Sabrina vs Sabrina - The Match-Up

In a perfect world you could combine the best aspects of two films and create one master version. Hollywood has been trying to do this for a long time and they would have even more money in the bank if they could just find a way. I wish they could have found a way to do it in the case of Sabrina, independently they had aspects that I really liked, but let me down in other areas.

On the surface the films are the same, with only minor updates to the situations and plot to accomodate the more modern timeframe. None of these changes seem to negatively impact the film. You also may have your personal preferences for the actors involved, given my age, I gravitated to the modern version, but that's just me. In both films we get very solid acting, and the actors individually bring something to the parts.

There are a number of minor differences in the versions. The biggest one and the one that matters the most is the more contemporary treatment (in the 1995 remake) of the character, Sabrina. In the original she seemed to be a "thing", to be either possessed or not, by the lead male characters. We are shown a short segment in which Sabrina spends time in Paris attending culinary school. Growing as a person we assume, accumulating various life experiences in order to become an adult. However, upon her return home, all she seems to have learned is how to be more attractive to the opposite sex. Now, this is the point where I'm wondering if I'm having a generational disconnect. Is this type of character just indicative of the role that some women had at the time? I'm not sure, I would need to get opinions from various people of that era to be sure. What I know is, from a modern perspective, it makes for a extremely two-dimensional female lead character. We don't really understand why she is madly in love with David. And it only take a few days for her to forget about him and fall for his older brother.

In the 1995 re-make we are given more character development for Sabrina. Instead of culinary school, Sabrina is a fashion photographer's assistant. Through some efficiently constructed scenes, we see Sabrina getting a crash course on life and even manages to earn the respect of her co-workers. This isn't to say Sabrina returns home in this version, ready to take on the world, but you get the sense that events are not beyond her ability to follow. This is a pretty complicated difference in the two movies, but it is at the root of why they are so different to me.

Both Sabrina's have things to offer. The original, though a little dated in it's characterizations, has a warmth and charm that the remake could not achieve. The 1995 version was able to ground the characters in a bit more reality but came off as a by-the-numbers "Rom-com." Which one did I like more? I'd have to go with the 1995 version. I see the significance of the original, but the 1995 re-make edges out the original by a slight margin. Was it worth re-making? This is another case (like the comparison of Infernal Affairs and The Departed) where I'm going to say that it's a push. The re-make isn't really a huge improvement, but the modernizing of the female archetype makes it worth the effort.