SABRINA
US, 1995, 127 minutes, Colour.
Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond, Greg Kinnear, Nancy Marchand, John Wood, Richard Crenna, Angie Dickinson, Lauren Holly, Dana Ivey, Miriam Colon, Elizabeth Franz, Fanny Ardant, Valerie Lemercier, Patrick Bruel, Paul Giamatti, Margo Martindale.
Directed by Sidney Pollack.
Genies and fairy godmothers grant wishes in fairy tales. Are wishes granted in real life? They are in reel life.
The remake of Billy Wilder's 1954 classic, Sabrina, which substituted Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear for Humphrey Bogart and William Holden and, of course, Julia Ormond for Audrey Hepburn, did not make much of an impact in 1996. After all, Audrey Hepburn! But then the classic reappeared on television a few weeks later. And it creaked. Perhaps some movies should stay in the hallowed nostalgia of our memories.
Was Harrison Ford anymore stone-faced than Bogart? and who had more charm? Was the debonair Greg Kinnear any less charismatic than the debonair William Holden? And Julia Ormond is no slouch at playing a modern princess. Here was Harrison Ford as Linus Larrabee being charmed into his suppressed emotions by Julia Ormond as the chauffeur's daughter, Sabrina.
It's a fairytale of New York City and Long Island, those modern kingdoms where Cinderella daughters live over a garage and gaze longingly at the royal parties and dances in the mansion. It's a fairytale of Princes who prefer Wall St and company takeovers to fighting dragons. Could it end happily ever after?
The movie begins and ends with 'Once Upon a Time...' and Sabrina explains that she was called after the Sabrina Fair who wins the prince in the ballad. Her name is Sabrina Fairchild. In fact, it is she who wakens the Prince rather than in the tradition of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty where she is wakened by the Prince.
This is a modern fairytale like that popular tale of a decade ago, Pretty Woman. You remember that at the end, Richard Gere, another preoccupied wealthy businessman - who takes more time off than Linus Larrabee ever did, especially for picking up girls on Hollywood Boulevard - brings a bouquet to the strains of an aria as he comes to rescue the Princess. When he asks Julia Roberts what happens next, she quickly retorts: 'she rescues him right back'. Ford actually does have a line at the end of the movie, 'Save me, Sabrina Fair, you're the only one who can...'. Sabrina rescues and saves Linus.
But, from what?
The quick answer is, of course, from himself. And it is also the longer and deeper answer. He is so stuck in his image that he is in danger of destroying himself by obsession (let alone his business competition) by his refusal to move towards individuation. As far as the script indications and Ford's performance go, he seems to be enlivened by business deals and arranging the world to suit himself and to capitalise on his intuitions - like the one that the chip would supersede the co-axial cable). To be saved, he has to move but he hasn't the time for it. And he has always been like this. When Sabrina actually asks her father what Linus was really like as a child, he tartly replies, 'Shorter'! 'I do real work in the real world', Sabrina tells him, 'you probably haven't made a wrong move since you were three. Where do you live, Linus?'
Linus is your serious-minded, totally dedicated, arranger of corporations and of his brother's marriage - well, they are two parts of a profitable equation: two aspects of the one merger. Business is business - though there is a later comment about seeing the faces of those whose business he has taken over. But his gift of conscientiousness is being turned into ruthlessness. 'It's nothing personal, it's only about a piece of plastic...'. His secretary tells Sabrina that he has the reputation of being the only living heart donor. It is his secretary who explains to him when he decides to take Sabrina to a Broadway show that it is a musical and he will have to expect people to suddenly start singing and dancing.
When his brother, David, is infatuated with Sabrina, he attempts to buy her off because 'I am not going to kiss of a million dollars just because Sabrina did something with her hair'. But, it is in his attempts to buy off Sabrina that he is influenced by her warmth, her love of the present (she is a photographer). He himself hates being photographed because he looks depressed. She diagnoses loneliness. But then he begins to open up, tell his story, confide in her. He tells his mother that he and Sabrina bonded.
Finally, he lets go of his control (and discovers that the seemingly irresponsible, happy-go-lucky David is moving from his 'artisan' temperament to being both practical and 'visionary'). He allows everyone arrange his trip to Paris (which he had formerly hated because 'it is all about pleasure'). They tell him, 'Don't think, just go', 'It's time you ran away from home'.
The tycoon discovers the child within and flies to Paris to be fully rescued. As he says, 'It's my first everything...'.
1. 1995 film, bright, lavish, romance? The cast?
2. The original, the 1950s, the classic, cast and director, Billy Wilder?
3. Long Island, the mansion, lavish interiors, parties? Cars? The chauffeur’s house? The kitchen? New York offices? The contrast with Paris, the landmarks, the world of fashion, photography? The musical score, the songs?
4. The title, the poem, Sabrina Fair, Fairchild? The rescuer? The voice-over, the fairytale, growing up, her father, his wisdom, reading, her infatuation
with David, the staff all knowing, up the tree watching the party, falling? Her childhood and Linus and her fear? Her character?
5. Going to Paris, Irene and her welcoming her, listening to her, the walks, her advice? The photographer, friendship, the models, life in Paris? Sabrina as accident prone, the effect of Paris, changing her hair, the style, the return?
6. Harrison Ford as Linus, in the image of his father, always working, his instinct for change and mergers, IT developments, the office, his secretary and her knowledge of him? Very serious, even at parties, demonstrating television screens to Asian visitors? Listening to Sabrina’s outpouring? Her reaction and running away? His recognising her on her return? The party, the plans for the merger, David and his marriage, the strategy for the merger? David, his flirting, sitting on the glass, Linus and his strategy, the solarium, the drink, the dance, talking sweetly to Sabrina? Letting her visit David? His relationship with his mother? The day at Martha’s Vineyard, the helicopter, the plane, the photos, her liking the building, the homeless man taking the photo? Her delivering the photos at his office, the Paris plan, getting the tickets, his explanations, his lies, finding himself out, the reaction of his mother, arranging the ticket for David, telling Sabrina? The merger meeting, David’s arrival, with Elizabeth, his assistant packing his case, with his mother, his punching David, his confiding in Sabrina, his life working, his change of heart, the ticket and Concorde flight, in Paris, reunited with Sabrina?
7. David, his past, people, the playboy, his whims, different studies and musical instruments, different girls, routines, the drink, the solariusm? Elizabeth, meeting him, the bond, the proposal, his bewilderment, her parents and the engagement, the plans, the merger? The parents and David’s mother and discussions, invitations…? Sabrina watching from the tree, his not recognising her return, flirting, the drive? Invitations the party, dancing, promising the solarium? His reaction, confronted by Linus and his mother, sitting on the glass, the doctor, medication, and getting better, on crutches? The plans for Sabrina? Elisabeth’s return? The discussions with her, taking the merger, his abilities and plan?
8. The mother, forceful, business, keeping her eye on things?
9. Sabrina’s father, genial, reading, the bond with the assistant in the kitchen? The best for Sabrina – and his financial deals listening to Linus’s father?
10. The Tysons, their wealth, society, Elizabeth, the plans for the marriage, the father and his suspicions? Watching David dancing with Sabrina? The threats about the merger? Linus and David, preparing to give up the merger for David’s happiness?
11. The staff in the kitchen, Rosa and stories, Paul Giamatti in a supporting role? Their work functions?
12. Sabrina, emotions, meeting David, the party, the dancing, expectations, his injuries, the visits, the entire day with Linus, listening to him, her urging him to leave, taking the photos, the visit to his office, the Moroccan meal? The Paris plan, the ticket? The disillusionment, leaving, Linus in Paris and happy
future?
