By skyforbes Also full disclosure, I saw Sabrina 1954 first… a week ago. And then watched the remake yesterday and today.
This is also going to be very subjective.
Listen, I do not need a remake to be a 1 to 1 copy of the original. I am fine with changes in theory. But the changes need to have purpose. And as far as I can tell, the remake half-assed its changes. It’s too afraid to strain too much from the structure of the original film, but its new content conflicts with that original script. It’s the 90s equivalent of a modern Disney remake. And in the words of Ron Leslie,
Never half-ass two things. Full ass one thing.
Let’s start with the most basic issue. Sabrina herself.
For, what I can only assume was an attempt to differentiate itself from the original, Sabrina no longer goes from lovesick youngin to bold, confident, woman. Instead it’s lovesick shy youngin to lovesick shy hot woman. And I’m sorry, this is just painful to watch. Between the sullen silences, her constant inability to make up her mind, and all the sad sappy poetry type dialogue, it made. 2 hour film feel like 3 hours. In the words of my friend, it’s like watching a sitcom.
The reason Sabrina is such a magnetic force in the original isn’t just the fact she is played by Audrey Hepburn. It’s the fact Audrey imbues the character with so much confidence when she’s returns back from Paris that it’s infectious. From the moment she’s back she has David wrapped around her finger.
“You’re still reaching for the moon Sabrina.”
“No father, the moon is reaching for *me.*”
At the party, by the time David gets to her she’s already got a group of men surrounding her. She doesn’t blend in, she intentionally stands out. She does not care that she’s about to ruin a 20+ million dollar merger deal. Come hell or high water she is going to go after the love of her life.
If you are going to 180 that, make her still as meek as ever but she got a glow up, then you have to justify why David is infatuated with her. Why he’d be willing to throw everything away for her. In the remake it makes even less sense given he’s actually been dating his fiancé and approach her first. Whereas in the original, David’s marriage was cooked up entirely by Linus. It makes sense that he’d fall back into old habits, even intentionally staining his fiancé’s dress, just for the chance to be with Sabrina. He never truly believed in his arraigned marriage in the first place.
Yet in the remake, the only thing David seems to be into is her looks. Like he’s just using her as an excuse to get out of an engagement he’s iffy on. He doesn’t even stain his fiancé’s dress because she’s not even at the party. Not only that, but they actually have more scenes together after the party, but it’s still worse because Sabrina has no confidence. She realizes she’s falling for Linus and starts to awkwardly shy away from David because she feels guilty. So what you end up with is no chemistry.
Again, compare that to William Holden and Audrey Hepburn. Where the chemistry is so clearly there despite them having far less screentime that people TO THIS DAY wish Sabrina had gotten with David instead.
And can I just say it is hilarious the 90s remake somehow de-girlbossed Sabrina? 1954 Sabrina knew what she wanted and went for it. 1995 Sabrina can’t make up her mind even after her Paris trip.
Part of me is hurt because in theory, I want a remake to go bold with the changes. But the problem is by keeping the bones, the structure of the original film, plot points cease to make sense. Like they’re thrown in there because they were there in the original.
Which leads to the second victim of this film’s bizarre relationship to the original.
Linus Laraby.
Linus in the remake has the charisma of a piece of wet cardboard, so he’s naturally a fit for this Sabrina. Who is too shy to even pretend to play coy. He’s awkward, and not in an endearing way. Neither Linus nor Sabrina are good at messing with each other here either. No thinly veiled threats, feigning ignorance. Just very, very awkward pauses.
The best way to describe the difference is the lead up to when they first dance.
In the original, the exchange is this,
Sabrina: You know, when you just walked in here, I was sure you’d been sent by the family to deal with me.
Linus: To deal with you?
Sabrina: Like in a Viennese operetta. The young prince falls in love with the waitress at the gala, and the prime minister is sent to buy her off.
Linus: Buy her off?
Sabrina: Yes. He offers her 5,000 Krone. No she says. 10,000? No.
Linus: 15,000 Krone.
Sabrina: No.
Linus: 20,000 Krone.
Sabrina: No.
Linus: 25,000 dollars.
Sabrina: No… how did dollars get into this?
Linus: 25,000 after taxes is a lot of money Sabrina.
Sabrina: What are you trying to say?
Linus: Oh I’m just trying to make it worth while. What’s a Krone these days? No self respecting prime minister would offer Krone.
Sabrina: No self respecting waitress would take dollars.
Linus: Good girl.
Meanwhile in the 1995
Sabrina: They’ve sent you to deal with me, haven’t they?
Linus: They?
Sabrina: Like a lawyer in a movie. He goes to the unsuitable waitress or showgirl or chauffeur’s daughter, and say the family is prepared to offer you 100 thousand dollars to stay away from their son. No she says. 150 thousand?
Linus: 200 thousand.
pause
Sabrina: No.
Linus: A million.
longer pause
Linus: No self respecting lawyer would offer less.
Sabrina: No self respecting waitress, would take it.
Linus: Good girl.
There is so much push and pull in the original. Linus always stops short of saying he is actually there to buy her off. But Sabrina, to a degree, knows better. The moment it’s starting to become transparent she calls him out. Only for Linus to retreat, and go for plan B. Seducing her.
