On Audrey Hepburn: An Opinionated Guide

Why should Audrey Hepburn matter today? This lively and engaging book revises the contemporary view of Hepburn that sees her primarily as a fashion icon and style guru, frozen in images from Breakfast at Tiffany's and My Fair Lady. Author Steven Cohan argues that her films, more than her biography or her likeness in stock images and magazine photos, are essential to understanding both her importance as one of the all-time major stars to emerge in Hollywood after World War II and her lasting fame in the 21st century. On Audrey Hepburn examines the key elements--her expressive face, her distinctive voice, her unorthodox body-that contributed to her persona and led to her charismatic presence onscreen. While pointing to the many contradictions inhering in her star image, Cohan emphasizes the liminality Hepburn represented, demonstrating how her characters' mischief, intelligence, and desiring supplied the primary motor for the Cinderella plots, resisted the films' patriarchal template and closures, and complicated her asymmetrical casting opposite older male stars. Similarly, Hepburn's close relation with designer Hubert de Givenchy, which established her identification with haute couture, enhanced her movement onscreen, offering a pathway through spectacle for viewer identification with her energy and agency. With Hepburn in Givenchy on screen, Cohan argues, fashion worked as a transformative event for her characters. On Audrey Hepburn further looks at how, playing a woman threatened with deception and murder in thrillers, Hepburn reversed the conventional role of women in this genre through her strong female characters who confront and deal with danger on their own terms. Finally, the book examines Hepburn's skill as actress, considering her expert timing, use of props, facial and vocal expressions, interaction with other actors in an ensemble, and the overall nuance with which she developed complex characterizations. On Audrey Hepburn is an entertaining and insightful guide to this star through her films, reminding readers why she was so immediately popular after her breakout roles in Roman Holiday and Sabrina, why she had such a crucial influence on women's fashions, and why she received so much acclaim and award recognition as an actress in the US and abroad.