"I'm Crazy About Tiffany's..." - Breakfast at Tiffany's

On this day in 1961, Breakfast at Tiffany's premiered! So in honour of the little movie that could get me obsessed with all things Audrey Hepburn and Old Hollywood, let's take a deep dive into this film.

via primogifs

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a classic, in my opinion. Sure, it has its fans and its haters, but for all that, it is a fun two hours that's chic from start to finish. Let's dive in!

We open on Fifth Avenue at 6:00 am. The street is totally empty, except for one cab heading towards Tiffany & Co.

Out of the cab exits Holly Golightly. 

This is the role Audrey Hepburn is most closely associated with, and the image of her as bon vivant Holly Golightly has decorated many a college girl's dorm rooms. She was hesitant about the role, it being so vastly different from her personality, and Truman Capote even voiced his objections to her casting: he wanted Marilyn Monroe in the role instead. 

Audrey shot Breakfast at Tiffany's mere months after giving birth to her first child, a son named Sean Hepburn Ferrer. She was paid $750,000 for the role, making her the highest-paid actress in Hollywood at the time; though Elizabeth Taylor's $1,000,000 for Cleopatra a few years later eclipsed it. 

If you've ever read the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's you'll know that the movie version is a watered down, happily ever after fairy tale story compared to the original. In order to make it filmable, the script had to be completely reworked. 

This film was yet another collaboration between Audrey and Hubert de Givenchy, one that began eight years earlier with Sabrina. Notice that Edith Head is listed as Costume Supervisor? Audrey always loved wearing Givenchy clothing, and she felt terribly when Edith Head won an Oscar for costume design for Sabrina when a majority of the clothes were provided by him and he wasn't acknowledged. 

Their partnership lasted decades, up until her death in 1993. Hubert de Givenchy died in 2018.

If you want to know what Holly does for a living, the movie does an excellent job of dancing around it. Simply put: she's a call girl. Guys give her $50 for trips to the powder room and cab fare, and she's always in high demand. When she gets back to her apartment, last night's suitor is waiting for her: she skipped out on him after he treated her to dinner and gave her money for the powder room. "Now doesn't that give me some rights?" he demands. 

Her upstairs neighbour, who she's constantly buzzing because she can never remember her keys, is Mr. Yunioshi. And, unfortuantely, he's played by Mickey Rooney in a racist caricature of a Japanese man. It was awful and derided at the time it was filmed, and it's still awful today. He lets her in, and she tries to placate having woken him up by promising to sit for photos with him (he's a photographer). 

Later, Holly's asleep in bed when her own buzzer starts ringing. I wrote a post earlier about the interior of her apartment, so I'm going to gloss over a lot of that to focus on the story. You can read it here. 

It's the building's new tenant, Paul Varjak. He's a writer, though we'll get into that later. For now, let's celebrate that Audrey finally got a leading man her own age, after co-starring with Humphrey Bogart, Fred Astaire, and Gary Cooper! 

This is George Peppard (who was apparently an ass behind the scenes, according to Patricia Neal, which you can read about in Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman by Sam Wasson, one of my favourite behind-the-scenes books of all time). 

He's buzzing because, like Holly, he doesn't have a key. He has to wait until his decorator shows up with the right keys, so Holly lets him in to use the telephone. 

Then she starts revealing some tidbits about herself and Cat, the relative lack of possessions, and her love of Tiffany's ("I don't even want to own anything until I can find a place where me and things go together. I'm not sure where that is, but I know what it's like. It's like Tiffany's.").

Holly: You know those days when you get the mean reds?

Paul: The mean reds? You mean, like the blues?

Holly: No the blues are because you’re getting fat or maybe it’s been raining too long. You’re just sad, that’s all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid, and you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Don’t you ever get that feeling?

Paul: Sure.

Holly: When I get it, the only thing that does any good is to jump into a cab and go to Tiffany’s. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look. Nothing very bad could happen to you there. If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany’s, then...then I’d buy some furniture and give the cat a name.

Anyways, it comes up that today is Thursday, which gets Holly moving. Thursdays are gruesome because she has to visit Sing Sing and she always forgets when it's Thursday. She tells him she generally doesn't go to bed on Wednesday nights because she has to be at the prison so early "and they're so particular about visiting hours." 

