The American musical rom-com made a lasting impression on viewers who saw the film almost 70 years ago, and viewers continue to love it to this day.

Starring the late, great Hollywood legends Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn, Funny Face is considered a ‘timeless’ movie by many who continue to return to its charm. Full of recognisable songs and inspiring dance numbers, the movie loosely uses music from the Broadway musical of the same name, while the plot remains entirely different.

A fan of the film shared on the review site Rotten Tomatoes: “Definitely one of Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire’s finest performances, and it’s so lovely and heartwarming. Even when it comes to music, it comes out as very lovely.”

The storyline follows Maggie Prescott, who is the Editor-in-Chief of the New York-based fashion magazine Quality, which is known for setting trends for the rest of the industry. They come up with a new feature, to use a model who will act as ‘the Quality Woman’, and a designer will base their new collection around her look.

Although Prescott isn’t too pleased with the woman chosen by the head photographer, Dick Avery, as Hepburn’s character, Jo Stockton, isn’t a professional. Not only this, but she has what the editor considers to be a ‘funny face’ – one that Dick, on the other hand, is bewildered by.

Jo is hesitant to take the job, as she’s not a fan of fashion but has more intellectual pursuits. When she takes on the job, she’s hoping it will help her meet one of her favourite philosophers, but she gets caught up in the whirlwind of modelling and forms a close relationship with the photographer behind it all.

One viewer claims: “Audrey Hepburn’s screen presence is marvellous; she’s such a beautiful performer, and she really made it better. What I didn’t like was the obvious huge age difference between her and her love interest, but nonetheless it was a nice musical that had some iconic Audrey Hepburn moments.”

Meanwhile, another shared: “It’s old-fashioned and much slower than any movie today, with less plot – but Fred Astaire is worth it! His dancing takes your breath away, as does Hepburn’s charm. You don’t see such magic nowadays. And the photographs and design are spectacular.”

Although its initial release was considered to be a box office failure, despite its all-star cast, it wasn’t until a few years later when Hepburn’s role in My Fair Lady helped to revive the film. Its huge box office success meant that Paramount decided to theatrically re-release Funny Face, and its second time around drew in a huge crowd.

Over on IMDb, a fan of the film shared their thoughts, writing: “The film owes its appeal to Audrey Hepburn, an actress not known for being a singer or a dancer, but who had enough charm to make the movie her own. The pairing with the great Fred Astaire pays off well because Mr Astaire was always an actor who had enough chemistry with his leading ladies.”

Although some have a slight criticism about the two leads’ stark age difference, which they argue doesn’t translate well to screen. A critic wrote: “It feels sexist with Fred Astaire’s ludicrously old romantic hero at 57 cast opposite the adorable darling Audrey Hepburn at 27.”

To watch the charming film with two Hollywood icons, you can catch Funny Face on BBC Two today at 1:45pm. Alternatively, the musical is available to rent on both Amazon Prime and Apple TV.