How did Sabine come to be so imperious & headstrong? Her younger sister -- still in high school -- seems content with their middle-class home and is making so many friends that Sabine complains that most of the guests at her birthday party are actually her little sister's pals, not Sabine's Sabine's mother, a widow, appears sad but resigned to their situation. And mildly concerned with her daughters' lives, but supportive.
Sabine appears to be part African. I thought of the Algerian situation which pretty much ended France's colonial domination of Algeria in the early 1960s. Sabine mentions that her family "lost everything." I think her father may have been an officer in France's long-standing Algerian Army. I have a theory that Sabine's family suffered a major social set-back when French colonialism ended there, probably when Sabine was still a child. A lot of French/African families were like the American colonial Tories: loyalist outcasts who had to flee for their lives. If so, she may vividly recall more prosperous times and a much richer house staffed with servants in a milder, sunnier climate: like moving from upper class San Diego to lower-middle-class Philadelphia. This come-down might explain why she has been involved in a chaotic love-life with married men (who may or may not resemble her late father, if you want to get Freudian.)
As a former aristocrat, Sabine wants to hoist herself back into her "proper" role as the sheltered wife of a high-earning provider. She MUST do this because it is her proper destiny. Her art history major is the kind of endeavor a doctor's wife or a banker's daughter might select: one can become a volunteer docent and not require a salary. Ever. Sabine has not learned how to be tactful or considerate of others' feelings. Thus, her angry resignation when her boss calls her out for ruining a shop sale. Or her ugly scene with one of the lawyer's clients over a minor issue. Or her demeaning tantrum when the lawyer she covets gently explains that have no future together. She acts like a 16-year-old but is really 25. If you can't conduct yourself well at 25, you'd better be very rich -- or you are in serious trouble.
Sabine appears to be part African. I thought of the Algerian situation which pretty much ended France's colonial domination of Algeria in the early 1960s. Sabine mentions that her family "lost everything." I think her father may have been an officer in France's long-standing Algerian Army. I have a theory that Sabine's family suffered a major social set-back when French colonialism ended there, probably when Sabine was still a child. A lot of French/African families were like the American colonial Tories: loyalist outcasts who had to flee for their lives. If so, she may vividly recall more prosperous times and a much richer house staffed with servants in a milder, sunnier climate: like moving from upper class San Diego to lower-middle-class Philadelphia. This come-down might explain why she has been involved in a chaotic love-life with married men (who may or may not resemble her late father, if you want to get Freudian.)
As a former aristocrat, Sabine wants to hoist herself back into her "proper" role as the sheltered wife of a high-earning provider. She MUST do this because it is her proper destiny. Her art history major is the kind of endeavor a doctor's wife or a banker's daughter might select: one can become a volunteer docent and not require a salary. Ever. Sabine has not learned how to be tactful or considerate of others' feelings. Thus, her angry resignation when her boss calls her out for ruining a shop sale. Or her ugly scene with one of the lawyer's clients over a minor issue. Or her demeaning tantrum when the lawyer she covets gently explains that have no future together. She acts like a 16-year-old but is really 25. If you can't conduct yourself well at 25, you'd better be very rich -- or you are in serious trouble.