Get out your popcorn and box wine, it’s time for Beth’s Classic Film Club! Today I bring you one of my favorite actresses, because she’s so vulnerable and yet strong: Audrey Hepburn. It’s crazy looking at this film to realize it was her first big break. I mean, she NAILS this performance. It’s like the invented the phrase “like a boss” to describe how well she plays this role. Which explains why she won an Oscar.

OK, basic plot: Audrey is a princess on the edge of a nervous breakdown in the middle of some kind of a goodwill tour through Europe, so she sneaks out of her villa in Rome to have an adventure. She winds up with the handsome Gregory Peck, a newspaperman who figures out that she’s a princess. He recruits his photographer friend to take pictures of them all over town, so he can write an expose on the princess. Hilarity and romance ensue and the movie has a wonderful bittersweet ending that takes this film from “yeah, that was charming” to “I wish I knew what happened next after the picture ends!” Which explains why this film also won an Oscar for writing. And, which I think makes this a perfect film to watch with your girlfriends because you all may have different reactions to how things played out and what the future holds for the characters.

Not only is the acting outstanding, but the cinematography is great too, and so are the costumes. In fact, this picture won a costume design Oscar too.

I know when people think Audrey Hepburn, they think Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which is Fine if you can get past the horrifically racist yellow-face of Mickey Rooney as the landlord (sweet baby Jesus, is THAT awful). But Roman Holiday is just…just so much more. Just, give it a watch, you’ll be glad you did!