WARNING: This Review May Contain Spoilers
Now, don’t get this confused with the TV series Sabrina: The Teenage Witch. This isn’t the Buffy scenario where a TV series emerged from a film. Actually, I think there may be an article in that idea…
A Change in Time
It might just be me, but there’s something about Sabrina’s time in Paris in the original film that feels a little bit more realistic. The idea of her going over to go to cookery school – you assume the same one as her mother – feels more likely than a chauffer’s daughter getting a job at Vogue, even if it is only as a runner. Maybe it’s because the remake, being a 90s film, reminded me a little bit of the direction Rachel’s character went in Friends.
The relationship between Elizabeth and David is very different. In the remake, David actually meets Elizabeth first, giving Linus the idea for the merger between their two companies instead of the partnership being the reason for the relationship and marriage taking place.
Narration
Now, I can’t say that this is something that is different between these two films as they both contain narrated sections. However, this only features at the beginning of the original film whereas in the remake I would say this happens three times in my opinion. Once at the beginning, same as the original, and once at the end. Now, the third time may questionable for some. I believe that when Sabrina is heading to the party there is a narration over the top but this could also be mistaken for the ending of the conversation with her father in the previous scene.
Hepburn vs Ormond
There’s something amazing about Audrey Hepburn, and I don’t just mean the fact that she still looked unbelievably beautiful crawling under a car with grease on her face. I mean that somehow she looked like a young girl in the beginning of the film and a grown woman returning from Paris even though there was no break in filming. However, unfortunately for Julia Ormond, she already looked like a grown woman at the start of the remake.
The one thing in Ormond’s favour however is that she is a British actress. I found it very weird in the original that an English chauffer had a daughter with an American accent because they actually mention in the narration that And over the garage there lived a chauffeur by the name of Fairchild, imported from England years ago, together with a Rolls Royce; and a daughter, named Sabrina so you can’t assume that Sabrina was born in America.
Bogart vs Ford
Following the original, I was 100% certain that Harrison Ford would not have been able to give off the same serious exterior as Bogart and I feel that was really important to the storyline. I think they tried to deliver this in the same way but the fact that Ford’s Linus cracks jokes on a regular occasion, it just doesn’t have the same feeling. Because Harrison is more softly spoken, the conversation between Linus and Sabrina in the solarium, no matter how similar it was to their conversation on the indoor tennis court in the original, it already sounded like he’s in love with Sabrina already – you even see him looking at her, almost lovingly when she’s taking photos of the lighthouse.. In the original however, you actually questioning on and off if Bogart’s Linus has fallen for her or if he is still going along with his plan.
Sabrina and Linus
In the original film, there is very little interaction between these two characters in the beginning. The first time they speak is when Linus inadvertently saves Sabrina’s life and there’s no acknowledgement when she returns from Paris. This all changes when Linus takes it upon himself to separate David and Sabrina in order to save the family, and the company, from any embarrassment. However, in the remake they speak when Sabrina thinks she is saying goodbye to David and Linus even cracks a little joke “would you bring me back one of the little Eiffel Tower things” and it is Linus that makes David realise that the sophisticated woman he has driven back to the Larrabee estate is in fact Sabrina instead of the excitement of the servants.
The Use of Humour
I feel like this is something that is pretty much abandoned in the remake. I’m sure lines like “I have a sister, that’s not how we dance” are supposed to be comical but it’s nothing compared to Linus telling David to sit down when he knows full well that he has two champagne glasses in his back pockets! OK – yes, they keep it in the remake but it just doesn’t seem to have the same effect. I also think part of this is caused by Larrabee Snr not featuring in the remake as he seems to be the main comical character – which is played completely straight, making it even funnier!
The Big Reveal
In both films, Linus admits to Sabrina that he was trying to get her out of the way to save both the marriage between David and Elizabeth and the merger with his company and the Tyson company. However, the reactions seem to be completely different. Hepburn’s Sabrina seems to accept the fact that Linus had to do it and goes to Paris willingly. Now, so does Ormond’s – go willingly I mean – but there is a much more emotional reaction before she takes the ticket to Paris and leaves.
In Conclusion
I’m sorry but I’m about to repeat myself. The remake is good in its own way, I won’t deny that, but for the original wins out in so many ways. Maybe it’s my own fault that I had already figured the remake would make Linus’ affections more obvious than in the original but there’s something about keeping it more of a mystery that makes the ending more beautiful. Instead the remake ends much more like a rom-com….and we all know how much I hate those!