Paul asks so she tells him: she goes to visit Sally Tomato, a gangster that they couldn't prove was part of the Mafia "much less head of it, my dear. The only thing they did prove was that he cheated at his income tax a little." Sally's lawyer had seen her at a restaurant and asked her how she'd like to make some money "cheering up a lonely old man" so she agreed. Now she gets paid to visit him every week and at the end, he gives her a weather report. He tells her things like "there's a hurricane in Cuba" or "it's cloudy over Palermo" and she doesn't know what any of it means (though we can tell he's obviously directing shipments or some kind of trade from prison thanks to her). 

Paul worries about her, but she tells him not to, that she can take care of herself. They have this entire conversation while she glams herself up into a Givenchy dress with all the bells and whistles. Such is Audrey's talents. 

Outside on the street they hail a cab for Holly, and as it pulls up, we meet the decorator. This is Emily Eustace Failenson (2E to us), played to cold, calculated, glam perfection by Patricia Neal. She's presenting as a decorator now, but that's not the whole story. 

As Holly alights in the cab, on her way to Sing Sing, 2E gives Paul a kiss and asks, "Is it really only three weeks since I left you in Rome? Feels like years." She arranged for his apartment and decorated it to her tastes, but if he hates it, she says, they can change it. 

So Paul's situation isn't much different than Holly's. 

Later that evening, Holly's back from dinner with a john, and she's slipped into the bathroom for some privacy and quiet (as the john is very loud and drunk, and is getting increasingly belligerent that she won't open the door for him). 

She slips out of the dress, into her bathrobe and climbs up the fire escape to Paul's apartment. While out there, she sees 2E leaving, slipping some cash onto the table, and Paul asleep in bed. She opens the window only after 2E leaves and the thud wakens Paul. 

Holly: The thing is, I have the most terrifying man downstairs. I mean he’s sweet when he isn’t drunk, but let him start lapping up the vino, and, oh, golly, quel beast. It finally got so tiresome down there, I went out the window. Look you can throw me out if you want to, but you did looked so cozy in here, and your decorator friend had gone home, and it was getting cold out there on the fire escape. 

Holly notices that there's a wad of cash on the table, left behind by 2E, and quickly deduces that they're not dissimilar, even if she can't say it (movie censorship, y'all!). It offends him that she caught on, and he's all ready to get out of bed and escort her out, but then he realizes that he's not wearing any clothes. And Holly apologizes for what she said; she just wanted him to know that she understands his situation. 

Anyways, she pours them both a drink and snoops around his apartment. 

The snoop notices Paul's typewriter, then baits him into lying about how often he writes. Then she drops the truth: there isn't any ribbon in the typewriter. Also, how elegant is that gold telephone? 2E's got taste. 

Through the course of their discussion, Holly reveals that she has a brother named Fred, who's in the army, and that he looks just like Paul. She asks if she can call him Fred, and he agrees. He's getting out of the army soon, and she's trying to save money to get him with her. She wants to go to Mexico, to a place by the sea, where they can raise horses together. "But even land in Mexico costs something. And no matter what I do, there’s never seems to be more than a couple hundred dollars in the bank." 

Then, realizing it's 4:30 am, they agree to go to sleep; it's alright, Holly says, they're friends now. 

But then she has a nightmare and jolts awake in Paul's arms. He asks why she's crying and she tells him: "If we're going to be friends, let's just get one thing straight right now. I hate snoops." And then she runs off, back through the window and down the fire escape. 

The next day, Paul comes back to the apartment building and finds a note on his buzzer. 

Holly invites Paul up for drinks at 6:00, and little does he know it'll be a full-blown party, but what does it matter when your downstairs neighbour is as eccentric as Holly? Plus, it's a peace offering: her note is attached to a new pack of typewriter ribbon. 

Side note: I love when old movies cut to handwritten notes. People often compliment me on my handwriting, and I fully believe I could've been one of those hand models writing notes while a camera was zoomed in on the paper. 

2E calls Paul, under the guise that she's calling a girlfriend to let her know she can't meet tonight. You can see her husband's withered had mixing a drink in the foreground. How chic is 2E's apartment, by the way? It's entirely cool tones, just like the woman herself. 

Paul plays along, but tells 2E that he's going to take a "girlish stab at writing" to pass the evening. She doesn't sound that enthused, but we'll come back to it. It's party time!

