Movies from the Heart—Sabrina

Last week’s Roman Holiday gave us the story of a princess who wants to be just like a regular girl. This week we turn that upside down, with the story of a chauffeur’s daughter who wants to be part of the upper class set her father works for… and works to make her dream become a reality in Sabrina [1954] by Billy Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor and Ernest Lehman.

Sabrina is set on Long Island and follows the lives of two brothers in the upper class family—the serious Linus and the playboy David—and the chauffeur’s daughter Sabrina. When the film opens, Sabrina is only a teenager, sitting in a tree, watching the brothers—David in particular—at a fancy party the family is having. Sabrina dreams of being a part of that, of being able to dance with David and share that life.

But soon she’s sent off to school in Paris—cooking school, in fact. The aim, of course, is that she’ll become a cook and work for the family, as her deceased mother did. But she doesn’t want to go to Paris. She wants to stay here where, if she can never be David’s girl, at least she can be near to him. Thus follows a half-hearted suicide attempt.

We follow her to Paris and see her in the cooking school and also see her maturing and becoming a fashionable young woman.

Take a look at the trailer for the film.

So, of course, David, the brother that she longed for as a teenager, becomes quite interested in her when she returns from Paris looking like a fashion model. But Linus, who knows all too well David’s track record with women, would like David to resist as, since Sabrina is their own chauffeur’s daughter, things could get complicated.

When David continues his pursuit, Linus works to torpedo him by pretending to help him out and escort Sabrina around when David’s laid up with a small injury. And that’s how it begins—Linus just wants to save the family the embarrassment and money it would cost to pay off Sabrina to go away when David’s finished with her. But, in spite of himself, Linus falls for her himself—though he won’t admit it.

For a writer, this is a classic. Two brothers, one love interest. The steady, hard-working brother and the wild, playboy brother. Which one will get the girl?

One of the things I like about this script is that Linus really seems like he could never loosen up and get ANY girl, let alone the lovely Sabrina. But the way she brings out another side of him is lovely to see. And that’s the kind of thing you want to do as a writer, always be aware of the multi-dimensional nature of your characters—give them room to grow and change.

From a young girl looking for love in Sabrina, next week we’ll look at a middle-aged woman who can hardly believe she’s a candidate for love in Summertime.

Copyright © Diane Lake

28Jan24

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