Sabrina (Audrye Hepburn) is the daughter of the mechanic for the wealthy Larrabee family who harbors a massive crush on the families playboy son, David Larrabee (William Holden). Realizing she could never win his affection, Sabrina attempts to kill herself but is narrowly thwarted by David's studious all-business brother, Linus (Humphery Bogart). After this experience, Sabrina decides to go away to France while becoming a master in the culinary arts as her Father hopes she establishes ambitions beyond David Larrabee. When she returns, Sabrina is a whole new person that finally catches the fancy of David Larrabee, who is now engaged to be married to a woman belonging to a most wealthy family.
David's parents insist he get married to his fiancee rather than hook up with Sabrina. When an injury involving wine glasses decommissions David, Linus takes it upon himself to go on various dates with Sabrina and try to let her down easily. Would you believe some romantic sparks begin to fly between these two? Perhaps you can, Sabrina isn't a massively innovative movie in terms of basic plot points. But who really cares about that when its execution of this kind of somewhat familiar storytelling is so entertaining? Thankfully, Sabrina is not the kind of movie that just assembles A-list talent and then expects their mere presence to lift up the whole production, the likes of Hepburn, Bogart and Wilder earn their paychecks and then some with their work here.
Hepburn, playing the Pauper to her Roman Holiday protagonist's Prince, maintains the same sense of relatable charm that made her Roman Holiday performance such a treat. Even when she becomes a more sophisticated individual after her time in France, Hepburn ensures that Sabrina is still a discernably human creation capable of stumbling over her words or feeling vulnerable. Though this is only the second movie I've seen her in, I've already become extremely impressed with the way in which Audrey Hepburn can manage to have such discernably human qualities in her performance while still emanating classic movie star charisma.
Playing opposite Audrey Hepburn for much of Sabrina is Humphery Bogart, a guy more known for headlining gruesome 1940s film noirs than romantic-comedies. Bogart not being a default choice to headline a film in this genre works perfectly for his character in Sabrina since Linus is more accustomed to working with calculators than romantic infatuation. Bogart being so well-cast in this part can also be seen in how he proves to be a perfect curmudgeon foil for Audrey Hepburn's Sabrina. Whereas she's constantly enamored with romantic flights of fantasy, Linus is a man whose feet are firmly planted on planet Earth. Wilder's script creates an entertaining dichotomy between the two lead characters that the pair of lead performers handle with superb talent.
The screenplay by Billy Wilder is also delightful in how it frequently employs some more stylized elements to move its plot along, like David getting a crucial injury from sitting on wine glasses of all things, the sight gag of Linus proving how flexible his companies new glass product is by having a whole horde of people stand on it or David engaging in a bit of Three Stooges-esque slapstick after being punched in the kisser by his brother. When you boil it down its barest essentials, Sabrina is somewhat formulaic, but these kinds of films live or die on their execution. Thankfully, Sabrina's got some sublime execution thanks to a pair of great lead performances and a script that isn't afraid to indulge in its wacky side.
No comments:
Post a Comment