Audrey Hepburn is charming and beautiful in this wonderful film. She is totally believable both as a princess, and as a "normal" citizen for a day. From the start we feel that the princess appears to have more human characteristics than the royal people she is surrounded with, e.g. losing her shoe, and also her exhaustion and frustration with having to remember unrelenting daily schedules and routines. This helps to draw us in to her character to such an extent that we later delight in little things such as Anya getting her hair cut, and seeing her discover what it is like to have the freedom of being just a "normal" person.. something that we all take for granted. She thoroughly deserved her Oscar for best actress. Not that this was a one person film, Gregory Peck is also great as the news-reporter, and we genuinely believe that his character goes from initially seeking to profit from the princess, to actually falling in love with her.
The film is successful at involving us with the adventures of the main characters. We feel that we are actually tagging along with the romantic excursions, but not to the point where we feel that we are intruders. Hence we seem to share a lot of the characters' emotions. In the end we develop such sympathy for both characters that we feel their individual pains, and the hopelessness of their situations in that they are denied what they want because of who they are. Perhaps drawing the audience in, to the point where they are able to empathise with the characters, is where a lot of modern romantic films fail.. sure this film might appear dated in it's black & white form on-screen, but the emotions are timeless.. and it more than stands the test of repeated viewing.
The film is successful at involving us with the adventures of the main characters. We feel that we are actually tagging along with the romantic excursions, but not to the point where we feel that we are intruders. Hence we seem to share a lot of the characters' emotions. In the end we develop such sympathy for both characters that we feel their individual pains, and the hopelessness of their situations in that they are denied what they want because of who they are. Perhaps drawing the audience in, to the point where they are able to empathise with the characters, is where a lot of modern romantic films fail.. sure this film might appear dated in it's black & white form on-screen, but the emotions are timeless.. and it more than stands the test of repeated viewing.
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