Most people probably think of Audrey Hepburn and the movie adaption when “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is mentioned, even when knowing that it was based on the story by Truman Capote.  I recently read this story without ever having watched the movie.

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” by Truman Capote is actually a novella, rather than a book.  My edition (by Vintage International) has three short stories included as well: “House of Flowers”, “A Diamond Guitar”, and ”A Christmas Memory”.  These short stories are worth reading, but of course it is “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” that stands out.

I suspected that the movie was probably not very faithful to the book.  I wanted to watch the movie to see if I was right or not.  Was I?  Well, I finally had a chance to watch “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” last night.

The original story is narrated in the first person by a neighbor of Holly Golightly.  Soon after they meet each other, Holly calls him “Fred”, although that is not his real name.  Fred’s first impression of Holly is partly quoted here:

“It was a face beyond childhood, yet this side of belonging to a woman.  I thought her anywhere between sixteen and thirty; as it turned out, she was shy two months of her nineteenth birthday”. 

Holly makes a living by having “dates” with wealthy men.  She is very blunt with Fred on how she makes her money.  She is also paid to pass along secret messages between a mobster in prison and the mobster’s lawyer.  Holly also schemes to find and marry a rich man, any rich man.  In the movie, the true meaning of all this is glossed over (not surprising, since it was filmed in 1961).  Audrey Hepburn’s Holly is more of an innocent, fun-loving, and somewhat naive woman who mixes with not so innocent people.

The narrator “Fred” (if he ever mentions his real name in the novella, I do not recall and I could not find any reference to it after looking through it again today) and Holly maintain a friendship that is based on “Fred” being her confidant and helpmate.  In the movie, they develop a romantic relationship that is happily-ever-after.  In the novella, the friendship seems to be platonic, and the ending is more open-ended.

In the novella, “Fred” describes his friendship with Holly here:

“….our understanding of each other had reached that sweet depth where two people communicate more often in silence than in words: an affectionate quietness replaces the tensions, the unrelaxed chatter and chasing about that produce a friendship’s more showy, more in the surface sense, dramatic moments”.

The novella is a much edgier version than the movie, definitely.  Also, there is a character in both versions, Mr. Yunioshi, who is a victim of the racial degradations of the times.  In the novella, he is (although matter-of-factly) referred to as “that Jap”.  Mr. Yunioshi is another neighbor of Holly’s and “Fred”‘s and does not show up in the original story that often.  In the movie, he plays a more prominent role and seems to be their landlord.  Not only that, in the movie Mr. Yunioshi is played by none other than Mickey Rooney, a Caucasian.  Mickey Rooney’s over-the-top caricature of a Japanese man (false buck teeth, exaggerated accent) constantly made me wince. 

In the commentary that came along with the movie, the director, Blake Edwards, stated that he wished he had done that role differently.  Interestingly, while writing this post, I found a story about a public showing last year of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” in Sacramento (my childhood hometown)  that planned to delete the scenes with Mr. Yunioshi in it; but in the end a different movie was shown.  Here is a link to that story, which includes a youtube video of a Mr. Yunioshi scene.

All that aside,  the movie and the novella are both now classics.  The movie is a light version and in fact I found it in the comedy section of Blockbuster.  The novella is darker, and I liked the novella version better.

If you have both read and seen “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, what do you think?  Which is preferable to you?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 at 1:59 PM and is filed under book review, books, controversy, movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.