Maciel Course Project: Adaptation Analysis "Breakfast at Tiffany's" 9

Breakfast at Tiffany's

By Truman Capote

Film Adaptation:

Produced by Jurow-Shepherd

Directed by Blake Edwards

Screenplay by George Axelrod

I begin by describing my adoration for the film adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's. I have loved this film for many years since watching it when I was a younger woman in my 20's. I considered it iconic. Iconic for the representation of beauty in Audrey Hepburn, the lifestyle of the New York high society social scene, the high fashion of the early 1960's and the way the different characters are portrayed as almost caricatures although we can all relate to similar people we've met in our own lives. The film is set in 1960 and watching it is like a snapshot in time.

The film is a loose adaptation of the novella by Truman Capote. There are many differences in the film from the written work and it can be argued that it is actually a close adaptation since there is an abundance of dialogue that seems to be taken directly from the text of the story.

The film is about a young writer named Paul who moves into a brownstone apartment in New York City in 1960 and develops an unusual friendship with a neighbor named Holly Golitely. She lives an unorthodox lifestyle where she does not work but makes money by keeping company with rich men who give her money and gifts. She is candid about this and in fact enjoys the shock value of sharing her views and her antics with Paul. Holly has a nameless cat and a barely furnished apartment, a reflection of her constant state of keeping disconnected and unattached. She refers to Paul as Fred who is her beloved brother.