I have recently watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It has always been one of my favorites. I always admired AH, I thought of her as the embodiment of femininity, even though nowadays, femininity is mistaken for sexuality.
The movie was also aspirational – I wished for going to NY, to that exact shop, and to buy from Tiffany. Beyond all of these, however, I have also seen another facet of the movie.
I saw in the main character someone who runs away from any relationship that may be good for them, looking for a chimera that promises them social status and financial stability. She loves her brother but she finds out he is dead, she loves her cat, that one being who loved her back unconditionally, but in her rush to the airport, to catch a plane to her financial stability, she gives up on the cat, letting it go in the pouring rain. She is being loved by a man, another being who loves her beyond her moodiness, but she declines him, tossing in his face all of her insecurities.
The movie ends on a positive note, she gets down from a cab, runs after the cat, finds the one that loved her, and, finally, she only has eyes for him.
How many times aren’t we running, in real life, after Fata Morgana, how many times don’t we feel that something is waiting for us, us the starred ones, maybe a man on a white horse, a beautiful girl like Ileana Cosânzeana (or maybe an Elsa, or a Barbie)? In our rush, we forget to look around and we even devalue what we already have.
Some people (women and men) are acting like hedgehogs. They want to get closer to each other but they are afraid they will get stung. They move away, then they get closer, they make an effort, they get stung, leave and then return, afraid that they may get stung again, but they don’t want to be alone and cold.
Holly, the feminine character from BAT, was somehow like a hedgehog. But she let herself domesticated, for the delight of many. If life was better than the movie, we would see so many more happy endings.