Whit Stillman: Where For Art Thou?
John Whitney “Whit” Stillman was born in 1952 and raised in Cornwall New York on Long Island, the son of a once wealthy debutante mother and politician father. He graduated from Harvard in 1973, and spent his post-college years working as a journalist in New york City. While living in Barcelona and working as a sales rep for a Spanish film company, he met and married his Spanish wife in in 1980. During the 80s he then ran his own illustration company. Although he made three well regarded films between 1990 and 1998, it has now been eleven years since his last film release, a period he has spent living abroad in France. Though he’s been attached to several projects as a director, they have all reportedly collapsed under the weight of financing issues.
There are so few auteurs making films with a readily identifiable personal quality to them, connecting their work, and marking their oeuvre as truly unique. Though Stillman’s films have qualities that beg comparison with directors specializing in stylized dialogue like Hal Hartley and Jim Jarmusch, and those focusing on the rich and educated in New York City in the way that a director like Woody Allen often does, it is impossible to categorize him solely by these means. He has certainly influenced younger filmmakers like Noah Baumbach, who also makes darkly comedic films about educated NYC rich folk, and Wes Anderson, who employs a similar dry, deadpan wit. His droll comedies of manners investigate the interpersonal relationships between those of a particular set, and his unique perspective adds color to an increasingly homogenized American indie scene. One can only hope that Stillman will get to make another film in the near future.
Though we only have three, the following constitute the films of Whit Stillman.
Metropolitan (1990)
In 1990, the 38 year old Stillman released his first feature film, Metropolitan, the story of a group of rich, educated New York City college students home during one winter break. Stillman financed the film with personal savings and contributions from friends and family, using their houses and apartments for locations. The script, which would garner Stillman a 1991 Academy Award nomination for best screenplay, is full of the witty banter he would become known for, dialogue imbued with a kind of oddly paced conversational rhythm heretofore unknown in cinema. The characters in Metropolitanare elitist, Ivy League educated, and prone to philosophical ruminations about politics, wealth, status, and the nature of their own social interactions. On the whole they are entirely self-involved, and easily as pre-occupied with trivial minutiae as they are with world problems of the day. The story centers on Tom (Edward Clemente), a freshman at Princeton who comes from humble means and espouses anti-capitalism, but becomes involved with the inner circle of a group of prep school educated classmates from The Upper East Side in Manhattan. Despite his reservations, Tom suddenly find himself swept up in the events surrounding their high brow social calendar, and the mini-dramas of their relationships. The film co-stars Chris Eigeman as Nick Smith and Taylor Nichols as Charlie Black, actors who would appear in the director’s next two films.
Barcelona (1994)
Barcelona, Stillman’s first studio film, furthered his growing critical reputation in the Indie world. Based on the director’s personal experiences in Spain, the film stars Christopher Eigeman and Taylor Nichols as Fred and Ted Boynton, American cousins who find themselves reunited, and living together, overseas. Barcelonaalso features a young Mira Sorvino as Marta Ferrer, a local girl who gets involved with Fred. Stillman’s script contains a wealth of clever dialogue, which amount to a series of conversations about topics ranging from international politics and imperialism, to the philosophy of marketing and sales, the advantages of dating a foreign woman, and the Marquis de Sade. The plot has newly arrived Naval Officer Fred moving in with cousin Ted, a sales rep working for an American company out of their Spanish office. The cousins have a long standing feud of sorts that dates back to a childhood incident over a stolen canoe. Through the course of the film they discover Barcelona together, getting to know the lay of the land, as well as a group of extremely attractive, sexually liberated local women, and learning (or in some cases not learning) about international politics, and one another. Actor Nichols actually met his wife there, imitating Stillman’s own personal history.
Last Days of Disco (1998)
A box office disappointment, Last Days of Discostars Kate Beckinsdale as Charlotte and Chloe Sevigny as Alice, two young woman navigating the waters of the very early 1980s New York Club scene. The shrewish though beautiful Charlotte and innocent Alice attended Hampshire college together, but were not friends. Working in Manhattan for the same publishing company though, they share an apartment, and frequent clubs together, interacting with a group of young men, mostly with backgrounds similar to themselves. The backdrop of the film is a massive, decadent disco resembling Studio 54 in its final days. Stillman regular Chris Eigeman plays Des, an assistant manager who gets caught up in cocaine and the various nefarious going-on at the club. Stillman wrote a novelization of the film, entitled The Last Days of Disco, With Cocktails at Pretrossian Afterwards. The DVD for the film, released in 1999 has become quite valuable, going for between $75.00 and $100.00. Criterion has been rumored to be releasing a version for quite some time, and it is scheduled to finally come out this summer.