Symbols and Tropes
The Chauffeur's Car
Classist life lessons, courtesy of Thomas, a.k.a. Sabrina's daddy:THOMAS: I like to think of life as a limousine. Though we are all riding together, we must remember our places. There's a front sea...
The Haircut
In first scenes of the film, Audrey Hepburn as Sabrina has a ponytail— a girlish, 1950s sock hop-ready hairstyle. But when Sabrina meets the Baron, he tells her that in order to be a sophisticate...
The Office
Linus is a bigwig. Linus has a big head, and a big office to match. But often Wilder shoots it so it looks even bigger—like aircraft carrier big. For instance, when Sabrina comes into Linus' offi...
The Soufflé
BARON ST. FONTANEL: A woman happily in love, she burns the soufflé. A woman unhappily in love, she forgets to turn on the oven.Sabrina's flat, flat, flat soufflé—caused by her failure to turn o...
Sugar-Cane Plastic
Linus' big business scheme in the film is to make a flexible, strong, super-plastic out of sugar cane. The plastic is even sweet to the taste… which is truly odd. Who wants a sweet tasting shampo...
The Umbrella
Sabrina urges Linus to go to Paris to find love and life. But she says, he can't take a briefcase and "never an umbrella. There's a law."The umbrella then becomes a sign of Linus' fuddy-duddy ways....