The best of Hepburn

With the city under a blanket of fresh snow, there's no better way to stay warm than an afternoon at the cinema. Fortunately, Aero and Světozor are offering a mini-festival of Audrey Hepburn's best-loved films for the entire month of December.

The Brussels-born actress is best known for her work in Hollywood, but Hepburn has a strong following in Central Europe, owing in part to the fact that her paternal grandmother was born in Slovakia.

All of the films in the festival have been digitally remastered and are showing with Czech subtitles, so Hepburn's dulcet voice and playful, piercing eyes will be clearer - and for non-native English speakers, more understandable - than ever. The following films can be seen at multiple dates and times at both cinemas. For more information, see Aerofilms.cz

Roman Holiday (1953). Directed by William Wyler. Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert, Hartley Power, Harcourt Williams, Margaret Rawlings, Paolo Carlini and Alfredo Rizzo star. In her first major Hollywood production, Hepburn plays Princess Ann, the successor to the throne of an undisclosed European country. In the midst of a heavily publicized tour of Europe, Ann arrives in Rome, where Joe Bradley, a reporter for the Daily American newspaper, is stationed.

Overcome with stress from her busy schedule, Ann is given a sedative one night and left to her own devices in her room at the embassy. Instead of sleeping, the princess escapes to discover the Italian capital. Soon the sedative kicks in, however, and Ann passes out on a park bench, where she is discovered by the dashing Joe, who doesn't recognize her.

Thus begins a playful tale of forbidden love filmed on location in the Roman metropolis. Hepburn's performance earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress, a BAFTA award and a Golden Globe. The film also garnered Academy Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Costume Design.

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). Directed by Blake Edwards. Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Martin Balsam, John McGiver, Mickey Rooney and Buddy Ebsen star. Truman Capote's best-selling novella is remade into one of the most iconic films of an era that has been especially popular recently, with television series such as Mad Men and films like Revolutionary Road putting a revisionist patina on the social and sartorial mores of midcentury America.

Hepburn plays Holly Golightly, a charming if wayward young woman in New York City with big dreams of a bright future but no real skills to attain them. In the meantime, she lives off the generosity of her many male "admirers." Enter Paul, a shy young writer who inadvisably falls in love with Holly, much to his own chagrin. Adventure, heartbreak and many a walk on rainy boulevards ensue.

Widely considered Hepburn's greatest performance, the film was also a launch pad for director Blake Edwards and won Oscars for Best Song and Best Score.

Charade (1963). Directed by Stanley Donen. Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Jacques Marin and Stanley Donen star. Taking cues from Alfred Hitchcock, Donen's film ranges across several genres, combining comedy, mystery and romance. Hepburn plays Regina Lambert, an American living in Paris. As the film opens, she is on a skiing vacation in Switzerland, where she meets the handsome and charming Peter Joshua, played by Cary Grant. Regina returns to Paris, planning to ask for a divorce, but finds their apartment abandoned and her husband missing. After several days, the police notify her that her husband has been thrown from a train and killed. A mystery involving the CIA and stolen World War II gold unfolds, with Regina and Peter at the center of the action.

The remarkable chemistry between Hepburn and Grant made this film an instant classic that, like most of Hepburn's work, continues to pulse with life onscreen.

Stephan Delbos can be reached at
sdelbos@praguepost.com