1994 - BARCELONA, the second film from Whit Stillman

The second film from Whit Stillman a less than prolific filmmaker is another quirky comedy much like his first film Metropolitan.  In Metropolitan, Stillman set his story in the world of the debutante ball season in New York.  His main character got himself mixed up with a bunch of fairly self absorbed preppies.  It was an offbeat and amusing film  looking into a world few people knew about and it got Stillman attention as a filmmaker to watch.

His next film Barcelona  had a bigger budget since he was now associated with a film studio and it is almost a chamber piece.  The film focuses on a couple of cousins living in Barcelona, Spain.  It follows their involvement in relationships with some Spanish women and their adjustment to Spanish culture particularly at a time when the United States was not very popular in Europe.

 

This film like Metropolitan also has a lot of that dry humor that was already a characteristic of Stillman's films and this was only his second time behind the camera.  The performances are interesting if at times on the dry side and when the film starts to get a little to dramatic Stillman slips in a couple of  humorous lines and situations to lighten the mood.

 

In the world of Whit Stillman, all of the Spanish women are beautiful and basically jump into bed with our American characters on a minute's notice.  The men are self aware if rather on the neurotic side but not in a debilitating way.  Barcelona is a minor if entertaining comedy, I suppose in the good old days they would call this a "civilized entertainment.

Written by Whit Stillman, the running time is 101 minutes.