Sabrina (Sabrina Fair/La Vie en Rose in the United Kingdom) is a 1954 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Billy Wilder, adapted for the screen by Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor, and Ernest Lehman from Taylor's play Sabrina Fair. The picture stars Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden. This was Wilder's last film released by Paramount Pictures, ending a 12-year business relationship with Wilder and the company. The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2002.
Sabrina | |
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Theatrical re-release poster | |
Directed by | Billy Wilder |
Produced by | Billy Wilder |
Screenplay by | Billy Wilder Ernest Lehman Samuel A. Taylor |
Based on | Sabrina Fair by Samuel A. Taylor |
Starring | Humphrey Bogart Audrey Hepburn William Holden |
Music by | Frederick Hollander |
Cinematography | Charles Lang |
Edited by | Arthur P. Schmidt |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 113 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $2,238,813 |
Box office | $4 million (rentals) |
Screenplay
Sabrina Fairchild (Audrey Hepburn) is the young daughter of the Larrabee family's chauffeur, Thomas (John Williams), and she has been in love with David Larrabee (William Holden) all her life. David is an oft-married, idle playboy, crazy for women, who has never noticed Sabrina because to him she was still a child, much to her and the household staff's dismay. Sabrina noticed David with a woman and was devastated how he was so "in love" with her. Distraught, she leaves her father a suicide note, turns on every car in the garage, and tries to kill herself by carbon monoxide poisoning. She fails when David's workaholic older brother, Linus (Humphrey Bogart) intervenes and turns off every car and asks Sabrina what was she doing there; Sabrina doesn't tell him what she was planning to do though. Sabrina then goes and sneaks into her father's room to take back the suicide letter.
Sabrina then attends culinary school in Paris where her dad sent her because not a lot of women know how to cook, and after two years she returns home as an attractive and sophisticated woman. She waits for her father to pick her up, but instead David shows up without even knowing it is Sabrina. After initially not recognizing her, he is quickly drawn to her. They start talking about how much she has changed and how much of a woman she is now.
Linus sees this and fears that David's imminent marriage to Elizabeth Tyson (Martha Hyer) may be endangered. If the engagement is broken, it would ruin a profitable opportunity of a great corporate merger between Larrabee Industries and Elizabeth's very wealthy father's business. Linus confronts David about his irresponsibility to the family, the business, and Elizabeth, but David is unrepentant.
Linus then tries to distract Sabrina from David by drawing her affections to himself. He succeeds but in the process falls in love with her, though he cannot admit this even to himself.
Linus reveals his ploy to Sabrina, leaving her disillusioned about him and David. Sabrina agrees to leave and never come back, and Linus arranges for her to return to Paris by ship the next day.
The next morning, Linus has second thoughts and decides to send David to Paris with Sabrina. This means calling off David's wedding with Elizabeth and the big Tyson deal, and he schedules a meeting of the Larrabee board to announce this. However, David shows up at the meeting and declares that he's decided to marry Elizabeth after all. David helps Linus recognize his own feelings for Sabrina and assists him in rushing off to join Sabrina's ship before it leaves harbor. Linus and Sabrina meet on board and sail away together to Paris.
- Humphrey Bogart as Linus Larrabee
- Audrey Hepburn as Sabrina Fairchild
- William Holden as David Larrabee
- John Williams as Thomas Fairchild, Sabrina's father
- Walter Hampden as Oliver Larrabee, Linus and David's father
- Nella Walker as Maude Larrabee, Linus and David's mother
- Martha Hyer as Elizabeth Tyson, David's fiancée
- Marcel Dalio as Baron St. Fontanel
- Marcel Hillaire as The Professor, Sabrina's culinary instructor
- Ellen Corby as Miss McCardle, Linus' secretary
- Francis X. Bushman as Mr. Tyson, Elizabeth's father
- Joan Vohs as Gretchen Van Horn
- Nancy Kulp as one of the house servants (uncredited)
- Raymond Bailey as member of the board (uncredited)
- Emory Parnell as Charles - Butler (uncredited)
Initially, Cary Grant was considered for the role of Linus, but he declined, and the role was taken by Bogart. Best known for playing tough detectives and adventurers, Bogart was cast against type as a smart businessman gradually transformed into a romantic lead.
During production of the film, Hepburn and Holden entered into a brief but passionate and much-publicized love affair. Bogart had originally wanted his wife Lauren Bacall to be cast as Sabrina. He complained that Hepburn required too many takes to get her dialogue right and pointed out her inexperience.
Bogart was very unhappy during the filming, convinced that he was totally wrong for this kind of film, mad at not being Wilder's first choice, and not liking Holden or Wilder. But Wilder's offbeat casting produced a performance that critics generally considered successful. Bogart later apologized to Wilder for his behavior on set, citing problems in his personal life.
Wilder began shooting before the script was finished, and Lehman was writing all day to complete it. Eventually he would finish a scene in the morning, deliver it during lunch, and filming of it would begin in the afternoon.
Although Edith Head won an Oscar for Best Costumes, most of Hepburn's outfits are rumored to have been created by Hubert de Givenchy and chosen personally by the star. In a 1974 interview, Head stated that she was responsible for creating the dresses, with inspiration from some Givenchy designs that Hepburn liked, but that she made important changes, and the dresses were not by Givenchy. After Head's death, Givenchy stated that Sabrina's iconic black cocktail dress was produced at Paramount under Head's supervision but claimed it was his design.
The film began a lifelong association between Givenchy and Hepburn. It has been reported that when Hepburn called on Givenchy for the first time in Paris, he assumed that it was Katharine Hepburn in his salon.
The location used to portray the Larrabee family's mansion in Glen Cove, New York was 'Hill Grove', the home of George Lewis in Beverly Hills, California. This mansion was later demolished during the 1960s. The location used to portray the Glen Cove train station was Glen Cove (LIRR station), which is a train station along the Oyster Bay Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. The building at 30 Broad Street in Manhattan's financial district was used as the location for the headquarters of the Larrabee company.
- Wins
- Academy Award for Best Costume Design - Edith Head
- Nominations
- Academy Award for Best Director - Billy Wilder
- Academy Award for Best Actress - Audrey Hepburn
- Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Black-and-White) - (Art Direction) Hal Pereira and Walter Tyler; (Set Decoration) Samuel M. Comer and Ray Moyer
- Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) - Charles Lang
- Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay - Billy Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor and Ernest Lehman
In 1995 a remake was produced, starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond, and Greg Kinnear in the roles originally played by Bogart, Hepburn, and Holden respectively. It was directed by Sydney Pollack.
It also served as the inspiration for the 1994 Hindi film Yeh Dillagi, starring Akshay Kumar, Kajol and Saif Ali Khan. While there are changes to the plot, it was still a success. It became the sixth grossing movie at the box office that year. It also boosted the careers of Akshay Kumar and Kajol, both of whom got best actor nominations at the Filmfare Awards for their performances.
Manappandal (1961) was a Tamil remake. It featured S.S.Rajendran, S.A. Ashokan and B.Saroja Devi. It was a box-office success and ran for 100 days in many cinemas. It was also remade in Telugu as Intiki Deepam Illaley, featuring N.T. Ramarao, Kongara Jaggaiah and B. Saroja Devi.