Metropolitan (film)

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This article is about the 1990 film. For the 1935 film of the same name, see Metropolitan (1935 film).

Metropolitan
Promotional poster for Metropolitan
Directed by	Whit Stillman
Produced by	Whit Stillman
Written by	Whit Stillman
Starring	Edward Clements Chris Eigeman Carolyn Farina Taylor Nichols Dylan Hundley
Music by	Jock Davis, Tom Judson, Mark Suozzo
Cinematography	John Thomas
Editing by	Christopher Tellefsen
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	August 3, 1990 (USA)
Running time	98 minutes
Language	English
IMDb profile

Metropolitan is the first film by director and screenwriter Whit Stillman. Shot on location in Manhattan and Long Island, the movie depicts the lives of young, wealthy New Yorkers (or as one character attempts to rebrand them, the "urban haute bourgeoisie") during debutante ball season while home for winter break in their first year of college. Middle-class Tom Townsend, an admirer of Fourier's socialism, observes this comedy of manners with an outsider's distance but eventually becomes deeply attached to the characters he meets.

The film has acquired a cult following since its release.

After several years of being unavailable in any home video format, Metropolitan was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection on February 14, 2006. This edition includes audio commentary by Whit Stillman, editor Christopher Tellefsen, and actors Chris Eigeman and Taylor Nichols.

1 Cast
2 Awards
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Cast

Carolyn Farina as Audrey Rouget
Edward Clements as Tom Townsend
Chris Eigeman as Nick Smith
Taylor Nichols as Charlie Black
Allison Rutledge-Parisi as Jane Clark
Dylan Hundley as Sally Fowler
Isabel Gillies as Cynthia McLean
Bryan Leder as Fred Neff
Will Kempe as Rick Von Sloneker
Ellia Thompson as Serena Slocum
Stephen Uys as Victor Lemley

[edit] Awards

Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay
Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature

[edit] Trivia

The font used in the credits and title cards is Antique Roman, the same typeface that many formal invitations (like the ones the characters receive to parties) use.
It is unclear what exact year or decade the events of the film are set in. A title card near the beginning merely says it is "Christmas vacation, not so long ago." No special attempt is made to reference historical events or evoke a particular period, nor to disguise the fact that it was shot around 1989. One clue is the mention of a childhood toy Derringer cap gun craze, which in real life was from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s; another clue lies in a related film, as Audrey Rouget and the "Sally Fowler crowd" make a cameo appearance as older, successful versions of themselves in the nightclub in The Last Days of Disco, set in 1981. During one scene the characters discuss the film The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, which was released in 1972. It is likely that Metropolitan is set in 1973.