Impeccably structured My Fair Lady
Charmaine Fernando
In Greek mythology, Pygmalion, the
king of Cyprus, found so many faults in womankind that he resolved to
live unmarried. But after painstakingly sculpting a statue of a
beautiful woman, he came to regard his creation as so perfect that he
fell in love with her. In 1913, Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw
adapted the myth to modern-day England
Bernard Shaw’s epic novel, Pygmalion, was adapted to become the
longest running Broadway musical and later Warner Brothers made it in to
a film and screened worldwide in 1964. This 170 minute long film in
colour on 70mm screen was directed by George Cukor starring Rex Harrison
as Professor Higgins and Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Dolittle and a stellar
cast.
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Audrey Hepburn as Elisa Doolittle the cockney-speaking street
urchin |
Costume design took centre stage and Cecil Beaton, the former Vogue
photographer whose imaginative costumes were credited with giving the
stage production a uniquely stylized look, was contracted. What stood
out in the whole production, I presume is the famed Lerner and Lowe
score. Sets like the Ascot races and the Royal Ball added the glamour
and the glitter; moreover a Cinderella quality to the film.
It won eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director,
and Best Actor. Unfortunately Hepburn despite her impressive
transformation from street urchin to a socialite which comprised the
emotional heart of the drama, was left behind. My Fair Lady is
considered a classic and the costumes were certainly striking and Cecil
Beaton was awarded an Oscar for Best Costume Design.
The film is about Professor Higgins, an English Linguistics
Professor,(Rex Harrison) who takes on Eliza Doolittle, (Audrey Hepburn),
to train and change her from an unrefined flower girl with a Cockney
accent to a society debutante, brings about the elegance of the English
language with every utterance.
Higgins is a misogynistic bachelor who pushes Eliza day and night,
while wondering why a woman can’t be more like a man, so she can learn
to speak properly.
Riding on Eliza’s success is a bet Higgins makes with his friend,
Colonel Hugh Pickering, where Higgins claims he will be able to pass
Eliza off as a Duchess in six months. As Eliza and Higgins train
together, they become accustomed to each other even though it is an
abusive relationship on Higgins’ part. Finally the inevitable
confrontation occurs: Eliza has surpassed the teacher’s expectations,
but the teacher still considers her a common flower girl. How does one
move forward in such a situation?
The script, by Alan Jay Lerner, retains Shaw’s acid wit and
scrumptious satire and succeeds due to that reason. Both the dialogue
and the song lyrics were crafted well. The acting is impeccable: Rex
Harrison’s role as a happy-but-cynical misanthrope is played out
outrageously well. Audrey Hepburn’s transformation from a common flower
girl to a cultured lady is extremely convincing, particularly in terms
of her accent. The degree of social commentary that occurs amidst the
happy songs and the straight-forward story is amazing.
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Hepburn as Elisa with Rex Harrison as Prof. Higgins who
transformed her from urchin to elegant lady |
The film comments about the British class system, class systems in
general, and the notion of language being the reason for there being a
class division - an almost Universal concept prevalent in any culture.
Further the movie addresses the virtues of being “civilized” when
Eliza becomes a lady, all she can do is sell herself, the virtues of
morality when one has nothing to left to lose and the repressed nature
of British society in general.
In the film Audrey Hepburn was paid $ 1 million for her role, making
her only the second actress in the history of Hollywood to receive a
seven-figure sum for a single film. Violet-eyed Elizabeth Taylor as
Cleopatra (1963) was the first.
In 1964, My Fair Lady took home eight Academy Awards including Best
Director (George Cukor), Scoring, Costumes, Art/Set Direction, Color
Cinematography and Best Picture of the Year.
Despite the rave reviews, I still think Higgins gets away too easily
considering the poor way he treats Eliza, posing a gender issue,
reflecting the mentality of the era the movie was made. |
