Known for her natural grace and elegant beauty, Audrey Hepburn was a fixture of many notable films throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Winning an Academy Award for Roman Holiday and starring opposite Henry Fonda and future husband Mel Ferrer in War and Peace, Audrey Hepburn established herself early on as the epitome of glamour and sophistication. In 1957, Hepburn was paired with the legendary Fred Astaire in Funny Face, a film that combined upbeat musical numbers and bold colors with a clever satire of the fashion industry.

While Funny Face is whimsical and pairs one of Hollywood’s up-and-coming stars with a legendary leading man known for his roles alongside Ginger Rogers, there’s also a substantial amount of depth. Funny Face, as was the case with many films of the Technicolor era, served as a focal point for current trends in fashion but also broke from the typical ways in which women were presented to a mainstream audience. Bright, bold, and beautiful, Funny Face continues to charm audiences with its chemistry between Hepburn and Astaire and its colorful imagery that accentuates every scene.

Bright Lights and the World of High Fashion

A common theme during the Technicolor days in Hollywood, especially during the post-war boom period of the 1950s, was harnessing bright colors and bold designs to enthrall audiences and, in some cases, advertise and promote current trends. At first glance, one might expect Funny Face to be one of these, especially with its main plot being centered around the fashion industry. The world of designers and models may be an integral aspect of Funny Face, but it’s not the only thing to be contained within the film. With its cut-throat competition and a never-ending cavalcade of real and imagined characters, the fashion world provides a backdrop for all sorts of narratives. In fact, just over a decade later, the vibrant colors of fashion would serve as the backdrop for the stylish murder mystery Blood and Black Lace, directed by horror maestro Mario Bava.

Funny Face, with its boisterous musical number, “Think Pink,” seems to hint that pink is all the rage and that everyone in attendance is going to run out and update their wardrobe. The bombastic tone and bright colors that accompany the film’s opening musical number craft an immaculate parody of an industry that desperately tries to stay ahead of the curve. Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson), the overbearing and eccentric fashionista, embodies the business-savvy and unrelenting drive that turns her into an over-the-top character and provides a serious amount of comic relief.

It’s the world of high fashion that Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn) inexplicably becomes intertwined with following an impromptu photo shoot at the bookstore where she works. Jo is very much the antithesis of what one might assume a fashion model might be. She’s smart, an avid reader of philosophy, and regards the world of fashion for what it is: vapid, shallow, and without any intellectual depth whatsoever. After some convincing on the part of fashion photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire), Jo joins the ranks of the fashion world with all of its glitz and glamor and stunning, albeit manufactured gloss.

A Breakout Performance Alongside an Established Veteran

To many audiences who might have been en route to seeing Funny Face in 1957, the aspect of seeing Fred Astaire in a romantic comedy was certainly nothing new. In fact, Astaire’s reputation for lighting up the screen in this particular genre of film was well-established. Fred Astaire could have been paired with anyone, and his star power would have no doubt rubbed off on a co-star and allowed them to shine alongside him. Audrey Hepburn’s performance shines just as, if not more brightly than Astaire’s. Hepburn manages to embody the same charming personality that Astaire was known for while also encapsulating an incredible amount of naivety and elegance that allows her to stand out from so many other leading ladies of the time period.

What makes Hepburn’s performance in Funny Face so unique is the way she can weave in between the aspects of her character and express them thoroughly, making Jo a multidimensional character and not just eye candy or a damsel in distress. The scenes that call on Hepburn to portray a model are accentuated by her natural grace and elegance, which were essential in launching her career to stardom.

Besides the scenes that call for Hepburn to deliver on her persona, she also fully utilizes her training as a ballet dancer in one of the film’s most memorable scenes. In a sequence that takes place in a dimly lit Parisian nightclub, Hepburn puts her training as a dancer in an expressive beatnik performance that’s far removed from what one might have expected in anything made by Hollywood at the time. Hepburn’s spontaneous movements and her waxing philosophy with the locals allow Jo Stockton to be a character with substance and not just style. The love of knowledge combined with an appreciation for artistic expression is something far ahead of its time and easily one of the most endearing qualities in Funny Face.

Charming, Whimsical, and An Essential Part of Audrey Hepburn’s Body of Work
Paramount

There’s something to be said about any performer who manages to have a varied body of work with a wide array of performances that keeps them from being typecast. Audrey Hepburn’s films are full of iconic performances that range from subdued and subtle to endearing and elegant. Funny Face shows Hepburn being passed the torch in many ways, as Astaire elevated her star quality to new heights that would open up many doors for her in the years to come.

While thriving on a mixture of music, comedy, and romantic chemistry, Funny Face has a considerable level of satire and a lead character who embodies intelligence and an impressive worldview. Audrey Hepburn’s films are full of characters such as these, and in Funny Face, she was allowed to have many of her talents on full display for the world to see.