Sabrina is a Cinderella story—but there's no fairy godmother, because it's not a film with magic. So that leaves you with the question: how do you turn frumpy Sabrina into magical/mystical/Prince-is-wowed Sabrina? The film's answer is simple: Paris.
Long Island is nice enough, but it ain't transformative. Paris, though, is the land of love and fashion. It turns a frightened, loveless girl into the woman everyone is chasing after. Paris isn't so much a real place (you barely see it in the film) as a kind of ideal of sophistication and coolness. (Warning: everyone who goes to Paris doesn't come back looking like Audrey Hepburn.)
Questions about Contrasting Regions: New York and Paris
- You never learn if David has been to Paris. If he had been, would that confuse the film's themes? Why or why not?
- Hepburn was British. Would the film have been changed if Sabrina went to England instead of Paris? Why or why not?
- Is the distinction in the film between New York and Paris, or between America and France? Does it matter?
Chew on This
Take a peek at these thesis statements. Agree or disagree?
Sabrina is transformed by Paris.
Sabrina is transformed by growing up, not by Paris.