Funny Face

Screening on Film

Directed by Stanley Donen.
With Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson.
US, 1957, 35mm, color, 103 min.

A treasure of the American film musical, Funny Face is set in the world of high couture, where fashion photographer Dick Avery (Astaire) discovers Jo (Hepburn), a meek intellectual bookstore clerk whom he transports to Paris, transforms into a glamorous model, and falls in love with. Richard Avedon (the inspiration for Avery’s character) worked as a “visual consultant” on the film, and the production was blessed with key talent from MGM’s famous Freed unit, including director Stanley Donen. The result, in glorious Technicolor: a stylish, witty and charmingly gay ride whose memorable numbers include cabaret star Kay Thompson’s (playing a magazine editor) “Think Pink” solo and Astaire and Hepburn’s comic dance duet to “Clap Yo’ Hands.”