Six Degrees of Separation (1993)

An affluent New York couple find their lives touched, intruded upon, and compelled by a mysterious young black man who is never quite who he says he is.

Director:

Fred Schepisi

Writers:

John Guare (play), John Guare (screenplay)

Stars:

Stockard Channing, Will Smith, Donald Sutherland

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stockard Channing	...	Ouisa
Will Smith	...	Paul
Donald Sutherland	...	Flan
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	...	Woody (as Osgood Perkins)
Catherine Kellner	...	Tess
J.J. Abrams	...	Doug (as Jeffrey Abrams)
Joe Pentangelo	...	Police Officer

Storyline

New Yorkers Ouisa and Flan Kittredge are upper class private art dealers, pretentious but compassionate. Their prized possession is a double sided Kandinsky, one side that represents control, the other side chaos. They relay a story to their friends and acquaintances that over time becomes legendary. It is their encounter with a young black man who they had never met or heard of but who comes stumbling upon their front door one evening as they are courting an important investor, Geoffrey Miller, who could make them wealthy beyond what they could have dreamed. That black man is Paul Poitier, who has just arrived in the city, was just mugged outside their building and is sporting a minor knife wound to the abdomen. He is a friend of the Kittredge's children, who are attending Harvard, but more importantly is the son of actor/director Sidney Poitier. Tomorrow, Paul is meeting up with his father who is in town directing a movie of "Cats". Beyond the attraction of talking Paul into getting...

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Plot Keywords:

art dealer | art | business | city | class differences | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some sexuality

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 December 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Seis Graus de Separação

Filming Locations:

Bronxville, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$6,410,676 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Maiden Movies, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), New Regency Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Catherine Kellner was cast after she answered an ad for an open casting call for what she thought was a movie directed by the Coen Brothers.

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Goofs

When Paul is on the phone to Ouisa he calls Flan (Donald Sutherland) "Donald".

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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!
[...]

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Connections

References No Way Out (1950)

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Soundtracks

"Try to Remember"
by Harvey Schmidt

User Reviews

Absorbing script and performances

This is the film that made even the most harshest critics admit that Will Smith had real potential as far as being a serious actor is concerned. This is the story of a young gay hustler named Paul (Smith) who knocks on the door of Ouisa and Flan Kittredge (Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland) and tells them a story of being mugged and also being the son of Sidney Poitier. He says he knows their children from college and remembered they lived there so thats why he came. After a lot of talking and impressing them he cooks them a nice dinner and they invite him to spend the night. They also loan him money but in the morning they find him with another man and they kick everyone out. The Kittredge's talk to their friends and find out that they all encountered Paul as well but were afraid to say something because they were embarrassed. The films title refers to the fact that we all know everyone by six people or degrees. The main focus of the film deals with how this young man made these characters take a good hard look at themselves and the relationship they have with each other and their children. The writing is very sharp and for most of us what is being said onscreen can easily go over our heads. Its a very intelligent script that forces the characters to see things that they seem to take for granted. Directed by Fred Schepisi who has shown a real knack for filming plays before and he also has shown to be very good at making films that are more character oriented. I remember one of his first films from the 70's called "The Devils Playground" and was impressed at that time by his direction. What really stood out for me though were the performances. Will Smith seems to tackle this complex script with an all to easy manner. As I watched his performance it was clear that he really understood the script and his character. You don't see that everyday from such a young actor, especially one that has limited training. But for me the best performance comes from Stockard Channing who was in the play as well. She's always been a very strong actress and a very underrated one at that. While watching her character in this film Channing does a wonderful job of allowing the viewer to watch her characters attitude change from the first scene to the very last. It really is Channings film and she received a well deserved Oscar nomination for it. Its one of the best in her career and its the driving force for the film. Casual film watchers may be put off by the sharp dialogue at first but I hope they stay with it, its a very good film about self realization and all the actors here are terrific.