ASSIGNMENT 3: BRUNERIAN FILM ANALYSIS
Bratton-Jeffery, Frankie
Bruner (1991) in The Narrative Construction of Reality suggests that it is possible to study the human mind through the examination of narratives. He identifies ten narrative features that might be used to analyze and explain the human condition. The feature, particularity, is found in many of the films produced in the 1950s, Hollywood’s golden age. Boy-meets-girl, boy-wins-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-back was a solid formula for guaranteed box office success with a generation recovering from World War II and attempting to turn a blind eye to the onslaught of communism. Topping the charts in the 1950s were a series of romantic comedies that allowed the moviegoers to forget about the day-to-day activities and traject themselves into a world of chaotic comedy which were destined to conclude with a happy ending. Tony Curtis, as a struggling musician, wooed Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot. Cary Grant, a suave diplomat, seduced a willing stage actress, Ingrid Bergman, in Indiscreet.
The theme of particularity, i.e., boy-woos-girl, takes a complex turn in Billy Wilder’s Sabrina (1954). The triangle begins with Sabrina, played by Audrey Hepburn, leaving for cooking school in France. She’s the chauffeur’s daughter who has always been in love with David Larrabee (William Holden). But the playboy Larrabee has no idea that she’s in love with him. After years in France, Sabrina returns as an accomplished ingénue, who quickly captures David’s eye. Unfortunately, David is engaged to the daughter of a wealthy potential business partner for Larrabee Conglomerate run by Linus Larrabee (Humphrey Bogart).
Sabrina-gets-David; David-loses-the fiancé. Linus sees that the business merger is about to go south. He steps in to get David back on track. Sabrina starts to fall for Linus. David-loses-Sabrina; Sabrina-falls for-Linus; Linus-intends to lose-Sabrina.
Wilder presents magnificent views of a wealthy lifestyle that moviegoers can only wildly imagine. The Larrabee brothers, with untold wealth, manipulate the other characters in the story to achieve what they want. Yet, it is Sabrina’s father, the chauffeur, who puts everyone in their logical place. He makes it clear to Linus that his daughter is not one to be won or lost by either of the brothers. He wants her safely returned to Paris.
Bruner suggests that because of particularity, the narrative reader can look ahead and fill-in what remains to be seen. Linus purchases tickets aboard a luxury oceanliner, the Libertee, to return Sabrina to Paris. He explains to his father that while there are two tickets only one will be used, Sabrina’s. He has every intention of “buying off” Sabrina and her father. Sabrina finds the tickets and assumes that Linus has fallen in love with her. Unfortunately, Linus has to explain that everything is about business. Sabrina-loses-face.
It is the shallow playboy brother David who brings the movie to its dénouement. The stockholders are gathered round the board table, Linus is in his element. Sabrina is on the oceanliner. David enters, presents his brother with an ultimatum. Linus, as only Bogie could do it, slugs his brother. The “knocking some sense” into David backfires and actually “knocks the sense” into Linus. He realizes that Sabrina has won his heart. David-loses-Sabrina; Linus-loses-Sabrina. Sabrina sets sail for Paris. But, remember the 1950s romantic comedies always concluded with a happy ending. Wilder’s Sabrina was no different. In the final scene aboard the Libertee, Linus-wins-Sabrina. The audience’s expectations are aptly fulfilled. In Sabrina, the narrative unfolds as one would anticipate.
