Barcelona (1994)

Ted, a stuffy white guy from Illinois working in sales for the Barcelona office of a US corporation, is paid an unexpected visit by his somewhat less stuffy cousin Fred, who is an officer ... See full summary »

Director:

Whit Stillman

Writer:

Whit Stillman

Stars:

Taylor Nichols, Chris Eigeman, Tushka Bergen

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Taylor Nichols	...	Ted Boynton
Chris Eigeman	...	Fred Boynton
Tushka Bergen	...	Montserrat Raventos
Mira Sorvino	...	Marta Ferrer
Pep Munné	...	Ramone
Hellena Taylor	...	Greta (as Hellena Schmied)
Núria Badia	...	Aurora Boval
Thomas Gibson	...	Dickie Taylor
Jack Gilpin	...	The Consul
Pere Ponce	...	Young Doctor
Laura López	...	Nuria - Ted's Assistant
Francis Creighton	...	Frank Robinson
Edmon Roch	...	Javier
Diana Sassen	...	Woman - 'Shootings in America'
Àngels Bassas	...	Woman - 'Jazz'

Storyline

Ted, a stuffy white guy from Illinois working in sales for the Barcelona office of a US corporation, is paid an unexpected visit by his somewhat less stuffy cousin Fred, who is an officer in the US Navy. Over the next few months, both their lives are irrevocably altered by the events which follow Fred's arrival, events which are the trivial stuff of a comedy of manners at first but which gradually grow increasingly dramatic.

---

Plot Keywords:

u.s. navy | marketing | black leather underwear | black leather | underwear | 

---

Taglines:

Americans. Anti Americans. In Love

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for drug content and a brief sex scene

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

29 July 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Барселона

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$3,200,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$7,266,973

Company Credits

Production Co:

Barcelona Films,Castle Rock Entertainment,Fine Line Features

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Fred is called a "fascist" by some local young men because of the uniform he is wearing, he angrily responds with, "Men wearing this uniform died ridding Europe of fascism!" While this is true, he is missing a larger point. Men wearing that uniform did rid Europe of two fascist dictators (Hitler and Mussolini), because Spain had remained nominally neutral, Franco was left in place as the fascist military dictator of Spain where he stayed until his death in 1975, still within the memory of the characters in the film. During the Spanish Civil War, Franco and Mussolini had bombed Barcelona, targeting civilian areas killing thousands. After gaining control, he was especially repressive of (culturally and linguistically distinct) Catalonia, the region of which Barcelona is the capitol, suppressing (often brutally) the language, culture, and Catalonia's political autonomy. Fred's response might even engender more resentment than gratitude.

---

Goofs

When Fred and Ted are driving through Barcelona early in the film, Ted's driving barely matches the direction the car is moving.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Ted Boynton: [voice-over] I couldn't believe Fred would just show up like that. On the other hand, it was absolutely typical.

---

Connections

Featured in At the Movies: The Client/Lassie/It Could Happen to You/North/Barcelona (1994)

---

Soundtracks

You've Got What It Takes
Written by Sylvester Levay and Stephan Prager
Performed by Silver Convention

User Reviews

Excruciatingly bad excuse for a comedy? romance? movie?

Okay, the good stuff first.

1) Pretty location, although we don't get to see very much of it. In an early scene, the two characters (the rest are just extras) go on a car tour of Barcelona, but except for the first stop, all we ever get to see is their blank faces inside the car. Talk is cheap; film is expensive.

2) Beautiful young women, several of them, but they are never given any significant dialogue, nor are they actually called upon to act. They walk on. They walk off. Occasionally one or another of them hops into the sack with one or the other cousin, pretty much interchangeably, and with no discernible passion or emotion. Not their fault, of course. It's the director, stupid, who evidently thinks of women the same way as did a lascivious architect I worked for in the 1960s -- as part of the decor.

And that was the good stuff.

This piece of work would have failed as the pilot for a sitcom. The whole thing is a running bicker between two snappish, immature, American preppie cousins. To borrow a line from Dorothy Parker, their performances "ran the whole gamut of emotions from A to B." I knew (and loathed) guys like this in college, full of their vanity, their boarding school repartee, their shallow ignorance of the world, and their cool disdain for the people -- especially the women -- who tried to care about them. I suppose one should not blame the actors, since presumably they were delivering the performances the director asked for, while said director clearly was not busy offering guidance to any of the other performers. Yes, sadly, these two characters are somewhat realistic, but puerile poseurs are no fun to watch, either on or off the screen. 4/10