Meet O.J. Berman, Holly's agent. He's convinced Holly's a phony. Before Holly shows up, he and Paul are discussing just how much of a phony she is. He thinks she's a real phony. 

O.J.: Because she honestly believes all this phony junk that she believes in. I mean it. Now look, I like the kid, I sincerely like the kid. I do. I’m sensitive, that’s why. You got to be sensitive to like the kid. It’s .. It’s what you call a touch, a streak of the poet.

Paul: You known her long?

O.J.: Are you kidding? I’m the guy that discovered her. I’m O.J. Berman. A couple of years ago, back in the coast, she was just a kid—lot of style and class...you know

Paul:  Lot of what?

O.J.: Class. She had a lot of class. But when she opened her mouth, you didn’t know what she was talking about—whether she was a hillbilly or an Okie. You know how long it took me to smooth that accent?

Paul:  No.

O.J.: I’ll tell you how long. One year. Know how we did it? Ah We gave her French lessons. Figured once she could imitate French, she‘d have no trouble imitating English. And, ah, finally, when I thought she was ready I arranged for a little screen test. The night before the screen test, oh I could have killed myself. The night before, the phone rings. I picked it up. I said, “O.J. speaking.” she says, “this is Holly.” I says Holly?, You sound so far away honey. What’s with you?.” she says, “I’m in New York.” I said, “What kind of New York? You gotta screen test tomorrow.” She says,” I’m in New York because I’ve never been to New York before.” I says “Get yourself on the plane, get back here.” ”She says, “I don’t want to.” “What do you mean you don’t want to? What do you want?” she says, “I don’t want to.” I says, ”What do you want?” She says, “when I find out what I want, I’m going to let you know.” so, look, Fred, baby, you know. Don’t tell me—

Paul: It’s Paul, baby

O.J.: Paul baby, sure. Don’t tell me she isn’t a phony. You know what I mean?

Then Holly appears, and like a good houseguest, Paul comes bearing a gift: it's a copy of his book, Nine Lives, which she promptly places on her shelf. 

Why did Holly come to her own party in a towel, you wonder? I read in a movie companion book a few years ago that the implication here is that Holly spent too much time luxuriating in the bathtub (the full bath, not her couch) and ran out of time to get glammed up before her guests started arriving, so she turned her towel into a toga dress. 

This party looks simultaneously fun and exhausting at the same time. I'd probably be hiding in the bathroom playing with Cat, if I'm being honest. Fun fact: this scene took a while to film and it was super hot on the set. 

Just as Holly and Paul are finding some time to talk at the party, some last-minute guests arrive: it's Mag Wildwood, a model friend and a "thumping bore" according to Holly. But she's brought two men with her, and they both pique Holly's interest. 

Holly: But just look at the goodies she brought with her.

Paul: He’s all right I suppose, if you like dark, handsome, rich-looking men with passionate natures and too many teeth.

Holly: I don’t mean that one, I mean the other one.

Paul: The other one?

Holly: He’s Rusty Trawler.

Paul: Huh?

Holly: Rusty Trawler. He happens to be the ninth richest man in America under 50.

For reference, José da Silva Pereira is kissing Holly's hand. Rusty Trawler is staring admirably at Holly from the sidelines. He's the "one that looks like a pig," Holly drunkenly calls him later in the movie. 

She's my favourite party guest. Her only instructions, according to a behind the scenes DVD feature, was to do something funny with the mirror. She started to cry, causing watery mascara lines to run down her cheeks. 

Holly: Mag, darling, you’re being a bore.

Mag Wildwood: Shut up, you! You know what’s going to happen to you? I’m going to march you over to the zoo and feed you to the yak... just as soon as I finish this drink.

Timber!

Holly and Rusty decide to leave the party, and downstairs they run into the police officers that Mr. Yunioshi called up. You have to be a special kind of charming to run out on your own party and direct the police upstairs when they should be busting you. Paul watches from the window and wants no part in the raid, so he and José try to alight before they make it upstairs. 

There's a funny sequence of then trying to cut through the party guests to an exit, and them getting blocked at every opportunity. There's even a party guest who climbs onto Paul's back that he deposits onto the back of another guest. Finally, there's no way to escape but the bathroom window (the Holly method), but as they pull back the curtain, they find O.J. and Irving making out.

They escape in the nick of time. 

It's Thursday, you know what that means!

