Audrey in Rome

Audrey in Rome is undoubtedly a love letter from an adoring son to his mother. This is a celebration of a woman who must have been a wonderful and loving mother as the book remembers her in the most endearing, iconic, and somewhat melancholy way, though the book never descends to the maudlin or schmaltzy.

We are treated to photographs of a woman with great star power and charisma rarely equaled during any era of movie stardom. The photos are marvelously unstudied and were taken by what we now know as paparazzi.

Part of the beauty of this book is that Audrey in Rome stresses that during about a 20-year period of Ms. Hepburn’s life, she made Rome her home base, and after a more than productive 16-year career she decided to ditch it all to be a mother and later a humanitarian.

The major difference between then and now is simply that she was allowed to go on about the business of her life without the frenzy of picture taking that we have come to know. In Rome her privacy was respected and in turn she offered herself up as subject on rare occasions in exchange for a seemingly normal life.

Part of the intimacy of this paean is that we are invited to know things about her that are really quite commonplace and not at all the movie star qualities we associate with international stardom. Audrey Hepburn collected scarves and shoes: ballet slipper flats, loafers, and low-heeled shoes to be exact; she never wore showy jewelry; made those oversized sunglasses a trademark; was always camera ready to perfection; and was not solely dedicated to Hubert Givenchy as her only designer of preference. Yes, she was human just like the rest of us mortals, just much more famous.

There is no question that Audrey in Rome solidifies one’s beliefs that she was the eternal icon of style and good taste. The book for some will reflect a life lived somewhat wistfully, for others a collection of shimmering memories to cherish, and for all, an examination into a special someone who somehow existed above the fray of our everyday lives.

Reader beware, this is not a coffee table deluxe edition with oodles of color photos; it is an intimate portrait of a mother from a son. The photos are all black and white and all candid, but most of all they reveal glimpses of the person Audrey Hepburn—who also just happened to be a globally revered movie star.