Monday, January 25, 2016

Sabrina (1954)


Looking through the filmography of Billy Wilder, this film seems to be a bit of a left turn after the overwhelming darkness of the films that preceded it. To follow up alcoholism, murder, betrayal, opportunism and prison camps with a Cinderella story? Perhaps this was Wilder's attempt to lighten up. But as they say, it's pretty hard for a leopard to change its spots. While we love to focus on Audrey Hepburn in her Givenchy gowns swaying go La Vie En Rose, that is to ignore the fact that this film begins with a suicide attempt. It's also a film with an extremely cynical take on class and Capitalism in America. "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." No matter how pink you make the glass of that window, it will always be there.

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