Audrey: A Movie That Depicts the Life of a World-Famous Icon (Director Helena Coan)

I wrote this article in Japanese and translated it into English using ChatGPT. I also used ChatGPT to create the English article title. I did my best to correct any translation mistakes, but please let me know if you find any errors. By the way, I did not use ChatGPT when writing the Japanese article. The entire article was written from scratch by me, Saikawa Goto.

Introduction

Movies and books covered in this article

What I want to convey in this article

The life of a world-famous superstar who was a “genius at loving” but could not become a “genius at being loved.”

Three takeaways from this article

Self-introduction article

The quotes used in this article are based on notes taken at the movie theater from movies in Japanese and are not direct quotes from the foreign language original movies, even if they exist.

The Incredible Life of Audrey, a Globally Renowned Superstar, and the Loneliness She Carried with Her Throughout Her Life

In the movie, there is a scene where Audrey’s granddaughter speaks like this:

It’s sad that the most loved person in the world was hungry for love.

Audrey’s father reportedly spoke about her like this:

Let me tell you Audrey’s biggest secret. It was that she always carried sadness with her.

This may be surprising to many people.

Audrey said:

The best thing in my life was being able to use the pain I experienced to help myself later. And being able to love unconditionally.

She continued to carry various troubles and difficulties, but in the end, those experiences became the nourishment of her life. She was apparently tormented by the “loneliness” that she could not let go of throughout her life, but still, she was able to receive her life’s journey as “a good thing.”

The movie “Audrey” follows her background and episodes while showing the side of Audrey that many people don’t know, revealing her true self.

The “Intense” and “Universality” of Audrey

In the movie, various characters praise Audrey. Among them, the movie “Roman Holiday,” which made her presence known, was a tremendous shock. They were expressing their surprise in various ways,

Suddenly appeared as a “new type”.

Created a new female image.

One of the last stars of the Hollywood golden age.

Audrey originally learned ballet for a long time and was a girl who felt that “she could forget her anxiety only when she was dancing.” Her dream was, of course, to become a dancer. Although she also worked as an actress, it was only a means of making a living, and she had no intention of becoming an actress, of course. However, two coincidences that happened in a certain month led her to audition for “Roman Holiday,” and as a result, she became a member of the world-famous superstar overnight.

Audrey herself said,

I’m shy, so I’m not suitable for an actor. It might be acceptable if it were a dancer.

However, many people praised her talent as an “actress.”

Audrey was good at adding gravity to characters that were often fluffy.

Capote, author of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, felt that Audrey was too elegant for the role of Holly. He thought she should be more frivolous, more like an accessory to a man. However, she ended up creating a new Holly image. She elevated the character from being just a prostitute to a complex one.

In the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” Audrey’s producing skills were also evident. After watching the preview, executives suggested cutting the scene of her singing “Moon River,” which later became a famous scene in the movie. Audrey vehemently opposed the idea, saying “I’ll never allow it,” according to her son. It’s surprising to think that the famous scene might have been cut if Audrey hadn’t opposed it. Her insight in opposing the cut was also admirable.

Audrey’s production skills were also showcased in the fashion world with the Audrey style of the world-famous fashion brand “GIVENCHY”.

Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey met at a meeting to discuss the costumes for the movie “Sabrina”. Initially, Hubert was not enthusiastic about meeting her, but after they talked, they both realized their similarities and became fascinated with each other.

This episode was recounted by a certain designer who appears in the movie, and she referred to Hubert and Audrey as “artist and artist.” Audrey was not just a “mere model who wore clothes,” but “Audrey style” was created as a result of their collaboration. The same designer even said,

Many of the important dresses in fashion history were made by Givenchy for Audrey.

Although I am not familiar with fashion, I think Audrey’s presence was still overwhelming and would have had a significant influence on the fashion industry.

Now, I’d like to talk a little about my “impression” of her. What I think is amazing about her is that if Audrey in her prime appeared in modern times as an unknown, she would still be just as impressive and relevant.

