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This is one of my top five favorite movies. There are so many deep seated issues brought up in a
light manner that leave you with the feeling that you’ve just watched a happy-go-lucky kind of film,
when in reality, you’ve watched a dramatic piece of cinema way ahead of its time. The dialog is
inspired, quick, and abstract. People talk in circles, yet are really blunt. It’s difficult to describe if
you’ve never seen the film. There are really funny lines like “If I had her money, I’d be richer than
she is.” Then you get slapped with in your face realities like “It’s a mistake to love wild things.”

Holly Golightly is one of the best characters ever written. She is delightfully whimsical and makes
everyone fall in love with her, yet she is obviously deeply troubled and uses her seeming naïveté as
a defense mechanism. She has one responsibility every week and she can’t even keep her head
straight enough to remember that. She doesn’t think it’s right to name the cat since she doesn’t
“own” it, but she has no problem re-naming Paul Fred after her brother. She has no idea what she
wants, but she’s dedicated to looking for it anyway. The description the Hollywood agent uses for
her is perfect. “A Real Phony”. We only get one clue as to what initiated her need to run away and
be free, and that comes from Doc, Holly’s ex-husband, who says that she came to his farm because
things weren’t nice where she lived before. This traumatic experience leaves Holly and her brother
Fred very close and dependent on each other. This relationship with Fred is vital because it is the
only thing that connects her to her history. When he dies, Lulamay dies with him, leaving her no
one but Holly Golightly. She can’t deal with it so she completely changes herself. She tries to
become the perfect wife by buying furniture and knitting and learning to cook. For you actors out
there: write out the Uta Hagen character analysis questions for Holly. It’s an education I assure
you.

One of the heaviest themes in the film is the idea of “the reds” which Holly describes as the point
when you’re scared to death but don’t know why. She is always trying to “escape the reds”, usually
by drinking heavily if it’s really serious, or by going to Tiffany’s. She is constantly running away.
First she runs from home to Doc’s farm. Then she runs from Doc to California. Then she runs
from California to New York. She’s constantly running from the men she’s “dating”. Then she tries
to run from New York. She’s an expert on running. And when she’s not running, she’s pretending
nothing is wrong. A perfect example of this is when she is looking for her shoes, finds a pair in the
refrigerator, and puts them back in. She doesn’t even bat an eye because with all the suspended
reality in her life, having a pair of shoes in the fridge is fairly commonplace.

Now to Holly’s relationship with Paul. Theirs is an odd kind of true love that hasn’t been equaled in any film before or since. They both use the opposite sex to
maintain their lifestyles. The scene where she climbs to his window to get away from the man in her apartment is unusual and very touching. Paul just holds
her. He takes her drink and her cigarette and watches her all night as if he’s confused that she’s there, yet doesn’t want her to go either. The day they spend
doing things they've never done before is fantastic. My favorite thing is that the crackerjack ring that he gets engraved is more important than any of the
expensive gifts she’s received.

When they sleep together for the first time, they each have totally different reactions. Paul thinks it has brought them closer together and breaks it off with the
woman who supports him. Then he goes to find Holly to tell her he loves her, but she can’t bring herself to even look at him. She’s not only keeping her old
lifestyle and ideas about love, she’s going above and beyond and marrying simply for money. For Paul, this is the ultimate betrayal because he’s given up
everything and allowed himself to love someone and she’s shut him down coldly with his own game.

When she tries to run again after her marriage plans fall through and she might go to jail, she pushes Paul away and leaves Cat out in the street in the rain.
She can’t stand herself so she throws away the two things that love her unconditionally, because she feels she can’t possibly deserve them. In the cab, Paul
says that he loves her and she says so what. His retort is priceless. He says, “I love you. You belong to me.” She gets upset and says that people don’t own
people and that everyone is always trying to own her, but that’s not what he’s saying. I know… I know. You’d assume that line would offend my feminine alarms
would be going on high alert with a line like “I own you”, but for some reason, this is wildly romantic to me. It’s not that he wants to possess her and keep her
locked away and tell her what to do and all that nonsense. That is offensive. No, this line means more than that. He’s saying that he owns her because he
loves her, because no one can take that love away from him. His love for his is his and no one, not even she, can take it away from him. That’s what belongs
to him. The idea of her belongs to him. I’m not explaining this very well, but I assure you that it’s not sexist in any way and if that line is a reason for you not
liking this film, please watch it again.

As dramatic as I’ve made this sound, this movie really is a romantic comedy. There are hilarious scenes with Mickey Rooney as the politically incorrect Asian
landlord, Mr. Yunioshi. Plus, the party in Holly’s apartment is hysterical because it covers all the bad behavior you’ll see at a drunken debacle.

This is a fine film, possibly the finest. Watch it for laughs. Watch it to learn something. Watch it for whatever you want. Just watch it.