This is Sally Tomato. He's the head of the Mafia, though Holly's either willfully ignorant or doesn't let on that she knows who he is. Remember, earlier she said that the only thing the government could prove was that "he cheated at his income tax a little." He's pouring over Holly's accounts, all cash transactions (at his urging, according to Holly, as he advised her to operate cash only for tax reasons), and he's sad at what he sees. 

Sally Tomato: Someday, Mr. Fred, you take this book, turn into a novel. Everything is there. Just fill in a little of the details.

Holly: Certainly would be good for some laughs.

Sally Tomato: No. no, I don’t think so. This is a book would break the heart. “Mr. Fitzsimons, powder room, $50. “Less $18, repair one black satin dress. Cat food, 27 cents.”

Holly: Sally, darling, please stop. You’re making me blush. But you’re right about jack Fitzsimons. He’s an absolute rat. But I guess, of course, I really don’t know anybody but rats. Except, of course, Fred here. You do think Fred is nice, don’t you Sally?

Sally Tomato: For you... I hope he is.

Before they leave, Sally gives them the weather report: Snow flurries expected this weekend in New Orleans.

Fun fact: Sally Tomato is none other than Alan Reed. You may not recognize his face, but you've definitely heard his voice: he's the voice of Fred Flintstone. 

Back home, Paul's finally inspired to do a little bit of writing. I wonder what's inspired him? He keeps typing until he hears the guitar from his window. It's Holly singing while her hair dries. 

Moon River is one of the most iconic movie songs of all time. It's number four on the American Film Institute's 100 songs. Henry Mancini wrote it with Audrey in mind, as she had a very limited range and a very soft voice. He later said, of this song which has been covered by nearly everybody, that Audrey's version is the best; that nobody understood its meaning like her. 

Fun Fact: Allegedly, the Paramount executives wanted to cut the song out of the movie. Audrey was rumoured to have jumped out of her seat and exclaimed: "Over my dead body!" There are conflicting reports about this, but it's a fun story if true. 

2E shows up just as Holly finishes singing, which is super convenient for us viewers. She says a man has been following her for a day or so, and now she's wondering if her husband is having her watched. 

The mystery man. Paul's brazen enough to try and trap him, so he goes on a long walk throughout New York City. 

Finally, in Central Park, the mystery man comes up to him and Paul asks what he wants. Turns out: a friend. He's after a woman in the apartment building, but it's not 2E. It's Holly. He's Doc Golightly, her husband. 

We learn that Holly's real name is Lula Mae Barnes, and that she and her brother were poor and homeless, and had taken to stealing turkey eggs and milk off his farmland in Texas. She was 14 years old at the time, and wild. And for some reason... Doc married her. She has four stepchildren, all girls. Anyways, she ran off, but Fred stayed behind until he joined the Army. Now that he's about to get out, Doc wants Holly to come back, otherwise he's going to write to Fred and tell him to re-enlist, that he can't stay with him any longer. 

Anyways, Fred's devastated by the news that Holly has a husband, but he agrees to bring him back to their building. 

Reunited! Holly was hopeful at first, what with Paul calling her Lula Mae. She was convinced that Fred had found her somehow, and though she's happy to see Doc just then, it won't last. 

Fun Fact: Doc is played by Buddy Ebsen. He was the original Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, but he had a reaction to the silver paint they used for his makeup and he nearly died. His career was stagnant for a long time because of it, and he really only regained his earlier successes in the '60s, starting with this film. He'll be forever known to most people as Jed Klampett from The Beverly Hillbillies, a long-running show that aired from 1962-1971. 

A little while later, Holly knocks on Paul's window. She reveals the truth to him: they aren't married anymore, but Doc won't accept it. She wants him to come to the bus station with them to help her break the news to Doc. He agrees, since he's a glutton for punishment. 

At the bus station, Holly tearfully explains to Doc why she can't come back with him.

Doc Golightly: I love you, Lula Mae.

Holly: I know you do, and that’s the trouble. It’s a mistake you always made Doc, trying to love a wild thing. You were always lugging home wild things. Once it was a hawk with a broken wing. Another time it was a full-grown wildcat with a broken leg...remember?

Doc Golightly: Lula Mae there’s something—

Holly: You mustn’t give your heart to a wild thing. The more you do, the stronger they get until they’re strong enough to run into the woods or fly into a tree, then to higher trees, then to the sky.

