Is this a faithful novel adaptation?
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spanishdivaangel — 11 years ago(July 12, 2014 06:53 PM)
No, not at all. In the novel Paul isn't a "kept man" and is actually gay. At the end, Holly gets on the plane to South America.
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angelexposed — 11 years ago(November 30, 2014 06:09 PM)
It's been a good few years since I read the novella but there was way more emphasis on Holly's profession (which was glossed over nicely in the film). I believe also there was reference to Holly being bisexual (sounds unbelievable I know)nd I can't remember if it was mentioned that she has a fling with the Wildwood woman.
Holly is described as being very young, eighteen years old and blonde, more of a modern teen bombshell than the elegant, intelligent and sophisticated way she is portrayed by Hepburn. Blake Edwards actually wanted Marilyn Monroe to play her ( as Marilyn not only looked how Holly was supposed to, but it was decided she also knew exactly how to play the role due to her doing it in real life) but once Marilyn's agent read the novella and realised Holly was a "hooker" she was warned it would kill her career.
Paul in the novella I don't believe even had a name other than Fred and this was only because Holly decided this is what she would call him. There was no romantic story between the two because as the previous poster mentioned, Paul's character was Gay. I can't remember if "Fred" is mentioned as being somewhere in his thirties or not, but the way he speaks of Holly makes me think she's waaaaay younger than him.
In the end it's mentioned Holly takes off to South America and is never seen again, I think it was suggested she had sent blank postcards from there, but he never talked to her again. Cat, I think, "Fred" saw one day in someone's window and hoped that Holly had found her forever home as well.
Pretty much all I remember. It's less of a book and more of a short story. The film ended much more nicely but the story was more poignant. -
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elwyn5150 — 10 years ago(October 18, 2015 04:40 AM)
No. I read the novella yesterday and saw the movie today. I would add:
- novella set during WWII, film set during the 60s
- novella starts when the narrator ("Fred") goes back to a bar that he and Holly frequetly went to during the past because neither of them had a phone in their apartments back then. Both the narrator and the bartender have long since lost contact with Holly but they both profess to love her in their differing ways. The bartender has asked the narrator to come there because he received a photo taken by the Japanese guy. The photo was taken in a remote tribal hut in Africa and depicts a wood carving that seems to depict Holly. Earlier, the Japanese guy had spoken to the guy who made the carving and finds out that he encountered the woman with two men but is unable to truly determine if that was Holly.
- the film condensed the Japanese guy and Holly's landlord into one character played by Mickey Rooney
- the novella has a lot more about Mag, Rusty and Jose including letting Mag become her roommate. In the novella, Holly is pregnant by Jose at the time of the arrest but the female landlord assists the police. During the arrest, Holly calls her a bull dyke and gets slapped really hard and there is a miscarriage.
- the movie added the character Emily, Paul's benefactor
- the film tends to make Holly a nicer chaaracter, seem not so completely self-centred and mean. Early in the novella, the narrator ("Fred") and Holly fall out very quickly by insulting his work
- in the novella, just before the arrest, Holly and the narrator go horseriding in Central Park, his horse is attacked by African-American youths causing it to throw him. He feels she saved his life.