Director · Screenwriter · Producer

Whit Stillman

3: briefs
13:00: average
39 min: in total

On film.briefs3

Barcelona

Whit Stillman · 1994

Whit Stillman’s 1994 romantic comedy follows two American cousins — a salesman and a naval officer — navigating love, language, and ideology in post-Franco Barcelona. Written and directed by Stillman, it forms the second part of his 'Doomed Bourgeois in Love' trilogy. With Taylor Nichols, Chris Eigeman, and Mira Sorvino, the film uses precise dialogue, deliberate pacing, and understated performances to explore miscommunication across cultures, classes, and generations.

13:00

Metropolitan

Whit Stillman · 1990

Whit Stillman’s 1990 debut follows a Princeton student who stumbles into Manhattan’s debutante circuit and joins a tight-knit group of Upper East Side socialites. Set against the backdrop of late-night conversations in a borrowed apartment, the film traces shifting allegiances, unspoken tensions, and quiet reckonings with privilege, inheritance, and the uncertain future of a fading elite. Shot on a $210,000 budget, it relies on precise dialogue, understated performances, and a muted visual palette to evoke a world suspended between eras — neither nostalgic nor dismissive, but attentively, tenderly aware.

13:00

The Last Days of Disco

Whit Stillman · 1998

Whit Stillman’s 1998 drama follows a group of Ivy League graduates navigating Manhattan’s early-1980s club scene. Built on extended dialogue rather than plot, it examines how class, ideology, and self-presentation shape relationships in a world where moral certainty masks uncertainty. With flat lighting, restrained editing, and performances tuned to verbal nuance, it offers a dry, observant portrait of privilege in transition — one that rewards attention to subtext over spectacle.