1990 Directed by Whit Stillman
A radical student is adopted by a group of young New Yorkers, serves as a catalyst to alter his and their lives. Gathering in a Manhattan apartment, the group of friends meet to discuss social mobility, Fourier's socialism and play bridge in their cocoon of upper-class society - until they are joined by a man with a critical view of their way of life.
Edward Clements Chris Eigeman Taylor Nichols Carolyn Farina Isabel Gillies Dylan Hundley Allison Parisi Bryan Leder Will Kempe Ellia Thompson Stephen Uys Roger W. Kirby Alice Connorton Linda Gillies John Lynch Donal Lardner Ward Thomas R. Voth Caroline Bennett Francis Creighton Joel S. Schreiber Catherine Atzen J. Harden Rose
Azok a New York-i báléjszakák, 大都市人, 大都公民, 小贵族, Metropolitan - Verdammt, bourgeois, verliebt, Μετροπόλιταν, メトロポリタン, 메트로폴리탄, Didmiestis, Золотая молодежь, 大市民
Characters of this movie on letterboxd: "I don't watch movies. I prefer reading movie criticism."
him not having read any jane austen but still critiquing it is every guy i've ever met in college
i knew the ginger dude had never read a book when he started trashing jane austen to a girl who was being openly affectionate over one of her novels, he gave off such a fake intellectual vibe and i cackled so hard when he got his ass called out. anyway everyone in this movie is a dick, best argument against the spoiled aimless bourgeoise, stillman’s dialogue is hysterical and scathing etc etc. what strikes me is the lingering melancholy created out of meaninglessness, the sad realisation that these shallow bastards have, that money or supposed intellectual prowess doesn’t make you interesting. best moment is when chris eigeman gets punched in the fucking face, dude truly earned that. doesn’t quite reach the layered heights of last days of disco but goddamn it who cares, by the end you’ll have a sore chest from laughter and a pity filled heart.
a jane austen novel repurposed for new york yuppies (or, Urban Haute Bourgeoisie), right down to the eloquently structured dialogue and the delicious slow-burn romance. no pride & prejudice hand flex, though :/
When you're an egoist none of the harm you do is intentional.
I could sit here, hypothetically, and sound like a guy with his pinky finger raised on a glass of chardonnay and spout out a review mentioning all the finer points of the bourgeois, Jane Austen, and 90's yuppie socialite life discussed here in Metropolitan, but much unlike the characters in the film, I won't put myself or others through that torture.
Without going deeply into the politics and culture behind the film, I will instead simply say how delightful it really is. Its a movie that I easily could've hated but through exceptional writing and interesting characters the film flourishes at being both a celebration AND a light…
Further proof that all a movie needs is people sitting on the floor in a tungsten-lit apartment talking about stuff the budget can’t afford to show with an occasional punch sound effect that’s compressed beyond all measures. The class commentary helps but let’s get our priorities straight here.
Didn’t actually watch it, but I read this great review and now it’s one of my favorite movies
College, though it serves as its own bubble, is likely when the prior bubble of everything pre- breaks upon arrival. Where I grew up money was never talked about, something to keep buried underneath all the attempts at vying for the upper-middle-class and its signifiers. For a kid just growing up these things are hidden, you don't really think about what marks wealth and what behaviors are learned from an abundance of such, and if nothing else there is an unconscious ambition to also attain that as well. It feels natural, it is accepted as natural, it is made natural in the general refusal to talk fully about class; just the alluring bits and the vague notions of "working hard"…
beginning to think it’s a requirement for anything about rich kids in the upper east side to have at least one (1) character named serena
“I couldn't believe you're actually going to play bridge, such a cliché of bourgeois life.”
“That's exactly why I play. I don't enjoy it one bit.”
The final week of NYC movie-month with my darling commences with the sparkling, satirical death rattle of a moribund bourgeois milieu.
Whit Stillman’s debut feature, Metropolitan, is a silver-spoon comedy of manners dissecting a small group of adolescent, UES socialites during the Christmas debutante season in the mid-to-late-80s and the insensitive, proletarian socialist who infiltrates their urbane circle.
The film—essentially a gently-skewering, smartly-scripted, precious tableaux of an overeducated, under-experienced, aimless and cynical group of affluent, preppy youths—became an art house success, garnering acclaim at Sundance before making the rounds to Cannes, Toronto, and scooping an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay and an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. It grossed nearly $3 million on its modest budget…
