Audrey Hepburn: douleur et gloire

Perhaps I know too much about Audrey Hepburn.

I know they leave out the best part of her screen test for "Roman Holiday." I know the marquee for "Gigi" is for the movie, not the play she was in. And I know how many of her great movies are omitted. But, basically, I know they never capture what made Hepburn the incandescent star she was.

In fact, there aren't that many clips of her actually speaking in her movies. At the end of "Roman Holiday," she drops her voice to say she will keep her visit, "..in memory as long as I live." It's a lovely reading of that line. There are great moments from, "Two for the Road," and "Charade," and those movies aren't even mentioned.

I think Audrey took pride in her acting, yet you see little of that talent. She is mostly shown as an icon of style at many gala events. Too bad they don't show what made her a great and charming actress.

"Audrey," The new documentary on Netflix, begins with a reenactment of a ballerina that the makers took pains in hoping we the viewer would be fooled into thinking it was Audrey Hepburn. Talk about starting on the wrong foot. The documentary plods through her early life. Yikes her family were Nazi sympathizers! She of course was not and even ran resistance in WW2. It takes a long time to get to Hollywood with little time on her best films, "Roman Holiday" and "Sabrina." Too much time on the iconic "Tiffany's" which is all splash and no mention of later work, i.e. "Robin & Marian."

It is wonderful seeing her at various public events dressed so beautifully. She was a living breathing work of art. So many of us loved her so much. To hear of her unhappy marriages was painful but I am not suggesting the pain should have been left out.

The documentary needed serious editing, less filler and those horrible re-enactments left on the cutting room floor. One hour of the best would perhaps have saved this documentary from being a mess.

Audrey's UNICEF work remarkable. She was a truly remarkable person but a little of that aspect goes a long way.

Many omissions make this biography extremely unsatisfying. One of her sons is completely absent from this life story. Her possible anorexia, or at least highly problematic relationship with food as a result of starvation during WWII, is essentially ignored. I found the dance sequences during which she was portrayed at different ages by various ballerinas superfluous and irritating. All in all, this film feels very insubstantial and inadequate to represent such revered and admired icon.

Loved this documentary of my all time favorite actress. Heard some already well known facts about her life and learned some new things about her which was nice. Documentary covers her Hollywood life as well as her personal life.

She could wear a potato sack and still look absolutely stunning. My heart breaks that she never really loved herself like a lot of the world did and still does. Happy that she at least ended up with a gentleman, Robert Wolders, that made her feel loved. Also that she became the face for UNICEF which meant more to her than being movie star. Would always love to see more about her but this movie did a decent job of it.

Of course when Audrey Hepburn is shown, she's mesmerizing. But those dance sequences with other actresses are pointless. Overall it's well done but does not stand out from any other documentaries I've seen about this iconic woman.