Doc reveals that Fred's time in the Army is up in February, and that unless she comes back to Texas, he's going to let Fred know that he needs to sign up for another tour. She tells him not to do that, that she'll take care of him herself, and for some reason, this is what it takes to get through to him. Just as quickly as he appeared, Doc's gone again. 

Now Holly's sad, having relived her past when she's more of an always forward thinker. She and Paul decide to go to a bar so that she can get rip-roaring drunk and forget this whole episode ever happened. 

They wind up at a club with a stripper, and Holly begins to question finances again. Now she's got extra incentive to make money, what with Fred getting out of the Army earlier than anticipated. 

Holly: Do you think she’s handsomely paid?

Paul: Hmm? Oh. Indeed.

Holly: Well, let me tell you something mister. If I had her money, I’d be richer than she is.

Paul: How do you figure that?

Holly: Because I’d keep the candy store. Old Sally Tomato—that’s my candy store. I’d always keep Sally. And that’s why I’d be richer than she is.

And that's when Paul decides Holly's had enough. They go back to their building and continue their discussion.

As he carries her up the stairs, Holly reveals that she's giving up on men and that she's going to "devote her not inconsiderable talents to the immediate capture, for the purpose of matrimony, of Mr. Br-Rutherford—Rusty to his friends, of whom I’m sure he has many—Trawler." 

Paul doesn't approve, at all. And this sparks a fight between them about the issue of money and sex and love, and they both say things that are perhaps hard for the other to hear, but true all the same. She asks him to go upstairs and get the whiskey he has, as she's out. He doesn't want to. 

Holly:  Go ahead. Get the whiskey. I’ll pay you for it.

Paul: Holly, please.

Holly: No, no. you disapprove of me, and I do not accept drinks from gentlemen who disapprove of me. I’ll pay for my own whiskey. And don’t you forget it.

Paul: Holly.

Holly: I do not accept drinks from disapproving gentlemen, especially not disapproving gentlemen who are kept by other ladies. So take it. You should be used to taking money from ladies by now.

Paul: If I were you, I’d be more careful with my money. Rusty Trawler is too hard a way of earning it.

Holly: It should take you exactly four seconds to cross from here to that door. I’ll give you two.

He leaves. She sulks. End scene. 

A few days later, Paul is walking up the stairs with his mail when he finds a cheque: 

He sold a short story to the Northwest Review and earned $50 for it. Notice what the story's called? Roman Caper. It's a fun callback to Audrey's first major film, Roman Holiday. 

He can think of only one person he wants to tell, since she's the one who gave him the typewriter ribbon. He goes up to Holly's door and knocks, but while he waits, he notices Rusty's name on the front page of the newspaper. 

Rusty Trawler got remarried the night before, for the fourth time. Sounds like someone dodged a bullet. 

Holly eventually opens the door and lets Paul in, explaining what happened with Rusty. 

Holly: I thought he was just a rat, but he was a super rat all along. A super rat in rat’s clothing. You don’t even know the best part. Not only was he a rat or super rat. Rather he was also broke. Broke? I mean, but not a farthing. His family has money, of course, but he personally is broke. It turns out he owes $700,000. Can you imagine anyone owing $700,000? $43, yes. Anyway, that’s why he decided to marry the queen of the pig people. I’ll tell you one thing, Fred, darling, I’d marry you for your money in a minute. Would you marry me for my money?

Paul: In a minute. 

Holly: I guess it's a good thing neither of us is rich, huh? 

Paul: Yeah.

Then they kiss, whether on purpose or not, is unclear. Paul reveals why he's actually there, that he sold a story, and they decide to celebrate by going out and doing things they've never done before, though Holly says, "Course, I can't think of anything I haven't done before." 

They pop champagne before breakfast (a first for him) and go for a walk. 

Holly's turn for something new: she's never taken a morning walk. She considers her 6:00 am walks up Fifth Avenue to window shop at Tiffany's to be still night. 

Paul's turn: Holly takes him to Tiffany & Co. While there, he decides to buy her a present. She won't let him cash his $50 cheque, but she'll accept a gift for $10, which is what he has on hand. They look at nice jewels and a sterling silver telephone dialler (imagine needing one of those!) before Paul remembers that he has the Crackerjack ring in his pocket. He asks to have it engraved for Holly. It's settled!

Holly's turn: Paul takes her to the New York Public Library for the very first time, and leads her to the card catalog so she can see his book out in the wild. She's amazed that this place exists. 

