Many people feel the need for perfection. Some are willing to try anything in order to achieve perfection. But when one has nothing it is easy for that person to give up everything in order to try to become someone who one is not. In the play My Fair Lady, written by Alan Lerner in 1956 and filmed in 1964 by George Cukor, which is based on the play, Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, the director cast Audrey Hepburn to play Eliza Doolittle, a poor flower girl who has nothing.
The director shows how Eliza becomes a "wealthy, beautiful" young woman by putting her in lavish clothes, and making her over to become "perfect." Cukor cast Rex Harrison as Professor Higgins, who teaches Eliza how to be a lady and talk properly. Rex plays a great Professor Higgins because he can feel the frustration the character feels, and these actions are obvious to the audience. One can feel the frustration of the characters they both endure during the film. Audrey is fun to watch because she is able to play serious parts as well as funny parts in her attempts to become the perfect Barbie doll.
Although Eliza does become a lady, the director makes sure to prove no one really changes who one is. He demonstrates this in the scene where Eliza, who is at the Ascot horse races with all the wealthy people, bursts out of her Barbie doll mold and curses at Dover, one of the horses on whom she has a bet, thanks to Freddy (Jeremy Brett). So as one can see, you can take the girl out of the country, but you take the country out of the girl, so to speak.
I really enjoyed this film. The music was catchy, and the colors chosen by the director to portray wealth made the audience feel as though the characters were really wealthy. Also the actors did a wonderful job of acting out the emotions and feelings of the characters, especially Eliza who could not be fully the Barbie doll she had tried to be. I would recommend this film to anyone. I got the feeling from our class that guys and girls both liked this film, and it was not just a "chick flick."