Sabrina (1995)

An ugly duckling having undergone a remarkable change, still harbors feelings for her crush: a carefree playboy, but not before his business-focused brother has something to say about it.

Director:

Sydney Pollack

Writers:

Samuel A. Taylor (play), Billy Wilder (earlier screenplay),

Stars:

Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond, Greg Kinnear

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Harrison Ford	...	Linus Larrabee
Julia Ormond	...	Sabrina Fairchild
Greg Kinnear	...	David Larrabee
Nancy Marchand	...	Maude Larrabee
John Wood	...	Fairchild
Richard Crenna	...	Patrick Tyson
Angie Dickinson	...	Ingrid Tyson
Lauren Holly	...	Elizabeth Tyson
Dana Ivey	...	Mack
Miriam Colon	...	Rosa
Elizabeth Franz	...	Joanna
Fanny Ardant	...	Irene
Valérie Lemercier	...	Martine
Patrick Bruel	...	Louis
Becky Ann Baker	...	Linda

Storyline

While she was growing up, Sabrina Fairchild spent more time ] perched in a tree watching the Larrabee family than she ever did on solid ground.As the chauffeur's daughter on their lavish Long Island estate, Sabrina was invisible behind the branches, but she knew them all below... There is Maude Larrabee, the modern matriarch of the Larrabee Corporation; Linus Larrabee, the serious older son who expanded a successful family business into the world's largest communications company; and David, the handsome, fun-loving Larrabee, who was the center of Sabrina's world. Until she was shipped off to Paris. After two years on the staff of Vogue magazine, Sabrina has returned to the Larrabee estate, but now she has blossomed into a beautiful and sophisticated woman. And she's standing in the way of a billion dollar deal.

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Plot Keywords:

chauffeur | estate | playboy | vogue magazine | love triangle | 

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Taglines:

You are cordially invited to the most surprising merger of the year.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Paramount Pictures page

Country:

Germany USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

15 December 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sabrina (y sus amores)

Filming Locations:

399 Park Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$58,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

£1,193,923 (UK) (23 February 1996)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Constellation Entertainment, Mirage Enterprises, Mont Blanc Entertainment GmbH

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The poem about Sabrina the water sprite is actually an excerpt from a masque called Comus, by John Milton. In turn, Sabrina in the Milton poem is based on a Welsh tale about a princess named Sabrina who was thrown in a river that is the boundary between Wales and England. The water deity Nereus took pity on Sabrina and turned her into a river goddess.

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Goofs

As Sabrina rides the train home from New York, she is photographed through the small vertically-rectangular windows of an old fashioned commuter train with sharp corners. Across the aisle behind her, the windows on the opposite wall of the train are broad and horizontally rectangular with rounded corners like a modern commuter train.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Sabrina: Once upon a time, on the north shore of Long Island, not far from New York, there was a very very large mansion, almost a castle, where there lived a family by the name of Larrabee. There were servants inside the mansion, and servants outside the mansion; boatmen to tend the boats, and six crews of gardeners: two for the solarium, the rest for the grounds, and a tree surgeon on retainer. There were specialists for the indoor tennis courts, and the outdoor tennis courts, the outdoor...

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Connections

References Serpico (1973)

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Soundtracks

"Call Me Irresponsible"
by Sammy Cahn & Jimmy Van Heusen (as James Van Heusen)

User Reviews

The Salvation of Linus the King

Tempting though it may be to compare this film to the 1954 version, you will miss the point if you do. To understand the true magic of Sydney Pollack's masterpiece, read the Samuel A. Taylor play. While I'm sure it was a great evening out between martinis in the 1950s, it's incredible that both film versions so profoundly translated this romantic comedy, each in its own time.

In 1954, Billy Wilder used an incredible cast to entertain. No, Bogart should never have been cast. Cary Grant would have created the dynamic relationship we fortunately got to see later in Charade, but if Bogart had not been cast would the film hold its classic status? Audrey Hepburn transfixed an audience and brought to the world La Vie en Rose. William Holden is period eye candy, and the film will always be fun.

Pollack, however, made an important film. Taylor's play, after all, is just a fairy tale, and this film fully realizes it. Ormond is enchanting. Kinnear ripens the always empty David. Carmen Chaplin (Charlie's granddaughter) brings a french cinema quality to the film's Paris episodes. Marchand's "I didn't teach you this" culminates what may be one of the best written scenes in American film. You can watch this scene over and over and each time gain a better understanding of how great acting can define a relationship, this one between mother and son, for an audience.

But this film should have been called Linus. Harrison Ford's tour de force performance as the greater Larrabee fulfills Pollack's mission to tell a simple story of how a king is transformed by the love of a woman.

"It was a lie, then it was a dream."