Paul's turn: he's never shoplifted, so Holly takes him to the five-and-ten to do it. There's a funny montage here where they try to shoplift increasingly large and oddly-shaped items, including a fish bowl (complete with fish), before they settle on these children's masks. 

Cat and her Huckleberry Friend (get it?). They walk out of the store with their masks on, and as they run into a police officer outside the store, they simply holler at him and run off. 

Back at the building, they're still laughing and wearing their masks. They haul their keys out at the same time, and notice how Holly manages to find hers for the very first time? Personal growth!

Anyways, Paul is so overcome by the moment and Holly that he takes his mask off slowly. So does she. And then they kiss. Fade to black. 

Paul wakes up in his apartment. From his point-of-view, the cat and Huckleberry Hound masks are on a statue. It's implied here that they slept together. The boy's in love! But where's Holly? 

He runs downstairs via the fire escape to her apartment, but she's not there, and Cat really hates the Huckleberry Hound mask. Just as he's about to open the front door and walk back up the main staircase, he sees 2E coming and rushes back up. 

He greets her at the door with his mask on and she laughs at him. He has something serious to talk to her about though. He wants to break off their 'relationship' as he's finally found love. 

2E: What’s the matter? Girl trouble? Is that it, darling? Oh, I see. Well, that’s not so serious. As a matter of fact, I’ve been expecting it. I can’t say I like it, but I’ve been expecting it. Who is she?

Paul: Hasn’t got anything to do with her. This is between you and me.

2E: Oh. Then it is serious. Well, now.

Paul: 2E, you’re a very stylish girl. Can’t we end this stylishly?

2E: End it?

Paul: Yes.

2E: Well... I do believe love has found Andy hardy. Let’s see... a waitress? A salesgirl? No. she’d have to be someone rich, wouldn’t she, Paul? Someone who could help you.

Paul: Curiously enough... she’s a girl who can’t help anyone, not even herself. The thing is, I can help her, and it’s a nice feeling for a change.

2E: All right. I understand. I’ll tell you what, Paul. I am a very stylish girl.

Paul: What are you doing?

2E: Writing a check. Don’t look so bewildered. Surely you’ve noticed me writing checks before. Pay to the order of Paul Varjak, $1,000. Take her away somewhere for a week. You’re entitled to a vacation with pay. Simply a matter of fair labor practice, darling. Of course if you were really smart, you’d get the boys together and organize a union. That way you’d get all the fringe benefits: hospitalization, a pension plan, and unemployment insurance when you’re... how shall I put it? Between engagements.

Paul: Thanks for making it easier for me.

2E: Don’t be ridiculous, darling. Take the check. And call your girl.

Paul: No, thanks. I’ve got a check of my own. When you get yourself a new writer to help, try and find one my size. That way you won’t have to even shorten the sleeves.

He spends the afternoon tracking Holly down, and for some reason, he thinks to check the library. Sure enough, she's there, reading about South America. 

Paul: Not till we get this settled. Now what’s all this jazz about South America?

Holly: I thought if I’m marrying a South American, I’d better find out something about the country.

Paul: Marry? What south American?

Holly: José.

Paul: Who the hell’s José?

Holly: José de Silva Pereira.

Paul: Who the hell’s Jose de Silva Pereira?

Holly: Darling, you met him. I know you did. Mag Wildwood’s friend. The tall good looking one who came to the party with Rusty. Well, my dear, you won’t believe this, but it turns out not only is he handsome and wildly rich, he’s absolutely cuckoo for me.

Paul reveals that he's in love with her, but she balks at him. He realizes that she'll never love him, since he has no money. So he gives her the cheque for $50...his payment for the powder room. 

A little while later, Holly and José are coming back from a date just as Paul's heading downstairs to empty her garbage. There's a letter on the carpet in front of her door, and she picks it up and begins to read as she shuts the door. 

Suddenly, there's crying and screaming, and José comes running out into the hallway to get Paul's help.

Inside, she's absolutely tearing her apartment to shreds. Paul gets a hold of her long enough to break her out of the destruction and puts her to bed while she sobs soundlessly. Out in the living room, he and José read the telegram. It was from Doc, alerting Holly to the fact that Fred was killed in a jeep accident and that he and the children join in her mourning. 

Paul leaves again, and we fade out on Holly in bed, crying while José watches from the doorway. 

