Funny Face (1957)

Audrey Hepburn: Empathicalist

Something happened when Audrey Hepburn was on the set. And

something magical, universal and transformational occurred in the

audience. It was not just due to the fact that as an actress she

was capable of an extremely wide range of emotional expression.

That quality or flexibility within authenticity is top-flight

actors’ & actresses’ real genius of communication & why some

actors earn their place in the hearts of an entire generation. I

hope to convey in this essay a perspective of Audrey’s character

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that was more than simply convincing, well-scripted, carefully

blocked or exquisitely photographed. The theme of this essay

deals with the transformation of the actress & not simply the

transformation of the characters she portrayed. Something else

happened to her on the set.

In the 1957 film Funny Face Fred Astaire plays a New York

fashion photographer Dick Avery (a role modeled in part after

photographer Richard Avedon who provided the promotional

advertising stills.) While searching for an intellectual

backdrop for an air-headed model Avery commandeers a Greenwich

Village bookstore. When the photo session is over the bookstore

is left in shambles, much to salesgirl Jo Stockton's dismay.

Avery stays behind to help her clean up & while re-shelving the

books Jo takes the opportunity to explain empathy:

Later, he examines the photos taken there and sees Jo in the

background of one shot. He is intrigued by her unique appearance,

as is Maggie Prescott, the editor of a leading fashion magazine.

They offer Jo a modeling contract, which she reluctantly accepts

only because it includes a trip to Paris & the opportunity to

meet her favorite philosophe du jour. He is the Father of

Empathicalism which she defined in the clip above as:

“…the most sensible approach to true understanding and

piece of mind…based on empathy….It goes beyond

sympathy. Sympathy is to understand what someone feels.

Empathy is to project your imagination so to actually

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feel what the other person is feeling. You put yourself

in the other person’s place. Do I make myself clear?”

Perhaps it is just a testimony of her dramatic abilities but

it is easy to believe that she actually felt that way. Later in

the film Jo Stockton has slipped away from her modeling shoot

only to be found in the proto-Beatnik bar where she hopes to find

the illustrious philosopher Dr. Emile Floustre. Having understood

one of the basic tenets of Empathicalism Dick finds her chatting

away amicably with a small group of rather inebriated, agreeable

Frenchmen & again we find her defining Empathicalism.

 

JS: I have no doubt that in less than ten years, people

everywhere will know that only Empathicalism can bring peace.

Peace through understanding is the only real... 

DA: (entering): Well, hello. How are you? 

JS: Just fine and you. How are you? 

DA: How long have you been in Paris? (He asks knowingly) 

JS: (introducing Dick to her new “friends”) This is Mr Avery.

These are my friends. 

DA: How do you do, boys? Would you mind if I had my own

conversation with this lady?       

 

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JS: They don’t understand English.

 

DA: You were talking English

 

JS: It's hard to explain, but its all part of Empathicalism. We

don't have to communicate with words.  They understand me

through the way I feel, and the tone of my voice.

 

DA: Sort of like a dog. (tongue firmly planted in cheek)

 

JS: Obviously, you don't understand.

 

DA: Who's buying the wine?

 

JS: I am.

 

DA: I understand more than you think.

 

JS: If you’re saying that the wine…                

 

DA: Let me show you something. “Gentlemen, may I tell you that

you look like a mess of worms. And that you not only look like,

but you are, a mess of worms. I'll bet you've been here all these

years because if you left, you'd be picked up for vagrancy.”

(All the men at the table nod their heads in affable agreement).

 

JS: Bravo. (Jo replies sarcastically)

 

DA: Your defense rests.       

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JS: This isn't funny. You don't belong here.

 

FA: Neither do you, which brings us to why I'm here….

Dick Avery was there to bring her back to the set of the fashion

show in which she is to be the featured “new face” of an

elaborate fashion campaign in Paris.

Moments later in the same scene after Dick curtly refuses

the invitation from Mimi to dance she states “We’re not inhibited

by out-moded social conventions…Isn’t it time that you realize

that dancing is nothing more than a form of expression or

release. There’s nothing formal or cute about it …as a matter of

fact I rather feel like expressing myself now & I could certainly

use a release!” Enjoy!

  In the frame below one can easily discern that Dick just

doesn’t “get” Empathicalism. This time it is

expressed as the universality of communication as conveyed

through the medium of interpretive dance. 

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The thread of meaning tying these two scenes together is

that language is not necessary to effectively communicate. Words

don’t need to be understood and perhaps there is even a hierarchy

inherent in the different forms of communication. Indeed she’d

stated that the most sensible approach to true understanding,

Empathicalism, doesn’t require comprehension of words. Relying on

actions, whether the message being transmitted is via dance or

simply a charitability conveyed through one’s tone of voice, it

can be understood with clarity.

