Surprisingly, the title of this post refers not to my foray into screenwriting but to the 1963 film starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.
Cody and I watched “Charade” on Friday night, which makes it the first weekly screening of this project. Set in Paris, it’s a mix of suspense, romance and comedy that you MUST see, if you haven’t already, for the deliciously witty dialog, quirky characters, fun plot twists and incredible cast and chemistry. Walter Matthau (as detective Hamilton Bartholomew) rocks the comedic house as per usual, and Grant and Hepburn are scintillating. Cody kept commenting on the obvious and immense age difference between them, but so did the characters themselves, which is just one example of the movie’s playfulness (I was going to add “and self-awareness” but it seemed out of place coming from the completely clueless). And you know, it just occurred to me that perhaps Cody is sensitive to age discrepancies simply because he is married to a much younger woman himself… okay, it’s just five and a half years, but sometimes our cultural references don’t intersect so it can seem like decades. For example, I don’t even WANT to know what HR PufnStuf is.
Back to “Charade.” I loved all the odd (and perhaps even daring) details. One of the villains wore a trench-coat and had a hook for a hand. His creepy cohort sneezed suddenly and furiously at crucial moments. Cary Grant’s character (who went through four different names/indentities during the course of the film) took a shower with his suit on just to amuse “Reggie” (the nickname of Audrey Hepburn’s character, Regina Lampert). Many lines, behaviors and/or actions seemed random and caught me off guard, but that’s what made the movie so irresistible… I was reeled in right away.
It’s hard to articulate because I’m not used to reviewing or analyzing films, but of the takeaways I’ll keep in mind as I write my own romantic comedy, a couple stood out. I guess I can describe them as a striving for smart, sparkling dialog and shaping characters through personality, imperfections and peccadilloes.
In almost every scene of “Charade” was an awesome exchange or one-liner–I’d say they were unforgettable, but there were too many of them to recall. IMDB mentions one of my favorites: Hepburn touches Grants’ cleft chin in the midst of a conversation and says, “How do you shave in there?” (Click here for IMDB’s lengthy list of other gems from the movie.) Contrast that to the line I recently threw at Cody while gently touching his face: “I think you’ve got a zit forming on your cheek.”
I loved how the characters, particularly Hepburn’s Reggie Lampert, were shaped in such a way that you couldn’t help but enjoy and care about them. One example is how Reggie’s appetite waxed and waned throughout the film depending on her mental state. She became hungry (and even more doe-eyed than usual) when stressed, scared or sad. In the beginning of the film, while on vacation with her friend Sylvie, tiny Reggie munches away while lamenting the inevitable failure of her marriage. Slyvie remarked, “It is infuriating that your unhappiness does not turn to fat!” Later in the film, after receiving bad news from the CIA, she asks for a chicken sandwich. On the other hand, I appreciated the way Cary Grant’s character would throw out a flat, fake laugh after his own dry or punny jokes. The film presented everything in a cheeky, slightly exaggerated style that I just loved.
Due in large part to help from this film, I think I’ve pinpointed a signature behavioral quirk to bestow upon my story’s main character, one that can pop up here and there and infuse humor and a sense of humanity. Of course it’s completely different from Reggie’s, but it would serve a similar purpose. Very exciting!
I have to add that I now fully understand why Hepburn is such a fashion icon, whereas I only “kinda got it” before. Every coat, shoe and jacket she wears in this movie is to die for! My favorite look was a red coat with funnel neck and cropped sleeves paired with black leather gloves and a leopard print hat (right).
Oh, and while I like George Clooney, he’s got nothin’ on Cary Grant.
Note: It seems like a major pain, but you can view “Charade” for free online in serial form (21 five-minute segments, yikes). Otherwise it’s off to netflix with you!
