A Little Romance Closes Series

After giving us a fling between a man and his mannequin (“The Doll”), a homosexual romp with murderous intent (“Law of Desire”) and the passion that can brew over a bowl of Japanese noodles (“Tampopo”), UC Irvine’s “Love the Whole World Round” series closes with something more traditional: a good, old Hollywood picture with pretty stars and a cute plot.

In “Sabrina” (screening Friday night), director Billy Wilder ponders whether a poor girl can find romance among the very rich. Never mind that the girl is played by Audrey Hepburn, whose beauty and natural elegance would make any environment seem wealthier the moment she entered it.

Wilder’s flyweight 1954 comedy offers Hepburn, more than a little incongruously, as Sabrina, the young daughter of a chauffeur to the ultra-moneyed Larrabee clan, headed by brothers Linus (Humphrey Bogart) and David (William Holden). Hepburn, looking exotic even in the kiddie clothes Wilder first sticks her in, is infatuated with playboy David, but he barely notices her. David drinks a bit, so maybe he has trouble focusing.

Linus isn’t aware of Sabrina, either, but at least he has an excuse. There’s dough to be made on Wall Street, mergers to be merged, deals to be dealt, and he’s the guy to do it. Linus is all business; beauty doesn’t mean a thing to this cash cow.

While Linus is fattening the bank account, Sabrina is suffering through adolescent Angst . Heartbroken over David’s inattention, her dad sends her off to a Paris cooking school, where Wilder fills the screen with shots of Hepburn, appearing morose while the excitement of Paris burns around her. But she makes a comeback. When Sabrina finally returns to America, swaddled in glistening Edith Head finery, we’re suppose to have witnessed the duckling become the swan.

Men can’t take their eyes off her now, and David is promptly smitten. That bugs Linus, who hopes David will pave the way for a business venture by marrying the silly daughter of a sugar magnate. With Machiavellian skill, Linus woos the naive girl himself.

“Sabrina” is really only a trifle--it doesn’t compare with Wilder’s best, like the ever-zesty “Some Like It Hot”--but at least it’s fairly sophisticated. And there is a comfortable rapport between Bogart and Hepburn that evokes connections of father and daughter more than lover and beloved.

That brings a splash of spice; their relationship, with its Pygmalion-like overtones (Linus introduces her to adult ways, including deception and manipulation, as well as true love), is somehow chaste but vaguely sensual at the same time. Bogart may be too stiff, but Hepburn fills in with her customary gamine’s grace.

There’s also a fun-loving performance by Holden, still in his boyish, barely-a-man period before he got too moody for his own good. His loosey-goosey insouciance leaves the rakish David an unthreatening gigolo, a womanizer with no bite.

But it’s really Hepburn’s film, her vehicle. She does seem bred for perfection, from her quiet classiness to her patrician’s voice to her slender body. And the face isn’t bad, either. You don’t see eyes like those very often; they’re real Movie Star eyes.

What: Billy Wilder’s “Sabrina.”

When: Friday, June 11, at 7 and 9 p.m.

Where: UC Irvine’s Student Center, Crystal Cove Auditorium.

Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to Jamboree Road and head south to Campus Drive. Turn left to Bridge Road and take Bridge into the campus.

Wherewithal: $2 and $4.

Where to call: (714) 856-6379.