As the story comes to its conclusion Jo’s snobbish attitudes

toward both intellectualism & modeling softens, and she finally

begins to enjoy the work and the company of her handsome

photographer.

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In life Audrey Kathleen Ruston will be remembered as both an

actress and a humanitarian. Born May 4th 1929 in Ixelles, Belgium,

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Hepburn spent her childhood chiefly in the Netherlands, including

German-occupied Arnhem, Netherlands, during the Second World War.

In Arnhem, she studied ballet before moving to London in 1948

where she continued to train in ballet while working as a

photographer's model. It was a great disappointment to her when

she was discouraged to continue her pursuit of a career in ballet

due to her gangly frame & disproportionately large feet. Upon

deciding to pursue a career in acting, she performed as a chorus

girl in various West End musical theatre productions.

After appearing in several British films and starring in the

1951 Broadway play Gigi, Hepburn played the lead female role in

Roman Holiday (1953) and gained instant Hollywood stardom. Later

performing in Sabrina (1954), Funny Face (1957), The Nun's Story

(1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Charade (1963), My Fair

Lady (1964) and Wait Until Dark (1967), Hepburn became one of the

most successful film actresses in the world & was one of few

entertainers who have won Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony awards.

In 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the five

greatest female stars in the history of American cinema. Although

modest about her ability and acting technique, Hepburn remains

one of the most beloved actresses of all time and is remembered

as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century. Redefining

glamour with elfin features and a waif-like figure that inspired

designs by Hubert de Givenchy, she was inducted in the

International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1961.

But perhaps the most endearing aspect of her life was her

devotion in her later life to UNICEF. Hepburn's war-time

struggles inspired her passion for humanitarian work and,

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although Hepburn had contributed to the organization since the

1950s, she worked in some of the most profoundly disadvantaged

communities of Africa, South America and Asia in the late

eighties and early nineties. In 1992, Hepburn was awarded the

Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. On the 20th of January 1993 at the age

of 63 Hepburn died of cancer of the appendix at her home in

Switzerland. [3]

As a child Audrey’s fate had been fashioned by the German

Occupation of Western Europe & she was hastily relocated to the

neutrality of Holland. Subject to German retaliation for Dutch

resistance she suffered from the hardships imposed by the Nazis.

And as those aggressors eventually were retracted from Holland

aide was quickly provided by the UN & she personally experienced

the efforts of collective aid given by the United Nations Relief

and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). I think this was a

pivotal moment in her childhood in forming her character.

Although she considered herself an introvert she had no

difficulty expressing herself in languages since she was fluent

in English, Dutch, French, Spanish and Italian. She was in many

ways ideally suited for her biggest undertaking & in many

respects she was not psychologically braced for it.

Mrs. Hepburn she had done work for UNICEF in the 1950s,

starting in 1954 with radio presentations but her later life

demonstrated a much higher level of dedication. Those close to

her say that the thoughts of dying, helpless children consumed

her for the rest of her life.

Her first field mission was to Ethiopia in 1988. She visited

an orphanage that housed 500 starving children and directed

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UNICEF to send food. Of the trip, she said, "I have a broken

heart. I feel desperate. I can't stand the idea that two million

people are in imminent danger of starving to death, many of them

children, not because there isn't tons of food sitting in the

northern port of Shoa. It can't be distributed. Last spring, Red

Cross and UNICEF workers were ordered out of the northern

provinces because of two simultaneous civil wars... I went into

rebel country and saw mothers and their children who had walked

for ten days, even three weeks, looking for food, settling onto

the desert floor into makeshift camps where they may die.

Horrible. That image is too much for me. The 'Third World' is a

term I don't like very much, because we're all one world. I want

people to know that the largest part of humanity is suffering." [4)

Hepburn knew that war was a man-made construct & a

critical barrier to entry into suffering regions

In August 1988, Hepburn went to Turkey on an immunization

campaign. She called Turkey "the loveliest example" of UNICEF's

capabilities. Of the trip, she noted that “the army gave us their

trucks, the fishmongers gave their wagons for the vaccines, and

once the date was set, it took ten days to vaccinate the whole

country. Not bad.”

Hepburn knew that disease & famine could be

effectively addressed on a large scale.

