Roman Holiday Review

A princess living the 'dream' life, travelling Europe, living in luxury and mingling with the highest aristocracy gets bored of the monotonous days of her life and decides to run away. With sleep-inducing drugs in her system, she runs away into the city of Rome. Finding a fast asleep Princess Ann on the side of a street, Joe Bradley, a journalist, mistakes her for a drunk and being the ever so kind gentleman that only Gregory Peck could play, decides to take her to his apartment for her own safety.
The morning after, Bradley finds out that the 'drunk' he took home was in fact the Princess, and makes a deal with the editor of his newspaper to secretly photograph and write about the Princess, unknown to her, and expose the side of her that the public never see. What follows is 24 hours in Rome, a holiday for the Princess and a working day out for Bradley, however when both the Princess and Bradley fall for each other, the lines between work and pleasure are blurred.

For me, the most interesting feature of this film is the character of Princess Ann, played beautifully by Audrey Hepburn. In the 1950s, a Princess' personal life was strictly off limits to members of the public, they were presented as representatives of their family and only that. Opening up the character of a wealthy princess who is usually secluded and showing her to have human emotions and characteristics is an interesting thing to watch, with her lack of perspective of the 'real' world being both comical and saddening to watch. We feel strongly connected to Hepburn's character, from the beginning, her not knowing the value of money and walking awkwardly through a street market, to the end, allowing herself to loosen up and kiss the man she loves, we watch her grow from an almost parental perspective and the development is satisfying to the viewer.

In between the beginning and the end of the film, our attachment towards the character's grows and the dramatic tension builds up at a steady pace as the cuts back to the Embassy are shown and we realise that people are looking for the Princess. With the natural chemistry between Peck and Hepburn, the romance is entirely believable to the point of over investment by the likes of myself, with the question of whether of not Bradley is going to submit the story being right at the front of my mind for the majority of the film, however, as with all good romantic comedies, everything runs smoothly in the end.

The film's ending of both of the characters going back to reality is what completes it, in my opinion. The impression is given that after the two character's whirlwind romance, everything goes back to how it was, allowing the audience to extend their disbelief and perhaps transfer it into the world outside of the diegesis, fantasising about perhaps their country's Royal family and the lives in which they lead outside of the public eye. The comparisons that can be made to Princess Ann and princesses outside of the film are many, and is one of the factors that makes the character of Ann so well remembered in the history of cinema.

The film is simple, well-structured and not too lengthy, with many iconic moments taking place, Roman Holiday is a truly wonderful piece of cinema that can and should be enjoyed by everyone.