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Funny Face
Jan. 24th, 2016 06:09 pmMy mom and I watched Funny Face this afternoon, which I liked a lot, even though the last thing in the world I would call Audrey Hepburn's face is "funny." Soulfully beautiful or doe-like, maybe.
Given that soulful, doe-like beauty, I like Audrey Hepburn in pretty much all her roles - I would probably like an ax murderer if she were played by Audrey Hepburn (Audrey Hepburn stars as... Lizzie Borden!). But it cannot be denied that Jo Stockton, Hepburn's character in Funny Face, is one of the most willfully flaky characters ever.
"She has integrity1" announced Fred Astaire, who has clearly been fooled by her black turtleneck and the fact that she works in a philosophy bookstore.
"She has integrity!" he protests, when she fails to show up at a fashion shoot on the very first day after the fashion magazine he works for flew her to Paris. Turns out she headed off to a cafe in hopes of meeting her favorite philosopher.
Alas! He is not there. But a few nights later, Jo learns that he'll be speaking at the cafe. Sure, it's the evening of her fashion premiere before reporters from around the world, for which the fashion magazine flew her across an ocean... But who cares! TO THE CAFE SHE MUST GO.
Just as Jo is getting chummy with her philosopher, mean old Fred Astaire shows up to take her to her own fashion premiere. He is, admittedly, a trifle rude about it, but then again, she was about to miss her own premiere (I can just imagine it: Maggie, the magazine editor presenting her, pulls back the curtain. "And here's our newest model... an empty chair. Oh great.").
Jo is so furious that she and Fred Astaire argue with each other behind the curtain as the magazine editor reads Jo's introduction. By the time poor Maggie raises the curtain, they have somehow managed to turn a trickling fountain into a geyser, which drenches not only them but the entire audience.
They become the laughingstock of the whole city of Paris! But nonetheless, Maggie is determined to plow forward with Jo's show! Except... I'm sure this will shock and surprise you, given Jo's integrity and dedication to duty hitherto... Jo is nowhere to be found.
She has been invited to a philosophical salon! On the night of her own show! Which she intends to skip, because she's so annoyed at Fred Astaire! Eventually, after much maneuvering, Maggie and Fred Astaire manage to get her to come to her very own fashion show after all (already very late)... and she runs in shouting, "I have to leave immediately! I need to find Fred Astaire before he gets on his plane and goes back to the US because he's so sick of me!"
Fortunately Maggie adroitly steers Jo into the dressing room. She doesn't even once scream "You are within an inch of sinking not only my magazine but this famous fashion designer who teamed up with us!", which I certainly would have been shrieking from the rooftops, probably about ten minutes after Jo was late to her very first fitting.
Maggie, incidentally, is played by Kay Thompson, best known today (Wikipedia tells me) for writing the Eloise books. She's hilarious and a total show-stealer, and it's a shame that this is her only major movie role.
Given that soulful, doe-like beauty, I like Audrey Hepburn in pretty much all her roles - I would probably like an ax murderer if she were played by Audrey Hepburn (Audrey Hepburn stars as... Lizzie Borden!). But it cannot be denied that Jo Stockton, Hepburn's character in Funny Face, is one of the most willfully flaky characters ever.
"She has integrity1" announced Fred Astaire, who has clearly been fooled by her black turtleneck and the fact that she works in a philosophy bookstore.
"She has integrity!" he protests, when she fails to show up at a fashion shoot on the very first day after the fashion magazine he works for flew her to Paris. Turns out she headed off to a cafe in hopes of meeting her favorite philosopher.
Alas! He is not there. But a few nights later, Jo learns that he'll be speaking at the cafe. Sure, it's the evening of her fashion premiere before reporters from around the world, for which the fashion magazine flew her across an ocean... But who cares! TO THE CAFE SHE MUST GO.
Just as Jo is getting chummy with her philosopher, mean old Fred Astaire shows up to take her to her own fashion premiere. He is, admittedly, a trifle rude about it, but then again, she was about to miss her own premiere (I can just imagine it: Maggie, the magazine editor presenting her, pulls back the curtain. "And here's our newest model... an empty chair. Oh great.").
Jo is so furious that she and Fred Astaire argue with each other behind the curtain as the magazine editor reads Jo's introduction. By the time poor Maggie raises the curtain, they have somehow managed to turn a trickling fountain into a geyser, which drenches not only them but the entire audience.
They become the laughingstock of the whole city of Paris! But nonetheless, Maggie is determined to plow forward with Jo's show! Except... I'm sure this will shock and surprise you, given Jo's integrity and dedication to duty hitherto... Jo is nowhere to be found.
She has been invited to a philosophical salon! On the night of her own show! Which she intends to skip, because she's so annoyed at Fred Astaire! Eventually, after much maneuvering, Maggie and Fred Astaire manage to get her to come to her very own fashion show after all (already very late)... and she runs in shouting, "I have to leave immediately! I need to find Fred Astaire before he gets on his plane and goes back to the US because he's so sick of me!"
Fortunately Maggie adroitly steers Jo into the dressing room. She doesn't even once scream "You are within an inch of sinking not only my magazine but this famous fashion designer who teamed up with us!", which I certainly would have been shrieking from the rooftops, probably about ten minutes after Jo was late to her very first fitting.
Maggie, incidentally, is played by Kay Thompson, best known today (Wikipedia tells me) for writing the Eloise books. She's hilarious and a total show-stealer, and it's a shame that this is her only major movie role.