It's now months later, and Holly has fully immersed herself in the culture of Brazil and South America. I love how Cat is watching all the action from the top of the taxidermy cow head. She hears the buzzer and rushes to let her dinner guest in.

It's Paul. She tells him that she's going to Rio in the morning, so this is their last goodbye. She's making dinner, but she destroys the pot instead, so they decide to dine out. Holly reveals that she's travelling separately from José, since his family likely won't approve of her, and he hasn't yet asked her to marry him.

They go back to the apartment, and Holly pulls out a keychain with 26 keys on it (she didn't want José to think she's the kind of girl who loses her keys, so she had all the copies made). But it doesn't matter, the door opens, and they think Mr. Yunioshi must've buzzed them up. 

But when they get to Holly's apartment, they're both arrested on account of their involvement with Sally Tomato. 

At the police station, Holly naively answers questions about Sally, admitting her guilt in several places but also alluding to the fact that she honestly seems to have no idea what she was actually wrapped up in. One of the journalists asks who's representing her, and there's a funny moment when she says Sally Tomato's lawyer will probably represent her...just as he's being led in handcuffed as well! 

Anyways, with O.J.'s help, Paul secures her bail and gets her out of jail. All of her possessions are in the cab and he's going to take her to a hotel to hide out from the reporters. 

He even grabbed Cat. Holly however, wants to go to Brazil, like she planned. Why waste a perfectly good plane ticket? And like she says, "There are certain shades of limelight that can wreck a girl's complexion." 

But Paul has news on that front: José now can't deal with her drug scandal and has broken up with her via letter. He thinks she'll now want to go to the hotel, not to South America, but she's adamant that she's leaving. Then Paul tries again. 

Paul: Holly. I’m not going to let you do this.

Holly: You’re not going to let me?

Paul: Holly, I’m in love with you.

Holly: So what?

Paul: So what? So plenty! I love you. You belong to me.

Holly: No. people don’t belong to people.

Paul: Of course they do.

Holly: I’m not going to let anyone put me in a cage.

Paul: I don’t want to put you in a cage! I want to love you!

Holly: It’s the same thing. 

To prove just how little she needs companionship and love, Holly asks the cab driver to pull over. When he does, she pushes Cat out of the car towards the direction of an alley. 

Side note: Audrey was an animal lover, though she was more of a dog person, and she always considered this scene to be the most distasteful thing she ever did on film. You can even hear it in her voice, the way it cracks as she tells Cat to "Scram! I said take off! Beat it!"

Tossing Cat into the rain is the last straw for Paul. Though the cab begins to drive off, Paul quickly tells the driver to pull over again and gets out. Before he walks away, he launches into a soul-bearing monologue that strips Holly away from the bells and whistles she's hiding behind and reveals that he sees her for who she really is: a scared girl. 

Paul: You know what's wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You're chicken, you've got no guts. You're afraid to stick out your chin and say, "Okay, life's a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness." You call yourself a free spirit, a "wild thing," and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it's not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.

He tosses the Crackerjack ring at her, and leaves. Holly opens it up, slides the ring on her finger and begins to cry: she doesn't want to run away anymore. So she jumps out of the cab as well and runs back towards where she left Cat. 

You can watch the ending scene here, where she tries desperately to find Cat again. 

It's heartbreaking isn't it, watching her look for him? 

Not going to lie, I always get a little teary-eyed as the music swells here and Holly looks so desperately sad that she threw away her only friend. When you hear that little meow, my heart melts. Holly's finally learned that love is strength and she's not going to be afraid of it anymore. 

And they all lived happily ever after, after Holly gives evidence for the State against Sally Tomato. 

The end!

OTHER TIDBITS:

- Last summer I went to Toronto to see Queen + Adam Lambert in concert, and the one can't-miss stop (aside from the concert, naturally) I had planned was to go to Tiffany & Co. I felt waaay underdressed, but totally glamorous for those few minutes I was there looking at the jewellery. 

- In 2021, you can have breakfast at Tiffany's, if you're in New York!

- Two of my favourite people on the internet, Tom and Lorenzo, included Holly Golightly's little black dress in their One Iconic Look series. "The dress itself is probably the most famous dress in film history and stands at that cultural crossroads where its boundless influences rippled outwards to have effects on both fashion and cinematic costume design for decades to come."