a place where everyone and anyone can find happiness and a place to fit in. A city full of people like Holly, who is so much different here than in the book, a lively hopeful good time girl, who brightens every room she enters. The audience immediately falls in love with Holly, Women want to be like her, independent and dreamy, and Men want to protect her, they want to become a better person, her Knight in shining Armor. Men want all her dreams to come true. The movie is one long poem to love and all our dreams of romance.

If the book is a closed door, a endless cycle of doomed dreams, that leaves the reader cold and sad. The Movie is a heart tugging ode to hope, that leaves the viewer teary eyed at the sweet beautiful ending that has Holly finally finding her true love, so long into a life where she thought it impossible. Holly doesn't just find love, she finds a perfect never ending permanent love, that we the audience -know will make her happy in a way she never dreamed of. Holly will never shop at Tiffanies, but she will find that diamonds and gold are poor substitutes for love and family.

Capote had a gift for writing, but he had absolutely no Movie Sense at all. His version of Breakfast at Tiffny's would have been a disaster, a sad depressing dreary story, which had nothing more to say then life is tough, and dreams do not come true. The problem is, the audience knows that life is a mean game, they would rather see a romantic story that speaks to the hope that is the eternal driving force of all mankind, that in this world of evil and evil things there is always the hope, that around the next corner, be it 59th street and 5th ave or a street near you, the love of your life may be eating a danish looking into a store window-just waiting for you to come along and make everything right.

[–] kevin-bergin 8 years ago

Even when I saw the movie the first time I felt the "Happy Ending" was a bit of a stretch.

"It's the system, Lara. People will be different after the Revolution."

[–] nicpip72 8 years ago

The book and the film are completely different in tone but I love both. The male protagonist is gay in the book but generally the characterisations in the film remain a good reflection of the characters in the books. I enjoy the different journeys Holly and Paul take. In some ways the book's fatalism is a bit like Fitzgerald's though very different in style. I actually think a more faithful adaptation could make a great film but I will still love this version as well.

[–] Jes' Sayin' (5947) 4 years ago

Appears a lot of people *did* read it:
The novella appeared in the November, 1958 issue of Esquire. Shortly afterward, a collection of the novella and three short stories by Capote was published by Random House — and the glowing reviews caused sales of the Esquire issue to skyrocket. Both Attie and Brodovitch went on to work with Capote on other projects — Attie on Brooklyn Heights: A Personal Memoir, and Brodovitch on Observations, both published in 1959.

The collection has been reprinted several times; the novella has been included in other Capote collections.

Capote's original typed manuscript was offered for sale by a New Hampshire auction house in April 2013.[19] It was sold to Igor Sosin, a Russian billionaire entrepreneur, for US$306,000 (equivalent to US$329,000 in 2018). Mr. Sosin said he planned to display it publicly in Moscow and Monte Carlo.