When I imagine Marilyn Monroe, who lived in the same era, I don’t think she would still be relevant today with the same impact as before. This is because Marilyn Monroe gives the strong impression of being exactly what the times demanded. Of course, there may still be people who prefer a Marilyn Monroe-like figure even today, but I don’t think there would be the same level of enthusiasm as there was back then. In that sense, I don’t feel a sense of “universality” from her.

However, in Audrey’s case, I feel like she would still be relevant even if she appeared in modern times exactly as she was then. She had a sensational presence even back then, and I think it would be the same even today.

This is just my personal “impression,” but I was surprised by Audrey’s “universality” in that sense.

“Hunger” Caused by War and “Hunger” for Love.

Audrey’s life can be said to have been full of suffering. The only exception was the days after she met a man named Robby (Robert) in her later years, which became calm and different from before. But basically, she always felt some kind of “hunger”.

As a child, she suffered from literal “hunger”. This was because she was born and raised in the Netherlands, which was occupied by the German army. It was a life where it was extremely difficult to secure food, and at the end of the war, many children, including her, were said to have suffered from malnutrition.

My life is shaped by memories of that time. That hardship and poverty still exist within me even now.

Audrey said so herself, and it’s true. In her later years, she provided tremendous support for UNICEF activities. Everyone was amazed by her dedication, but the reason for it was that she herself was literally “saved” by the UNICEF people who came to the Netherlands where she lived.

She also gave up her dream of becoming a ballerina later on. It seems that her height, which was tall for a ballerina, and the fact that her muscles had weakened due to malnutrition were major reasons. In life, we never know what will happen, but we could even say that “because she experienced hunger in the war, she was able to walk the path to becoming a worldwide star.”

Now, even after she no longer had to worry about what to eat, Audrey continued to feel “hunger”. What she sought throughout her life was “love”. When many people talk about Audrey, what is impressive is that they often talk about “loneliness” and “hunger for love”.

There is a background to this, which is the “disappearance of her father,” but let’s touch on that a little later. First, let’s talk about the “defects” that Audrey continued to hold onto.

When you hear that Audrey “felt ‘ugly’ about herself,” many people may be surprised. Although it was not touched upon much in the movie, her mother seems to have been a quite harsh person, and influenced by her relationship with her mother, Audrey convinced herself that she was “ugly.”

At one point, she talked about her complex, saying,

I want to change everything about my facial features.

She also said,

Beauty is what people see. I can’t see it myself. So when I wake up in the morning, do my best to look beautiful.

These statements suggest that she felt a “defect” in her appearance.

And this feeling is not limited to appearance. She felt that there was something very much missing from who she was. This is what her son says. He was with his mother all the time for a couple of weeks during her hospitalization before Audrey’s death and he said this about the impression he had when he talked with his mother at that time.

My mother felt that she had some flaws in herself. However, she also believed that it was not good to live feeling that way. That’s why she was able to move forward.

In modern terms, we could say that “her self-esteem was low.” Her identity as a global superstar did not satisfy her. And while carrying a lack that she didn’t even know how to perceive, she closed her life.

Having been Abandoned by Her Father, She Chose a Life Where Family Comes First

Audrey’s parents’ divorce was a huge event for her when she was young. She couldn’t understand why her father suddenly disappeared, and it was said that she struggled with the fact of “father’s disappearance” throughout her life.

There is an episode that shows how much she was suffering. In 1964, 25 years after her father’s disappearance, Audrey, who had already become a world-famous star, expressed her desire to know her father’s whereabouts. You can understand how important “father” was to her. And when she found out that her father was in Ireland with the help of the Red Cross, she went to see him.

A friend who heard the story directly from her said the following:

She cried while telling me the story. Her father was cold. He didn’t express happiness about their reunion and it hurt her.

In the end, the reunion with her father did not heal her “emotional scars.” She couldn’t bring herself to ask her father, who didn’t seem happy about seeing her again, “Why did you abandon me?” She decided to forgive her father.