Meanwhile the remake makes a change at the start of this conversation I neglected to mention. It moves Linus’ lie that he’s okay with David and Sabrina getting together to after the movie analogy. By changing this, they have Sabrina come right out and ask if “they,” sent Linus to deal with her. And Linus, caught, focuses on the “they,” because it means Sabrina didn’t think Linus himself wanted her out of the picture. Meanwhile in the original, Linus feigns ignorance and changes the subject.
This change recontextualizes the whole exchange. It’s far less playful. More awkward, threatening even. Linus’ “good girl,” doesn’t come off as playful. It’s more like a “grrrrr I’m gonna have to try harder to get rid of you.” Before he pretends to be okay with Sabrina and David. Which you may be like “wait what’s the problem here? It looks like they’re changing the story to fit these new characters.” Again, they don’t fully commit. After Linus so clearly and with not even a hint of plausible deniability tries to buy Sabrina off, he suddenly 180s and he’s like “oh no I won’t stop you, it’s the 90s Sabrina.” And she buys it? And then she willingly dances with him?
How?
What?
Why?
The dance itself is awkward as hell. And the way he rushes for the kiss, saying it’s all in the family, I’m just like WHY?!?
I can’t chalk this up to Harrison Ford phoning in his performance though that certainly is part of it. It goes back to someone’s choice during the script writing process to remove Linus’ charisma.
Humphrey Bogart’s Linus’ use of “it’s all in the family,” is repeated over and over prior to the kiss as a way to put Sabrina at ease as he seduces her. It starts off small, with Linus being the one to appear and offer the champaign that David would normally arrive with. Then he moves to the dance. And then, he suggests Sabrina would expect a kiss from David, offers a kiss from David, and then kisses her. Just as Sabrina is questioning what she let herself do, he interrupts that thought with, “it’s all in the family.”
It’s all a game to manipulate her into questioning her feelings for David. To lightly push her in the so called right direction. Unfortunately for Linus, he starts to fall for her in the process.
All I feel in the remake is tension, like Linus is a predator trying to scare but also steal Sabrina away. And she is unsettled by his every advance. None of its subtle or suave. Yet I’m supposed to believe they’re falling in love?
In the original this is the moment Sabrina starts to consider Linus as an option. Whereas in the remake, I’m at the halfway point in the movie and I do not see how Linus can salvage it. And in my opinion, he doesn’t!
The Martha’s vineyard trip is another exercise in annoyance. It’s bigger, more fancy, Linus clearly trying to show off with the helicopter ride and then the private jet. The pretending the abandoned building has been donated to the city to be used as a halfway house.
All just cringe.
And I don’t feel like these are intentional changes to better fit this version of the story.
It’s like a Disney remake where they make changes to be different but don’t follow through with it. They’re just to make it I guess less problematic. And that thought process goes in tow with the remake’s biggest change.
Sabrina and Linus never try to kill themselves.
Yes, I do think this is a meaningful change. In spite of the odd choice in plot point, Sabrina’s attempted suicide in the original is her and Linus’ first meeting. They actually talk to each other. They banter even though she literally almost died. Linus even brings it up when he sees her at the tennis court. Moreover this is actually setup for Sabrina being able to relate to Linus and see there’s more to him than the stuffy businessman. Because Linus too, almost killed himself because of heartbreak.
The fact they’d both been to this place is what intrigues Sabrina enough for another date after the second one. It’s literally the first thing she asks him about when she visits his office before their third date. Sharing this information is what helps Linus himself be more open to Sabrina and vise versa. It gives Sabrina a reason to trust him. That despite his crusty shell and her endless energy, there’s an intense loneliness they share.
Meanwhile in the remake, no such moment. They replace the garage scene from the 54 film with Sabrina accidentally, drunkenly, confessing her love for David, to Linus.
Also wanted to add the painfully on the nose yet genius framing of when Sabrina is cooking dinner while Linus is outside looking over the ledge at the cruise ship. There’s two different things happening here. Linus is metaphorically thinking about ending his life. Giving up his all day businessman job and running off with her. But also, what separates Sabrina from in this shot? Glass.
In the words of Sabrina’s father,
”I like to think of life as a limousine. Though we are all riding together, we must remember our places. There's a front seat and a back seat and a window in between.”
Remake Sabrina and Linus wear their loneliness on their sleeves. So many long awkward pauses. The movie seems aware they don’t actually have the moment where the two become stuck so to speak, where it should click that they’re in love. So instead, while eating Moroccan food, the film montages the two laughing and joking together. As if it gave up on trying to show how these two very lonely, very socially awkward people, would even get to that point. Because the second the montage is over it’s back to Linus acting like a creep and Sabrina being weirded out.
Listen, my biggest complaint about the original is Linus. More specifically Humphrey Bogart was too old, plain and simple. So I take no joy in saying Harrison Ford is worse. All the changes made were for the worse and what they keep does not work with the story they are trying to tell.
I could go on, how the remake changed it so Linus announces his Paris trip in the same scene where he asks Sabrina to go with him. And then has him do a 180 like “no I was lying this was a mistake.” The bottom line is the same.
The remake simultaneously changes too much and too little. And the result is a very frustrating movie. If you haven’t seen the original film, it might be a fine time. But there’s so much here that is just odd, and is only there because of the OG movie.
It’s a movie at war with itself, and in the process loses.