Audrey Hepburn;
Photo courtesy of Paramount/The Kobal Collection
Before "Sex and the City," this film's
heroine was the epitome of the single, upscale New York woman.
Holly Golightly is a fun-loving, free-spending
socialite. She was created by flamboyant writer Truman Capote
and the elegant Audrey Hepburn brings her to glamorous life
on the big screen.
We meet Holly in the film's opening scene,
as her most recent all-night date is ending and the sun is
rising on the city. But instead of heading home, she is window
shopping outside Tiffany's, nibbling on a breakfast pastry.
Holly explains that she often heads to the luxury jeweler
when life becomes too overwhelming because "nothing bad can
happen to you there."
Obviously, Holly has never been in Tiffany's
with a credit card. If she had, she would have learned, as
many of us have, that lots of bad things can happen in a store
if you use
your plastic irresponsibly.
Of course, tawdry little financial details
such as credit
limits don't concern Holly. She decides that the best
way to meet her material needs is to settle down with a rich
husband. The rest of the movie follows Holly's quest for the
perfect, wealthy man, a search complicated by her feelings
for neighbor Paul, played by George Peppard. He's an aspiring
writer with money issues of his own. He's a kept man.
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It's no surprise that Holly and Paul eventually
end up in each other's arms to the strains of "Moon River"
(Oscar for best song). And the audience is delighted that
true love has won.
But as the credits roll, "Breakfast at
Tiffany's" money message becomes as clear as one of that retailer's
fine diamonds: Money plays a major
role in every relationship and Holly and Paul now face the
challenge of marrying not only each other, but their personal
money management -- or mismanagement -- styles.
Holly certainly will have to learn to
rein in her spending and live on a budget.
And they face some tough decisions on how much to spend on
their wedding
and whether to merge
their financial lives.
Once they resolve these monetary issues,
they should be able, as the song goes, to cross Moon River
in style.
