Funny Face
I am resuming my plan to watch all Audrey Hepburn films of note. I just mentioned how much “Rosemary’s Baby” was a style inspiration because the stuff Mia Farrow wears is so lovely, but “Funny Face” is probably the epitome of 60s style inspiration. Unfortunately the stuff Audrey Hepburn wears is a little bit too otherwordly, except for that wedding dress which is a lot fun and very simple.
Besides looking stylish, however, the film doesn’t provide much more. La Hepburn at least has some acting skills to show (which she does not quite put to use except in “Wait until dark”) and Fred Astaire is the greatest dancer in the world, but apart from that the film is terribly vapid. Fun, but its hatred for anything smart and/or female (especially when both come together) is almost offensive. It certainly does not help that Fred Astaire is a whopping 30 years older than Audrey Hepburn – and that the chemistry between them is odd at best. At least William Holden was “only” 11 years older, 12 years for Mel Ferrer, 13 years for Gregory Peck, and good old Cary Grant at least had reservations about his age difference with her of 25 years. Somehow Audrey Hepburn is the old man’s dream, she looks youthful but not overly sexualized so since she is so innocent it is somehow okay to pair her up with old men? That is quite some screwed up logic.
Nevertheless, the film has a few wonderful musical numbers and – much more importantly – a few great dance scenes. Audrey Hepburn’s little dance in the philosophical café makes her look even more boyish, but boy that was a lot of fun! For these lovely scenes, the film is actually worth watching – despite the cheesiness, the sexism and the dripping clichés of all things Parisian.
I fear that the hail of bullets is as long as the post today:
- Taking a closer look, I think the famous wedding dress has a slightly awkward waist (the way it poufs up with a little “break” just under the waist is so strange) and I am not a fan of the copious amounts of tulle underneath and over the skirt. The dress would definitely work better without the tulle or organza on top – and without that horrible veil.
- Audrey Hepburn wore a horrible (short) dress when she married Mel Ferrer in 1954, and an absolutely lovely dress when she married Andrea Dotti in 1969. Okay maybe I just think that it’s pleasantly unusual, and it made me want a hat instead of a veil for my own wedding.
- Pink by itself is terrible, but if there is a color combination I would like to see, it’s pink and teal. That combination is never going to be popular though, I fear.