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User Reviews for: Roman Holiday

drqshadow
8/10  2 months ago
Audrey Hepburn started her career with a bang, scoring an Oscar for this portrayal of a repressed royal who slips the collar for a weekend amongst the working class. She’s gorgeous and graceful as Princess Ann, a real knockout despite the stiff physical dignity instilled by her office; prim and proper but not too snooty to release her inhibitions and have a good time in a decidedly non-regal setting. Gregory Peck plays an opportunistic small-scale journalist, a man about town who finds this drugged damsel alone on city streets after dark (she was given a downer by the royal doctor before making her escape) and takes pity, inviting her to sleep it off at his place. He seems like a nice guy, one who rolls his eyes at the inebriated ditz and takes care to handle her with kid gloves while she’s out of sorts, but he doesn’t realize her status until the next morning, and then his professional antennae alert him to the rare opportunity at hand.

When Ann’s faculties return, he games her for access, leading the reclusive princess on a swirling tour of Rome while doing his best to sweep her off her feet. She’s reluctant at first, but soon throws caution to the wind and has precisely the kind of good time she's been dreaming about. Her delight is palpable, a contagiously girlish lust for life’s simple pleasures, but there’s a big caveat. I found it hard to fall for the free-spirited romance, to share in her jubilation, because we know he’s being so duplicitous. Granted, Ann isn’t completely honest either - she claims to be a runaway student named Anya - but her lie is little and white, while his is self-serving and manipulative. To his credit, somewhat predictably, Peck’s man does eventually recognize that he’s being a sleaze, but by then he’s already burnt through the better part of a day and sneakily snapped a dozen provocative, candid photos to validate his forthcoming tell-all.

Still, there’s no denying the carefree adventure of it all, and Peck is so convincing a suitor that it can be tough to pinpoint the moment he stops working a scam and starts actually falling for the girl. The story’s resolution deserves points, too, for dodging the fiery reveal we’ve all been programmed to expect and presenting something more earnest and subdued. These characters are both grown-ups, they’ve each taken something valuable from the shared lost weekend, and while they may regret that it had to come to an end, it’s clear that they’ll remember it for the rest of their lives. Even if they had to fib a bit to get it started.
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