Product Details

• Actors: Taylor Nichols, Chris Eigeman, Tushka Bergen, Mira Sorvino, Pep Munné
• Directors: Whit Stillman
• Writers: Whit Stillman
• Producers: Antonio Llorens, Cecilia Kate Roque, Edmon Roch, Jordi Tusell, Rosa Romero
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English, Spanish
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Turner Home Ent
• VHS Release Date: March 26, 1996
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0790731150
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #162,314 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Writer and director Whit Stillman (Metropolitan, The Last Days of Disco) offers up this poignant and cutting romantic 1990 comedy set in the magical southern Spanish metropolis, a city in the midst of cultural and political upheaval. Taylor Nichols (Metropolitan) plays an American living in the Catalonian capital working for a stateside company. He is visited by his unctuous cousin (Chris Eigeman), a naval attaché who's in Barcelona to spin a little public relations for the impending arrival of the U.S. fleet amid some virulent left-wing, anti-American attitude. The two cousins are constantly at odds, arguing about everything from politics to women to their true feelings for one another and their constant self-examination. Largely the two men spend their time in search of romance abroad, as they humorously overanalyze the women they meet and what they want from a relationship, until fate takes a shocking turn and both men are forced to reevaluate who they are and what they want out of life. Barcelona features a turn from Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite) as a Spanish national working as a hostess, free with her sexuality and smitten with Eigeman. Stillman's writing is as crisp and observant as his striking visual take on the city and its people, both natives and expatriates. Barcelona is a terrific comedy of attitudes and culture clashes that manages to be offbeat, sardonic, and unexpectedly wise. --Robert Lane

From The New Yorker

The second film by the writer and director Whit Stillman ("Metropolitan") is a culture-clash comedy about a pair of conservative young Americans (played by Taylor Nichols and Chris Eigeman) in early-eighties Barcelona. Although the picture begins promisingly, its charm peters out fast. Every scene seems to make the same not very interesting point: that Americans get a bum rap from foreigners. This movie isn't a carbon copy of Stillman's début feature, but it doesn't feel like much of an advance, either. His style is placid and a little smug-prematurely gray. In just two movies he has found the sort of rut that most filmmakers take decades to settle into. Also with Tushka Bergen and Mira Sorvino. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent and Witty Comedy, May 18, 2000

By 

David Montgomery "Book Critic" (davidjmontgomery.com) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Barcelona [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Whit Stillman has an ear for sophisticated dialog that is virtually unmatched among today's screenwriters. His characters speak in a way that is sharper, smarter, and "realer" than reality. There is also an intelligence in his work that is all too rare in today's pictures. You come away from his films not only entertained, but enlightened and, probably, having learned something as well.

"Barcelona" is about two American cousins living in Spain. Ted (Taylor Nichols) is a shy, reserved sales rep, and Fred (Chris Eigeman) a brash and handsome naval officer. The story is primarily a romantic one. Ted is in love with Montserrat (Tushka Bergen) and Fred, perhaps, with Marta (Mira Sorvino), both beautiful, free-spirited young Spanish women. Marta, though, turns out to be a little too free for Fred's taste, so he also falls for Montserrat. This, of course, provides complications of its own.

The film is set in "the last decade of the Cold War," a time of rampant anti-Americanism in Barcelona, which adds an intriguing political subtext to the romantic machinations that form the bulk of the story. This subtext manifests itself both in violence and humor that provide needed counterpoint to the love story.

What I like best about Stillman's work is the high regard in which he holds his audience. In a culture where the prevailing cinema is targeted at the lowest common denominator, the wit and intelligence of a film like "Barcelona" are a very welcome relief. When Stillman refers to Dale Carnegie, or the sinking of the "Maine," or draws insight from "Death of a Salesman," he assumes we know what he's talking about. He never belabors the point or tries to explain it. He simply allows us to nod and smile, without being hit over the head with any gratuitous exposition.

"Barcelona" builds on the promise that Stillman first showed in "Metropolitan." This work is a more fully realized and executed film, relying not just on his gift for dialogue, but delivering greater levels of characterization and development as well. Stillman is one of our finest young filmmakers; more of a verbal auteur than a visual one, but a great talent all the same.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whit, Please Come Back!, July 9, 2005

By 

Bernard Chapin "Ora Et Labora!" (CHICAGO! USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Barcelona (DVD)

First things first, Whit Stillman should be making movies until he dies. Let's get that guy back behind the camera for the good of everybody. Barcelona, as a film, is deceptively serious as, amid its banal conversations about the proper way to shave and management theory, grave subjects are illuminated.

The reflexive anti-Americanism of Spain and Europe are integral to many of the interactions experienced by Taylor and Eigeman, the two main characters. It's at the end of The Cold War and Spain is conflicted over NATO. A humorous side light concerning this situation is made by Eigeman, "I think it's well-known that anti-Americanism has its roots in sexual impotence, at least in Europe." Eigeman's presence in the uniform of a US Naval officer in the Barcelona streets has somewhat predictable results. Yet, no one is able to refute his point that even if the Spaniards don't like NATO, they would never prefer the Soviets rolling through Western Europe instead. The conspiracy theories that some of the Spanish poseurs spout are quite bankrupt on their surface (such as the existence of a right-wing labor union called the AFL-CIA).

On an aesthetic level, this is a beautiful film. Shots of the grand buildings that comprised old Catalonia are breathtaking. The outfits and faces of the trade show girls are just as riveting. I think Stillman succeeds in capturing some of the city's nobility within these frames.

The Spanish women are a mystery to both Eigeman and Taylor, but, with Taylor, the audience is constantly present as he overanlyzes emotions which few words could possibly describe. You have the feeling though that a character like Taylor's would be a foreigner in any land he visited. Thanks for this one, Mr. Stillman, now go make six more.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witt Stillman, June 11, 2005

By 

Matt (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Barcelona (DVD)

I rented Barcelona from Netflix after I was amazed by the hilarity and originality of Metropolitan. I figured if Whit Stillman did half as good a job on Barcelona it would be worth it. My expectations were exceeded. Right after I finished watching it, I sat down at my computer and ordered it from Amazon. Whit Stillman is so smart and his script is so hilarious. Chris Eigeman is an absolute genius. Taylor Nichols is superb as well. I am astonished by Stillman's talent, yet nobody I talk to knows about him. I can't understand how he can fly under the radar. His humor is so literate. The performances he gets from his actors are so deadpan, each joke is like a punch to the face. I laugh in amazement. This is a fantasticly creative film. It's not mainstream, but if you do end up liking it, you will be so happy to have found it.