"If you love someone, send him to New York, because it is heaven; if you hate someone, send him to New York, because it is hell."
If you read the synopsis of the film, or were attracted by Hepburn's innocent appearance, and thought that this old 1960s film was celebrating a "poor and beautiful" love story, you would be wrong.
The protagonist of the story, Holly, came to New York from the southern countryside and wanted to change her life, but she became a high-level courtesan; but whether she is vain or forced to make a living, the only remaining sincerity is being rolled by material desires. The torrent is fraught with hardships, how can her unbelievable behavior be summed up in a few words of criticism?
Why does Holly call Paul by her brother's name? I think that she actually had a different kind of affection for him when they first met, but Paul at that time was also a little white face supported by a noble lady, poor and white, did not meet her mate selection criteria, but was so similar to her situation; In addition, her younger brother was her only concern in the first 19 years of her life. When she was 14 years old, she married for her younger brother. After coming to New York, she worked hard to socialize. Calling Paul is like treating Paul as his family, or the only "friend" who can give a little sincerity in this bustling metropolis.
Like her insistence not to name cats, Holly herself says she "don't want to own anything until I find a suitable place". Before meeting Paul, she and Mao Mao were just a relationship of mutual warmth, no one belonged to the other. She felt that the right place was like Tiffany jewelry, sparkling and soothing her uneasy mood, but in a ten-mile foreign market like New York, where all kinds of bulls, ghosts and snakes competed to stage burles, why would such good things fall on her head up.
In all fairness, this film has actually embellished the social relationships that the protagonist encounters: whether it is the male protagonist Paul, his ex-husband Dr. Golette, or the agent who discovered Holly, Mr. Berman, facing such a beautiful and self-willed young woman, all exerted their greatest goodwill. Even Holly's prospective fiancé, the Brazilian billionaire Jose, who finally deserted her, only politely broke off the engagement in the form of a letter.
However, how could an ignorant and vain young woman, after being immersed in Manhattan's staggered social circle for a period of time, immediately give up her easy-to-have high-society life for the so-called "true love"? Confused, is she really sure what kind of life she wants in New York?
Why did he avoid him after he had a real love for Paul, and even went to the library to read books related to South America? At that time, Holly was still not sure that Paul was her true love. In addition, after Paul bid farewell to the life of the little white face, she felt the pressure of being possessed, and the flustered verbal attacks made the distance between them more and more Far.
Why did he still insist on marrying Jose after learning of his brother's death, and even after being divorced, he still wanted to go to the airport and leave New York by plane? The death of her brother and the dissolution of the engagement were so exciting to Holly that she didn't even know who she was or where she belonged. She would rather live in a dream she wove than wake up, feeling that New York is a cage, since she doesn't belong here, why not go far away and start a new life incognito?
In my opinion, Holly's mental activity is not all "sitting in the BMW and crying", nor is it all "being full of love". She has been struggling between the two emotional modes, afraid to recognize her own identity and position, and dare not show her sincerity, just as Paul said to her before getting off the bus:
In the original book, the ending was BE. After Holly let the cat go, she still went to Brazil, and Paul searched for a long time before he found the stray cat. A glorious past and unspeakable selfish desires live on, but in this metropolis, there are two less grievances, and more lovers who report to the group to keep warm.
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