Crazy about Tiffany’s
Those who admire all that Tiffany’s stands for may delight in this film, but as for others….
The only way is up...
In terms of carrying out his assignment Matthew Miele credited as writer and director has done a competent job here and that needs to be recognised. However this is an example of a film that has limited appeal because it plays (intentionally) as an advertisement for the world’s most famous jewellery company, Tiffany’s. The price of its goods and the importance attached to its luxuries by those able to afford them make it a symbol of exclusivity and materialism. For those who see it in that light, watching this film is not an enjoyable experience although it offers occasional distractions that will please film buffs.
The history of Tiffany’s is not without interest since it has been in existence for over 175 years but, while the film touches on its founder Charles Lewis Tiffany, it relegates this to brief intermittent sequences and concentrates instead on the present day with extravagant celebrity endorsements from the likes of Jessica Biel and Baz Luhrmann together with contributions from those involved at Tiffany’s, not least the designer Francesca Amiftheatrof. The plug for the company does extend to a survey of what they sell from watches and clocks to specially designed sporting trophies and engagement rings (seemingly an object first introduced there). More individual are the scenes featuring the very personal approach to their window designs and, when it comes to the unexpected, the film achieves that twice: once when it uses Stravinsky’s Petrushka as background music and again when it reveals that Tiffany’s once chose to publish a book entitle Table Manners for Teenagers.
If you go weak at the knees when you see one of the special boxes with their Tiffany blue colouring in which their products are sold, then this is probably the film for you. Others may respond positively only to the many film clips that involve Tiffany’s from Breakfast at Tiffany's to the more recent Bride Wars and the 2013 remake of The Great Gatsby. But the only critical note struck in the film concerns Mickey Rooney’s appalling performance in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a film that is also the source of the title of this documentary. Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly does indeed claim to be crazy about Tiffany’s but in this context she also asks “Don’t you just love it?”. If the answer is ‘no’, this is not the film for you.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Francesca Amfitheatrof, Todd Pipes, Jessica Biel, Andy Tennant, Baz Luhrmann, Fran Lebowitz, Catherine Martin, Katie Couric, Rachel Zoe.
Dir Matthew Miele, Pro Justin Bare and Barbara Ragghianti, Written by Matthew Miele, Ph Justin Bare, Ed Justin Bare, Music Ryan Beatty and Daniel Warren.
Dogwoof/Quixotic Endeavor-Dogwoof.
86 mins. USA/UK. 2016. Rel: 24 June 2016. Cert. 15.
