Six Degrees of Separation (1993)

Director:

Fred Schepisi

Writers (WGA):

John Guare (play)
John Guare (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 December 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

For Paul, every person is a new door to a new world.

Plot:

Flan and Ouisa Kittredge, rich NYC art dealers, are called on one night by a young man, Paul, who professes to be a friend of their kids' from Harvard...

Plot Keywords:

Seduction | Catcher In The Rye | Impersonation | Melancholy | Robbery

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Stockard Channing	...	Louisa ('Ouisa') Kittredge
Will Smith	...	Paul
Donald Sutherland	...	John Flanders ('Flan') Kittredge
Ian McKellen	...	Geoffrey Miller
Mary Beth Hurt	...	Kitty
Bruce Davison	...	Larkin
Richard Masur	...	Dr. Fine
Anthony Michael Hall	...	Trent Conway
Heather Graham	...	Elizabeth
Eric Thal	...	Rick
Anthony Rapp	...	Ben
Oz Perkins	...	Woodrow ('Woody') Kittredge (as Osgood Perkins)
Catherine Kellner	...	Talbot ('Tess') Kittredge
J.J. Abrams	...	Doug (as Jeffrey Abrams)
Joe Pentangelo	...	Police officer

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:18A (Ontario) | Canada:G (Québec) | Germany:6 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bronxville, New York, USA

Company:

Maiden Movies

Trivia:

Meryl Streep was interested in playing the lead because she liked the play and she worked with Fred Schepisi on Plenty (1985).

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Paul says that Sidney Poitier was born on the 24th of February, 1927. He was actually born on February 20th.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Flan: My God!
Ouisa: Is anything gone?
Flan: How can I look, I'm shaking!
Ouisa: I want to know if anything's gone!
Flan: Calm down.
Ouisa: We could have been killed! Oh, my God! The Kandinsky!
Flan: The Kandinsky!
Ouisa: It's gone, oh my God! Call the police!
Flan: Oh, no, there it is. Oh! The silver Victorian inkwell!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 311: Enlarged to Show Detail (1996) (V)

Soundtrack:

JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS

The Con, The Greed, The Homosexuality

Every once and awhile, seemingly always at the oddest of times, I finally sit down to watch one of those films that everyone's heard of, but no one has seen. And every once and awhile I find a film that stirs my passion for storytelling.

Six Degrees of Separation will most likely never be understood, as the themes and allusions are often colored and complex. Even this writer doesn't begin to fully understand everything Guare is trying to say. It is however, quite disappointing, that in all of the internet chatter Google may churn out, the themes of homosexuality are ignored as if they have absolutely no bearing on the story. They are as vital a part of the story as is Louisa's breakdown scene, and Flan's realization that he does actually love Paul.

So, when you're at the video store, bored with the drivel Hollywood pukes out these days, pick this film up. Pay close attention to the cracks that begin to form in the characters, and run your fingers along those cracks to the end, and you may find yourself caught up in a story with a star shaped meaning. But be careful, it is the type of story that may have you looking inside yourself and who you're connected to.