However, even though she made that decision, the “fear of being abandoned by someone” did not completely disappear from within her. The fear was present in all her relationships, but it was especially pronounced in her dealings with men. Some have analyzed that this is because she sought a “father figure” in her partners.

Another episode shows how being separated from her father during childhood had a major impact on her life. At the height of her career as an actress, she made the decision to step away from the film world for 10 years to focus on raising her children. She couldn’t bear the pain of not being able to take care of her son while filming movies. Many people in the film industry couldn’t believe her decision, but Audrey herself said,

Being at home makes me happy. It’s not a sacrifice.

She probably meant it. In another scene, she said,

Happy enough just to find someone can love.
If loved, even luckier.

In terms of being loved, her life was one of hardship and difficulty, but when it came to loving others, she had extraordinary talent and ability.

Since she valued not only childcare but also “daily life,” she was greatly stressed in Rome where her privacy was violated by paparazzi. Therefore, she moved to a building called “La Paisible” in Switzerland, which means “silence” in French. She spent peaceful days with “ordinary friends” who lived nearby.

There was an episode that symbolized Audrey’s lifestyle. One of her friends revealed it. When her then-6-year-old son asked her, “Is Audrey a movie star?” she replied, “She’s a big star.” However, the son asked her further, “Then why doesn’t she live like a movie star?” She preferred simple and ordinary things in places where there were no cameras, and above all, she was a woman who loved her family.

Activities at UNICEF in Later Years

Audrey was active in UNICEF in her later years. Her influence was tremendous; whenever she did PR, she would raise donations of up to a million dollars each time, and when she gave a speech at a US congressional hearing, she won an additional budget of 60 million dollars in just one hour. A character in a movie said of her, “She used her fame for the good of the world,” and I truly feel that this is accurate.

However, Audrey, who has “low self-esteem,” was quoted as saying

I worry about whether I’m really being helpful.

As someone who has followed her life, I feel that this is a very Audrey-like moment, but even so, it may be said that she was overly anxious. In the movie, it was mentioned how in the five years since Audrey became involved with UNICEF, the organization doubled in size, demonstrating the tremendous impact she had. It’s a great contribution to be proud of.

While I didn’t understand it exactly, it is likely that Audrey’s parents were the ones who inspired her to become involved with UNICEF. Her parents organized a charity event and invited Audrey to speak about her wartime experiences. It was there that a UNICEF representative in the audience offered her the position of goodwill ambassador. Audrey said that it was a great joy to be able to be involved with UNICEF, the organization that had saved her life when she was a child.

That’s why she worked so hard. Audrey originally thought that when her acting career slowed down, she would settle down in one place and relax, but her involvement with UNICEF completely ruined those plans. It is said that not only did she fly around the world, but she learned about the politics and conditions in every country she went to. According to a friend who was a photographer and had traveled all over the world for work, Audrey constantly bombarded him with questions like “What’s that country like?” and “What did you see there?”

Although they never married, Robby, who spent his later years with Audrey, wanted her to take a break because she was too busy, but he lamented that “if someone from UNICEF asked her to go anywhere, she would go.”

The “tragic scene” in front of her was not someone else’s problem. She had experienced hunger and suffering herself. She said, “I can’t bear to see children die in front of me,” and despite her difficult feelings, she desperately continued to do what she could. Many people speak of her relationship with UNICEF as “selfless” and “working altruistically.”

She truly “loved human beings.

Audrey had a tremendous presence not only as an actress or artist, but as a “human being.” Please watch her life story. She was truly a “genius at loving.”

Conclusion

Even considering the difference in times, I couldn’t help but wonder if there is anyone like Audrey in the world today. When it comes to people with global influence, I think of BTS or Madonna, but Audrey had an “omnidirectional ability ” and “universality” that few seem to possess. While people like Bill Gates are known for their contributions to society, they don’t have artistic talent like Audrey did.

She was truly a “one-of-a-kind” person in every sense of the word and her humanity was truly remarkable. The fact that she tried to use her talents to make the world a better place and yet remained “lonely” throughout her life was truly surprising. I highly recommend this work.