Sabrina

Discussing a remake can be a challenging thing. Is it possible to discuss it without including the context of the original? Should you, even? Certainly for those who have seen the original, or the many previous iterations, such as each of the four A Star Is Borns, it can be difficult to not compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of each against the other(s). I like the original Sabrina (1954). Quite a bit, actually. Writer/director Billy Wilder had, for the most part, two gears: bleak and cynical a la Ace in the Hole, and comedic romp a la Some Like It Hot. Sabrina is decidedly in the second category, creating something charming, light, romantic, and often laugh out loud funny. The acting is generally quite good, and the cast has more charisma than it knows what to do with; I swear to God Audrey Hepburn could make paint drying entertaining. So is this more of a Psycho or an Ocean’s Eleven situation; is the original such a masterpiece that it obviously should have been left alone, or does the remake demonstrate that adapting, updating, and improving on the original material can actually make something as good as, if not better, than the original?

A brief scan of the talent involved in the picture shows no weaknesses there. Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear are both talented actors with long careers full of charismatic and charming characters. The director, Sydney Pollack, is no slouch either, with two Oscars and several Emmys, Golden Globes, and BAFTAs to his name. However, despite all this talent, there just seems to be something missing in this ultimately run-of-the-mill remake.

The first thing off is in the changes to the plot. Though they are subtle, they do shift the tone of the story and the relationships of the characters within it. For example, in the original, Sabrina is sent to Paris to follow in the footsteps of her deceased mother by studying the culinary arts. While this could be a springboard to bigger and better things, it is also intrinsically tied to her station as the daughter of a servant. In the remake, she is sent to Paris via the influence of the Larrabee matriarch, for whom her father works, to work for some Vogue-like magazine doing… something they never fully explain. Though vaguely cutting edge fashion work in Paris feels entirely in-place for a 90s rom-com it is entirely out-of-place for the story of Sabrina. Why the Larrabees would use their connections to get her this gig is never explained, nor is why Sabrina herself would be interested in the work, enough to leave her devoted father; surrogate family of fellow estate staff; or her intense, private, and ultimately unrequited crush on one of the Larrabee sons: David.

Sabrina’s character is also given less room to grow in the remake. In the original, she is more consumed with depression over David’s (at the time) disinterest in her, drifting through her cooking classes until she befriends an elderly man in culinary school who shows her the city and gives her the tools to find her confidence and become more well rounded and cosmopolitan. In the remake, she already seems like a reasonably self assured young woman, despite her crush, and is therefore able to just sort of wander the city and change by osmosis. In the original, because she was raised on a wealthy estate, she comes across as fairly sheltered and naive despite her lower class background. In the remake, that never really comes across other than a few stumbles at the magazine internship, although those seem to be more triggered by clumsiness than anything else. This makes the original Sabrina seem like she is really blossoming in Paris and creates a much deeper connection to the city as it’s where she feels she became a new person. Remake Sabrina still has a reason to love the city, a lot of very cool things happened to her there, but it isn’t the same level of existential fulfillment as the original, so when she talks to Linus about what Paris meant to her and could mean to him, it doesn’t hit nearly as hard.

The remake also subtly changes the character of Linus, mostly for the worse. Both films center around a love triangle of sorts, between Sabrina and the two Larrabee brothers, Linus and David. The brothers are well contrasted. David is the layabout playboy with an easy charm and a practiced and effective routine around women. Linus is the serious one who shoulders the burden of responsibility for doing the actual business that keeps their family fortune going. In the remake, unlike in the original, there is no indication that Linus is anything other than a particularly ruthless businessman. The original leaves more room for him to be a good man trying to balance many complicated responsibilities. Remake Linus takes Sabrina on a plane ride to a small town where he lies about supporting a home for orphans, then shows character growth by feeling guilty about it later. The original Linus takes Sabrina on a boat trip and gets genuinely vulnerable about his past and his relationship with love and romance. The remake Linus runs the family business in the most 90s way possible: as an entity that exists only to make money and, as such, must be handled in the most cold and calculated way. As (remake) Sabrina chirps at one point: he “thinks that morals are paintings on walls and scruples are money in Russia.” The original Linus is endearingly passionate about the potential for their products to improve the lives of its customers, not just the company’s bottom line. At one point, he gets so excited about the new world changing glass his company is developing that he spends almost an entire party showing it off to guests.

This makes Linus and Sabrina’s relationship much more compelling in the original. There are hints from early on that he sees her in a way others don’t, that he wants the best for her and his brother even as he deceives them both. In the remake, the scheme is just another cold hearted business calculation, same as the rest, up until the very last moment when suddenly it isn’t. In the original, the way Linus talks about his memories of their shared past, or seemingly sees through her lie about being locked in the garage, reveal that there is a deeper bond there from the first minutes of the film, even if it initially might only be platonic. Subtly, over time, we are given a sense that Linus is either slowly falling in love, or realizing a love that has been there for longer than he could admit to himself, and that’s a really fun thing to watch as an audience. For remake Linus, Sabrina is just an impediment that must be dealt with, until she isn’t. Still somewhat fun, still fulfilling a certain enemies-to-lovers fantasy, but just not as good, in my opinion.

As such, the remake lacks a lot of the heart of the original. On its own, without comparison, it’s a fairly middle of the road 90s romantic comedy. It hits a lot of the familiar tropes of apparent opposites attracting and the fantasy of a high net worth individual as a partner. The poor girl shows the rich guy how to be human. However, it doesn’t do a great job of being a remake; of updating the original’s ideas to a modern setting. It puts the broad strokes in the right place, but gets the details wrong. It reimagines dynamics from the original into the context of the 90s, but almost always in a way that is less interesting and less effective than its original. As such, if someone asked me about the film, I would probably just recommend they skip the remake and watch the original… unless they have a particular soft-spot for Harrison Ford as an early middle-aged silver fox type.

Would Recommend: If you have a particular soft-spot for Harrison Ford as an early middle-aged silver fox type.

Would Not Recommend: If you are committed to watching a Sabrina flick and are trying to decide between the original and the remake.