Sabrina

When a beautiful girl could only dream of marrying above her station, when that was considered shooting for the moon; but then again, they were building rockets to reach the moon---Sabrina just got there 15 years early. How has this eluded me all this time? The heights of the American mid-century, when plastic had captured the imagination of the chattering classes, like Japan in the 90s or graphene in the 2000s. Of course, plastic would actually prove to bear out the furthest extent of its forecasts; in fact, it became so successful and dominant as to become completely unremarkable. The point being that this was a time where things were still happening; when something new could just up and completely reorient the earth's axis. When men like Bogart rode around with box telephones in the back of their limousines, with all the coteries and trappings of 19th century ethic and aesthetic—all while clearing the path for the eventual debasement, of 'putting the plastic in the suits and the food' as it were--the 21st century. But that blame should not be shouldered by the tycoons of the 50s-- of the Fordians; that comes later... This is a moment in time, before those cost cutters and Jack Welch types---- When the 20th century could still be considered new, and before love had become completely democratic. (little thoughts---i love the bit with the ship blowing through the window as Bogart talks of the deal sailing away, the whole tennis sequence is brilliant, love that Bogart is standing on the suicide ledge as he talks to Sabrina, love that David picks her up from the train and doesn't know its her, love talk of the chauffeur 'back, the front, and the window inbetween', love Humphrey surprising her in the phone booth, love the kitchen in the office penthouse, la vie en rose..... mon dieu!) “I have learned how to live, how to be in the world and of the world, and not just to stand aside and watch. And I will never, never again run away from life...or from love, either.”