Paris when it Sizzles certainly started off with a bang leaving the audience wondering what is going on. They're left to piece the story together that Richard Benson (played by William Holden) is writing a screenplay and Ms. Simpson (played by Audrey Hepburn) is translating his story into print on the typewriter. It becomes obvious that Ms. Simpson is taken with Benson when he acts quite unprofessional around her- often touching her while telling the story she is supposed to be typing up. In many cases- she can't even properly reach the typewriter because his lips are wrapped around hers. The story bounces back and forth between the duo writing the screenplay, and the duo acting AS the screenplay while the screenplay is still being written. In the screenplay Benson is composing- they both act as spies and are trying to loot a certain film so they can make a profit- but it goes terribly wrong and at the end of Benson's screenplay he is shot trying to escape on a private jet and Hepburn is left crying at his side in medieval revers and a hennin no less! After Ms. Simpson has completed tying the story, she begins to tear up- asking him if there could be a happy ending to the script. Benson quickly tells her that she or anything else (including his scripts) doesn't mean a thing to him and throws her out of his house. She quickly finds another man to spend some brief time with at a local festival but is quickly interrupted by a steaming Richard Benson who so quickly professes that he loves her after losing her to another man. He punches the man she was with and they run away together and decide to write a more romantic script. They kiss at the end, and ba-da-boom.... a full-blown fairy tale, kids.
In my opinion, Hepburn is no less stunning than in Green Mansions or even perhaps Breakfast at Tiffany's... but certainly not Funny Face. Funny Face trumps them all. In any case, I found this film very entertaining in the beginning- a real go getter for action, romance, and a bit of mystery. Also, the costumes are classically beautiful with a Hollywood twist when the audience is treated to a costume party! Audrey Hepburn lives on!
*screencaps by me
*screencaps by me
love, polly
