‘Moon River and Me’: The film-song as leitmotiv in Breakfast at Tiffany’s

This article analyses the effectiveness of the leitmotiv derived from the song ‘Moon River’ in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. This leitmotiv is a musical element with the narrative functions of denotation (signifying a character or idea like Holly’s yearning) and connotation (emotion, mood, anticipation). The frequent diegetic use of ‘Moon River’ increases recognition, meaning and pleasure, and binds the theme to the character’s representation because the song is mood congruent and well integrated into the text. The productive collaboration between Blake Edwards and Henry Mancini enables the narrative use of music in this way because the editing and dialogue leave sufficient space for the music while from the beginning, the leitmotiv is used sparingly to denote Holly’s yearning, and the score employs contrasting themes with a clear musical logic. Mancini’s score renders theleitmotiv wholly congruent with the film, thus increasing the narrative power of the music and the pleasure it induces.