In October, Hepburn went to South America. In Venezuela

and Ecuador, Hepburn told the United States Congress, "I saw tiny

mountain communities, slums, and shantytowns receive water

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systems for the first time by some miracle – and the miracle is

UNICEF. I watched boys build their own schoolhouse with bricks

and cement provided by UNICEF." Hepburn toured Central America in

February 1989, and met with leaders in Honduras, El Salvador,

and Guatemala. In April, she visited  as part of a mission called

"Operation Lifeline". Once again, because of civil war, food

from aid agencies had been cut off. The mission was to ferry food

to southern Sudan. Hepburn said, "I saw but one glaring truth:

These are not natural disasters but man-made tragedies for which

there is only one man-made solution – peace."

Hepburn knew that men & wars impeded the flow these

aid & relief & she knew that peace & charity, as an

expression of human love was the only way to address

the suffering she witnessed.

Indicative of her deeply humanitarian capacity to elicit

the spirit of hope & charity without the need for words she went

for UNICEF to Bangladesh. Describing her reception, UN

photographer John Isaac recounted "Often the kids would have

flies all over them, but she would just go hug them. I had never

seen that. Other people had a certain amount of hesitation, but

she would just grab them. Children would just come up to hold her

hand, touch her – she was like the Pied Piper."

Hepburn had that intangible quality of Empathicalism

she frequently espoused in her movie Funny Face.

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Hepburn then traveled to Vietnam in an effort to collaborate

with the government for national UNICEF-supported immunization

and clean water programs. And in September 1992, a mere four

months before she died, Hepburn went to Somalia. Calling it

"apocalyptic", she said, "I walked into a nightmare. I have seen

famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like

this – so much worse than I could possibly have imagined. I

wasn't psychologically prepared for this sight of needless

death.” She realized how well their plight could have been

remediated through well-orchestrated charitable aid

distribution. 

Hepburn knew that the needs of a dying nation required

collaborative efforts & understood the criticality of

governmental cooperation & societal approval.

Though scarred by what she had seen, Hepburn still had hope.

"Taking care of children has nothing to do with politics. I think

perhaps with time, instead of there being a politicization

of humanitarian aid, there will be a humanization of politics."

"Anyone who doesn't believe in miracles is not a realist. I have

seen the miracle of water which UNICEF has helped to make a

reality. Where for centuries young girls and women had to walk

for miles to get water they now have clean drinking water near

their homes. Water is life, and clean water now means health for

the children of this village."

Hepburn knew that effective prioritization of needs

was contingent upon consistent supply of safe potable

water.

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"People in these places don't know (me) Audrey Hepburn, but

they recognize the name UNICEF. When they see UNICEF their faces

light up, because they know that something is happening. In the

Sudan, for example, they call a water pump UNICEF."

Hepburn conceded that language & recognition were

subordinate to the perceived charitability of actions.

In what is considered her first foray into dramatic rule Ms.

Hepburn stretched her talents from comedic ingénue & leading

romantic roles in her role portraying a Catholic missionary nun

in The Nun’s Story. The film tells the story tells of the life of

Sister Luke (Hepburn), a young Belgian woman who decides to enter

a convent and make the many sacrifices required by her choice.

However, at the outset of World War II, finds she cannot remain

neutral in the face of the abject evil of Hitler's Germany. The

location of the shoot was Yakusu, a center of missionary and

medical activity in the Belgian Congo. The book was based upon

the life of Marie Louise Habets, a Belgian nurse who similarly

spent time as a nun. The film follows the book fairly closely,

although some critics feel the film depicts a sexual tension in

the relationship between Dr. Fortunati played by Peter Finch and

Sister Luke that is absent from the novel. The official trailer

(3:10) presents the story line much more poignantly that the

scope of this paper could hope to encompass.

If Audrey Hepburn had played the part of a philosophically

idealistic generous bookstore keep cum Emphaticalist I think it

would be helpful to imagine the psychological impact of wearing a

nun’s habit on a remote shooting location in the Democratic

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Republic of the Congo in central Africa. Audrey had met Marie-

Louise Habets while preparing for the role, and Habets later

helped nurse Hepburn back to health following her near-fatal

horse-riding accident on the set of the 1960 film, The Unforgiven.

Ms. Hepburn was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF.

Then-United States president George H. W. Bush presented her in

1992 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom (below) in

recognition of her work with UNICEF & for her contribution to

humanity. Grateful for her own good fortune after enduring the

German occupation as a child, she dedicated the remainder of her

life to helping impoverished children in the poorest nations.

Ms. Hepburn often stated that The Nun’s Story was herfavorite film.

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The Nun’s Story (1959)

I would like to close by acknowledge embedding various

hyperlinks to such resources as Wikipedia, the IMDB

for its collection of cinematographic references &

youtube for their downloadable content.

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