Metropolitan [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Whit Stillman Whit Stillman

Overview

The debut film from writer-director Whit Stillman etches a sophisticated comic portrait of New York debutante society at the twilight of the 1980s. Set during the Christmas season, the film is told from the vantage point of Tom Townsend (Edward Clements), a self-professed proletarian radical who stumbles into the social sphere of a group of well-off Upper East Side twentysomethings calling themselves the SFRP (or Sally Fowler Rat Pack, named in honor of a frequent party hostess). The group includes Nick (Christopher Eigeman), an acidic misanthrope; sweet-natured Jane Austen acolyte Audrey (Carolyn Farina); Charlie (Taylor Nichols), a tongue-tied bumbler secretly in love with Audrey; and femme fatale Cynthia (Isabel Gillies). Quickly, Tom, who comes from much more humble beginnings, finds himself caught in the middle of the group. Audrey even develops a crush on him, but Tom is still reeling from a broken relationship with renowned man-eater Serena (Elizabeth Thompson), a peripheral member of the SFRP. It all leads to a romantic climax at the Southampton vacation home of Nick's womanizing arch-enemy Rick von Sloneker (Will Kempe).

Product Details

Release Date:	07/24/2012
UPC:	0715515096713
Original Release:	1990
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Criterion Collection
Language:	English
Time:	1:39:00
Sales rank:	13,143

Special Features

Audio Commentary by Stillman, Editor Christopher Tellefsen, and Actors Christopher Eigeman and Taylor Nichols; Rare Outtakes and alternate Casting, with Commentary by Stillman; ; Plus: An Essay by Critic Luc Sante

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Carolyn Farina	Audrey Rouget
Edward Clements	Tom Townsend
Chris Eigeman	Nick Smith
Taylor Nichols	Charlie Black
Allison Rutledge-Parisi	Jane Clarke
Dylan Hundley	Sally Fowler
Isabel Gillies	Cynthia McClean,Mrs. Rouget
Bryan Leder	Fred Neff
Will Kempe	Rick Von Sloneker
Elizabeth Thompson	Serena Slocum,Serena Slocum
Stephen Uys	Victor Lemley
Roget W. Kirby	Man at Bar
Alice Connorton	Mrs. Townsend
John Carroll Lynch	Allen Green
Donald Lardner Ward	North Greenwich Preppie
Tom Voth	Cab Driver,Cab Driver
Caroline Bennett	Sabina
Frank Creighton	Cadet Frawley
Joel S. Schreiber	A.T. Harris
Catherine Atzen	Herself
Victoria Chickering	SFRP Friend
Blayne Perry	SFRP Friend
Kevin Schack	SFRP Friend
Tina Thornton	SFRP Friend
Hank Foley	SFRP Friend
Andrew Lyle	SFRP Friend
Donal Lardner Ward	North Greenwich Preppie
J. Harden Rose	TV Voice of Debutante Ball
Hank Poley	SFRP Friend (Early-nighter)
Tom Judson	Composer
Mark Suozzo	Composer

Technical Credits

Whit Stillman

Whit Stillman	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Peter Wentworth	Producer
Brian Greenbaum	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Though Richard Linklater and Kevin Smith may get most of the credit for giving birth to the downwardly-mobile post-adolescent talkfests of the '90s independent film boom, writer/director Whit Stillman's auspicious debut served to establish the other end of the spectrum. Set in an unspecified time "not so long ago," Metropolitan pokes affectionate fun at Stillman's ilk: overeducated East Coast preppies with too much time on their hands, mostly disposable incomes, and concerns both petty and universal. Stillman mocks and evokes Jane Austen with his mismatched pack of masters and debs who pair off in unlikely couplings, all the while secretly pining for some other member of their extended high-society group. As with Linklater and Smith's films, the dialogue is the true star here: the endlessly hilarious observations about literary criticism and agrarian socialism mask the characters' charming, quaint ignorance of matters of the heart. Stillman evinces stellar performances from his cast of then- (and in most cases, still-) unknowns -- including the ingratiatingly obsessive Edward Clements and Carolyn Farina -- and at least one breakout star turn from the irrepressible Christopher Eigeman, doing for this film what Vince Vaughn would do for Swingers several years later. Although Metropolitan is a little rough around the edges technically, it's to Stillman's credit -- as well as to cinematographer John Thomas and editor Christopher Tellefsen -- that he's able to create a palpable, encased-in-amber atmosphere on such a small budget.

All Movie Guide - Michael Hastings