(reposted with pictures)

So we decided not to see High Society as it was too terribly cold outside to watch, but we did have dinner at the Public inside the Roosevelt, two tables away from THE Ben Mankiewicz, who had a harem of women around him at all times. We attempted to get a picture and an autograph, but the wall of women was too thick.

Afterward, we saw Sabrina at Grauman’s Chinese Theater. It was wonderful. My big cousin fell asleep in my lap before the movie began (we’d all had a long day) and my big sister went to catch up with friends so my parents and I are essentially the only ones of our party who have actually seen a movie since we got here.

Sabrina was fabulous. The costume designer for Mad Men and the Mad Men collection at Banana Republic spoke before the movie, commenting on how well Edith Head did on supervising the costume design, especially with a certain young, new designer Givenchy. The pictured above is the dress Audrey Hepburn wore during the party and in the tennis court, which is on display here at the festival. You really don’t get a sense of how tiny she was until you’re standing next to it. I knew she could fit a dog collar around her waist, but wow! It looks like only a very, VERY tall six year old could fit into it. And Audrey was a tall girl too, despite being so tiny. You can tell in the scenes with Humphrey Bogart that they are almost equal in height, even while she’s in flats.

Audrey was always self-conscious about her body. She spent some of her youth eating dandelions and mud pies because her father had invested all their family’s money into the Third Reich and many times, they went without food. Her metabolism suffered for it and it often took two big helpings of spaghetti (which she’d often make for the cast and crew of whatever movie she was working on when filming ran late) just to keep her weight up. In her adulthood, she also suffered from anorexia on occasion, I suppose because she had gotten used to going without.

In Sabrina, you can really see her transform from this awkward little girl into this gorgeous, sophisticated, young woman. Really, she is beautiful in the fact that she isn’t very attractive. She has bushy eyebrows (which, despite the studio’s insistence, she kept bushy), crooked teeth, and large nostrils. One of her ears is kind of pointed while the other is round. Yet she is still this picture of perfection. She truly is an inspiration for woman who aren’t satisfied with their physical appearance.

Humphrey Bogart apparently didn’t want Audrey for the role. He was filling in last minute for Cary Grant though, so his suggestion to use wife Lauren Bacall came too late. He really does a good job though at being the tough, stalwart, cold business guy. Much like William Powell in My Man Godfrey, you almost can’t tell he is in love with Sabrina except for subtle character ticks, the biggest one for me and my favorite being the slight twitch in his right cheek right before he socks his brother in the face. It’s a small break, but it is one that really shows us how vulnerable even the toughest guy can get when he’s in love.

Billy Wilder is also a truly genius writer as well. The humor, the puns, the subtle sexual jokes, are so wonderfully played out by the actors. It’s almost a shame that he was such a hard person to work with. We all know geniuses tend to be arrogant, but apparently, he scared off his first co-writer for the movie within one day.

Truly a wonder to see on the big screen.

** Fun note: When Sabrina pulls down the brim of his hat the first time, there is this moment where you can see a glimpse of Bogie’s old role as the gangster. And the look he gives Audrey definitely shows that he knows it.