Six degrés de séparation

The Plots
The primary plot turns around a couple who are upper-middle-class New Yorkers, John Flanders 'Flan' and Ouisa Kittridge. They are upper-middle-class, but really live a very fragile existence. As one character puts it, 'they live hand-to-mouth, just on a higher plateau'. We experience some of the opulence and the tenuousness of their Upper East Side existence. Flan is an art dealer dealing in the gray market of shuffling unknown pieces between anonymous buyers and sellers, a human ebay portal for expensive works of art.

One evening as Flan and Ouisa were planning to seduce a wealthy foreign friend into an investment scheme, the doorbell rings and an injured young man of colour wanders in. In the melee of getting him cleaned and bandaged, the conversation takes wild turns toward art, philosophy, literature, and culture. The couple and their guest are mesmerised by the talented young Harvard-educated son of Sydney Poitier. The evening is a success, the art deal is closed successfully, and all go their separate ways to sleep for the night, but not before extracting promised from the young Paul Poitier to be extras in the filming of 'Cats'.

The next morning, however, the couple are surprised by another houseguest - a male prostitute picked up by the dapper young man from the night before. They are shocked, astonished, and throw the pair out of the house.

Not long after this, Flan and Ouisa encounter more and more people who have 'entertained' the son of Poitier, who, as it turns out later, in fact has no sons, only daughters. As the growing band of the duped search out the mystery, they finally discover that Paul is in fact the gay pick-up of one of their children's misfit friends; he has been coached in the ways of society and most of the personalities so that he can slide in without giving a hint of his true origins, and his charm propels him the rest of the way, until finally his deceptions cost a young man his life. Paul, or whatever his name is, is arrested and sucked into the system, and the Kittridges cannot find him, because they cannot tell the police his name. He disappears as completely as before he came into their lives, destined to be for most, but not all, a story to dine out upon.

Meanwhile, a line from early in the film, 'Chaos, control; chaos, control: you like? you like?' uttered by Ouisa as they foursome look at a Kandinsky painting becomes a motif for the entire film, as it alternates between chaos and control, much like life. Also much like life, one never knows where the chaos stops and the control begins, and vice versa.

The Casting
Again, the casting was inspired. Will Smith, prior to this film best known for being the Fresh Prince of Bel Air or a rap artist, carries the male-hustler-turned-society-gallant role off to near perfection. Donald Sutherland is a perfect Flan, with a nervousness and not-so-subtle ambition well done in his usual manner. Ian McKellan gives a great cameo as the South African businessman who is in America briefly, who opines that he is merely serving his role in history to educate and raise up the black Africans, 'and we'll know we've done our jobs when they kill us.' A nice supporting cast carry the various encounters with other families caught in the web of deception, including the required brat-pack reference of Anthony Michael Hall, proclaimed the Henry Higgins of their day. But the true gem of this film is Stockard Channing, who played the role on stage. Her facial expressions, subtle and emotional reactions to the world around her as she reacts to the growing sense of reality that overtakes Ouisa as she realises the limitations of her own world, are almost flawlessly executed on screen. Her energy and physical presence is truly perfect for this role.

Overall Impressions
I always feel a bit of a chill when watching this film. Can my life be construed as equally phony? Not phony like Paul's, mind you, but phony like the Kittridges and all the other upper-middle-class pretenders? Aren't we all living hand-to-mouth in some respects? Don't we all long for escape. And indeed, the idea of six degrees of separation is very true to me. I have no degrees of separation between heads of state Europe and African tribesmen, corporate lawyers in America and Marine Corps riflemen in Saudi Arabia, missionaries and clerics in South America and near the North Pole, Japanese educators and Pakistani students. Of course the whole world is connected to me. But what good comes of this as I sink into bankruptcy? Have I been living the Kittridge's life, and am now to experience Paul's pre-Poitier existence?

This is a film to make you think. You will be astonished at the sheer elegance and style, done with economy and opulence simultaneously. The same is true for the full menu of food for thought. Bring your appetite.