MonkeyPants

Sabrina, or Never Lived Up.

When I was young, when I got sick and had to stay home from school, I would watch the movie Sabrina, which my mother had recorded from the TV. The ads got more out of date, but the film itself was so timelessly perfect in everything: David sitting down on the champagne glasses, the French cooking school, her cooking Linus something using crackers and olives. Then there was the dress. The one Sabrina wore to the party at the Larribee’s house. It was Givenchy, I think. The most elegant garment ever created. Of course, the only woman who could have worn it was Audrey Hepburn.

Well, in 1995, they remade the movie. Mom and I agreed that it wouldn’t live up to the original. How could it? They put in the champagne glasses, but they changed everything else including the dress. And, of course, Julia Ormond is beautiful, but she is not Ms. Hepburn. Even with the added presence of Harrison Ford (and I do love me some Harrison Ford), the remake does not compare.

Some time after it came to video, my boyfriend at the time and I were thinking of what movie to watch. I wanted to check out the remake, but he wanted something else. I said, “Oh, okay, get your movie,” but he went and got Sabrina, and surprised me with it.

Whenever I see the remake now, I remember that one sweet gesture of his. It made me think that the eager, dreaming boy I knew was still there somewhere inside the man. Of course, his insecurities strangled that boy, and in time, I found my boyfriend disappointing and somewhat hollow, just like the remake of Sabrina.

Both remakes never lived up to the originals.