Whit Stillman: Not So Long Ago

by Cyril Neyrat (Editor), Serge Bozon, Nick Pinkerton

In five films, from his debut ‘Metropolitan’ (1990) through to his “Jane Austen” film, ‘Love & Friendship’ (2015), Whit Stillman has established himself as the prince of contemporary American comedy. Betting on the elegance, intelligence, and love of his characters rather than their derision, Stillman’s comedic genius lies in his brilliant, snappy dialogue and clear-cut direction, which focuses on the lives of his characters, the speed of their thoughts, and the subtlety of their emotions. Offering a range of unique perspectives on Stillman’s oeuvre, this book brings together essays by critics and filmmakers, plus archival documents, a career-spanning interview, and personal writings.

Genres: Nonfiction, Media Tie In, France

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[Nate Portnoy]

I read every essay in this collection during a reasonably self contained ‘Whit Stillman phase’ a few weeks back. after stumbling onto Metropolitan, i felt excited and encouraged because i thought that i’d stumbled onto something delicate and new; something that wasn’t already chewed up and spat out by the swathes of pointless dummy film bros and the general fangs of border public opinion. but as i worked my way through the rest of stillman’s fairly modest filmography (including the two other entries in his metropolitan trilogy, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco) and in sequence these essays, i feel like my perspective shifted

as i saw and learned more about the films Stillman made and the thought he put into them, to me it felt more and more like a clear cut example of someone who had reached his summit early. Metropolitan succeeds - and i’m still willing to make the case that it’s a beautiful film independent of the rest of his filmography- because he was writing from within his own milieu - this smarmy, self-serious liberal elite archetype who doesn’t know anything better than to parade around his own intellectual capital.
when Stillman was writing characters fractured off from himself, he was then in his prime- that’s probably why he bonded so strongly with Chris Eigeman, who played Stillman’s alter ego across those early films with an almost unnerving precision

but as Stillman’s budgets grew and he was asked to stretch those first, flickering insights into broader more fully developed ideas, it felt like his system for success didn’t work anymore. everything he put out afterward felt undercooked - especially Barcelona, where his attempt at political consciousness feels half baked/hearted

his later Damsels in Distress was a small return to form, with a charmingly offbeat rhythm that suggested he might still be capable of surprise (although that was certainly helped by the revival of the mumblecore movement and an early performance from a filmic-ly in development Greta Gerwig), but even there, he seemed as though he was trapped inside his own stylistic mannerisms. It’s like watching a worse Gilmore Girls rewritten by Noah Baumbach and drained of the warmth of the former and the acuity of the latter

Love & Friendship was an interesting opportunity for Stillman; the chance to redevelop himself within a new set of stylistic constraints (a period piece AND a Jane Austen adaptation) and a one of those few settings where his rarefied intellect could finally make sense, but, even then, the thrill of watching him try to do something new gets swallowed by the fact that he simply can’t hold your attention doing it. the fact that he managed to put out a film that is at once both clever and dull is an irony that i hope isn’t lost on him.

after all this time with Stillman, I think where I’ve personally landed is that: while i admire what he keeps trying to do, with the exception of his very first movie, metropolitan, I’d almost away rather be watching Gilmore Girls or something by noah Baumbach

also i promise to fix all the typos and errors here i’m writing this on the subway in the rain

[Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I belatedly realized that I probably should’ve finished off the final two film’s of his filmography before reading this but oh well. My favorite section was the Metropolitan dossier, which provides a direct portal into the mind of a virgin (but not inexperienced) filmmaker during the development and production of his poorly-funded debut film. My favorite piece is a note containing lines of dialogue he had written for a great speech to be given by the character Tom. The entire note only contains like 3 sentences and is hilariously annotated as follows: “Lost voice and ideas for Tom’s speech before I could put it down. What follows are some rough ideas. Must wait to catch the voice again before it is all put down.”

[Florence S-A · Rating 4 out of 5]

nick pinkerton intro

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always one must take the French film critics with a pinch of sel — Kubrick is a lesser artist than Whit Stillman because his only preoccupation is paranoa, sure — but there's some real insight into the lineage and style and reference points of the Big Whit in this anthology, bringing together monographs that accompanied a recent-ish retrospective in Paris with archive material from the man himself and a long, contextualising essay at the top from Nick Pinkerton Tha God. Fuck a Christopher Tietjens, Stillman is the last Tory [sort of complimentary].

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whitty Stillman is up there with my all time favorites when it comes to dialogue, and the tone he creates with it. When I saw this on Fireflies press, I knew I had to get it right away. And boy was it worth every penny.

A fun and fast read on a little peak into a the humorous mind of a great writer.

[Kailee · Rating 4 out of 5]

From The Director That Brought You "I don't read novels, I prefer good literary criticism."