What ever happened to Whit Stillman?

Hey everyone, I ran across some website or magazine or other that was recommending new dvds and lo and behold it turns out a Criterion dvd of Metropolitan has recently been released. Metropolitan was the first of Whit Stillman's trilogy. The other two are Barcelona and Last Days of Disco. Stillman is virtually unknown, but his movies have been hugely influential to a slice of the movie-going public (those enamored with nostalgia). A book of essays, Doomed Bougeois in Love, was even written about his films (you can get it on Amazon). Metropolitan is set in New York "not so long ago" and tells the story of a group of debutantes and their escorts during one deb season. Most of the movie is set in apartments and features the group engaged in conversation, primarily concerning the lack of respect/importance given to those in their self-named class, the Urban Haute Bourgeouise or UHB. Stillman is a huge fan of Jane Austen and it shows both in the dialogue and his chosen genre, the comedy of manners. Metropolitan was also Chris Eigeman's first movie. He is the standout in the film, but if you watch it you'll recognize a few other faces. Eigeman is I believe the only actor to appear in all three Stillman films. One of his best lines comes from Barcelona. When a group of Spaniards comment on how many guns there are in the U.S., his character Fred replies, "We don't have more guns. We're just better shots." I have managed to work this line into conversation many times, eliciting much eye rolling from Thomas as I rarely credit the source. Anyway, thanks to Criterion you can now have easy access to Metropolitan which even the Academy Awards acknowledged (with just a nomination, not the Oscar - heaven forbid they get anything exactly right these days) for Best Original Screenplay. The dvd has a commentary track by Stillman which will likely be invaluable.

All of this excitement immediately led me to imdb to see what Stillman's been up to. Much to my dismay, nothing new was listed. A little web search led me to an unofficial Stillman site and an interview he gave recently. He has been living in Paris for the last few years and is at work on a couple of screenplays and says one is nearly finished. This has me the most excited I've been about movies since the night before I saw The Two Towers. Finally, something to look forward to.

-sunday

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