IMDb >
Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
Watch It
Buy it at Amazon
Rent it at Blockbuster.com
Discuss in Boards More at IMDb Pro Add to My Movies Update Data
BETA
Discuss in Boards More at IMDb Pro Add to My Movies Update Data
Quicklinks
Top Links
trailers and videosfull cast and crewtriviaofficial sitesmemorable quotesOverview
main detailscombined detailsfull cast and crewcompany creditstv scheduleAwards & Reviews
user commentsexternal reviewsnewsgroup reviewsawardsuser ratingsparents guiderecommendationsmessage boardPlot & Quotes
plot summarysynopsisplot keywordsAmazon.com summarymemorable quotesFun Stuff
triviagoofssoundtrack listingcrazy creditsalternate versionsmovie connectionsFAQOther Info
merchandising linksbox office/businessrelease datesfilming locationstechnical specslaserdisc detailsDVD detailsliterature listingsNewsDeskPromotional
taglines trailers and videos posters photo galleryExternal Links
showtimesofficial sitesmiscellaneousphotographssound clipsvideo clipsSix Degrees of Separation (1993) More at IMDbPro »
| Videos |
|
Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers (WGA):
Release Date:
8 December 1993 (USA)
more
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...
more
| add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar.
Another 1 nomination
more
NewsDesk:
(12 articles)
Fells Point Corner Theatre Presents The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl Nov 6 - Dec. 6
(From BroadwayWorld.com. 6 November 2009, 2:00 AM, PST)
J.J. Abrams: Pop-culture polymath
(From EW.com - PopWatch. 4 September 2009, 12:32 PM, PDT)
(From BroadwayWorld.com. 6 November 2009, 2:00 AM, PST)
J.J. Abrams: Pop-culture polymath
(From EW.com - PopWatch. 4 September 2009, 12:32 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
the longing of the social classes for each other
more (81 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | 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 |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated R for language and some sexuality.
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
112 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
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:
Company:
Fun Stuff
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.
more
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.
more
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!
[...]
more
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!
[...]
more
Movie Connections:
References "Great Performances: Cats" (1998)
more
Soundtrack:
TRY TO REMEMBER
more
FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (81 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Six Degrees of Separation (1993) moreRecommendations
If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
Show more recommendations
|
|
|
|
|
| Savage Grace | The Talented Mr. Ripley | Sullivan's Travels | The Assassination of Richard Nixon | Summer of Sam |
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
Related Links
| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| News articles | IMDb Comedy section | IMDb USA section |
| Add this title to MyMovies |
Puzzling offhanded moody film. I was struck by what seemed the underlying assertion: the deep if unconscious longing of the divided social classes in the country -- the wealthy and the disenfranchised -- for each other. The deep longing to heal the rift of "separation" that the whole class system perpetuates through how people behave, who they associate with, who is considered desirable.
The rich couple and especially Stockard Channing's character of Louisa is caught up in an affluent world of witty pretentious empty existence -- one they are exceedingly skilled at, and are able to milk to good profit. When they meet Paul (Will Smith's character), they are drawn to his directness, his charm -- he is skilled at being relaxed and conversant in their cultured world, yet he lacks the pretense of the elder members or the (satirically exaggerated) spoiled disaffection of the younger members, their children. They both relish telling the story – and their friends seem undyingly riveted by it -- and Loisa especially tastes of a richness, a directness, a spark to life that she does not have.
Will Smith's character of Paul also longs for a life he does not have, their Upper East Side life. For the wealth, certainly, but also for the very real values of education, ideas, and that spark of art that is separate from the worldly commercial side of art's buying and selling. The slap that Louisa joyously gives to the hand of God in the Sistine Chapel.
Both sides are profoundly hurt by the rift, the gulf, that exists almost never to be crossed between Paul's ghetto and the Kittridges' beautiful penthouse. There may be a "mere" six degrees of separation between them – but as Louisa meditates, how to broach them? How to find the people that came connect you?
(In "Six Degrees" it is interesting and telling that it is the gay member of the set that serves as the crossover person, the means by which Paul can make his more profound crossover. Somehow, those who are owning-class gay stand with a foot in both worlds – they have a large degree of entree into the worldly affluent classes, yet they are also outcasts.)
As a comment outside the movie, it's my opinion that the class system is kept inexorably in place so that the wealthy might never have human relationships as equals with those whose labor they exploit, so as to avoid the pangs of conscience about benefiting unjustly from their labor. (One of Gandhi's seven root causes of injustice is: Wealth Without Work. In a just world, every person reaps the product of her or his own work; while to be wealthy, one generally must have people working for you from whom you derive some percentage profit of their work.)
But while this may sound radical, my further belief is that not only does this system hurt the poor, it also hurts the wealthy in profound ways. They get the wonderful apartments and private access to the Kandinsky, but their lives are empty and they don't see a way out, they must keep going to the obligatory mannered dinner parties at the price of a life that feels rich and alive with imagination.