Barcelona

"Americans. Anti Americans. In love."

1994 1h 40m EN

😐

6.3

MID

★6.3TMDB · 91

ComedyDramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

During the 1980s, uptight Ted Boynton is a salesman working in the Barcelona office of a Chicago-based company. He receives an unexpected visit from his cousin Fred, a naval officer who has come to Spain on a public relations mission for a U.S. fleet. Not exactly friends in the past, Ted and Fred strike up relationships with women in the Spanish city and experience conflicts -- Ted with his employer, and Fred with the Barcelona community.

“Americans. Anti Americans. In love.”

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Cast

Taylor Nichols
Ted Boynton
Chris Eigeman
Fred Boynton
Tushka Bergen
Montserrat Raventos
Mira Sorvino
Marta Ferrer
Pep Munné
Ramone
Hellena Taylor
Greta
Núria Badia
Aurora Boval
Jack Gilpin
The Consul

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Whit Stillman
Writers: Whit Stillman
Languages: Spanish, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

32 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Whit Stillman, shot by John Thomas. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Mark Suozzo. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Christopher Tellefsen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Taylor Nichols and Chris Eigeman and Tushka Bergen carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Americans. Anti Americans. In love.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Whit Stillman directs. John Thomas behind the camera. Mark Suozzo scores. Christopher Tellefsen cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $3.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
232 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
4Directed by Whit Stillman, shot by John Thomas. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Mark Suozzo. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Christopher Tellefsen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Taylor Nichols and Chris Eigeman and Tushka Bergen carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Americans. Anti Americans. In love.".
9IMDB entry: tt0109219 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 91 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: John Thomas
Original score: Mark Suozzo
Editing: Christopher Tellefsen
Production design: José María Botines
Costume design: Edi Giguere
Makeup / hair: Rose Benavides
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,200,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Barcelona (1994)

Also by

Whit Stillman

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Community reviews

What people are saying

tmdb280390232022-09-06
★ 5/10
“Do you know what Dr. Johnson said? Guests, like the fish, start to stink on the third day.” “In fact, I think you'll find that I start to stink on the first day.” This exchange exemplifies the good and the bad about Barcelona; it’s full of acerbic Johnsonian sarcasm beautifully channeled by Chris Eigeman, but the third act feels more like the third day, with all that this implies. The film, about two young American cousins and their misadventures with the female fauna of the titular city, has another problem. The cousins, Fred and Ted, are skillfully and competently played by Eigeman and Taylor Nichols, respectively — Nichols's forced verbal tics only manage to make him seem like an ersatz Woody Allen (unusual for for writer/director Whit Stillman, who tends to evoke favorable comparisons to the legendary filmmaker), although he makes up for this with a scene described by Fred as “some weird religious ceremony based on Glenn Miller” — but the Barcelonans they get involved with are played by Australian, English, or American actresses; this is particularly jarring when it comes to the character played by Mira Sorvino, who is neither Spanish nor has the acting ability to pass for one. Applying the Italian neorealist approach, literally any randomly selected passerby on a Barcelona sidewalk would have done a better job; on the other hand, it’s possible that my complaint is irrelevant, especially considering that the females in the story are practically interchangeable. Even though he spends most of his time courting Marta (Sorvino), Fred ends up falling in love with Montserrat (Tushka Bergen); according to him, “I've seen her in all sorts of different situations and contexts” — situations and contexts that must have occurred in scenes written but not shot, or shot but ultimately cut (the script simply shrugs it off, mentioning towards the end that “We spend hours together on the phone, and she is so fascinating and charming”). Meanwhile, Ted ends up marrying Greta (Hellena Schmied), a late addition to the plot with whom Ted doesn't share much more quality time than Fred does with Montserrat. But perhaps this is precisely the point; as Ted says, “you see a beautiful girl and immediately you’re subject to all these emotions … you haven't even talked to the girl, and you already want to get married and spend the rest of your life with her”. He suffers from "a real 'romantic illusion' problem," and yearns, "instead of a fantasy built on the pretty slope of an eyebrow or the curve of an upper lip, to see the real person. Maybe even look into her eyes and see her soul." In that sense, the film is a true reflection of, as Roger Ebert put it in his review, "a vast yearning which can only be filled by a girl" that most of us experience before we reach the age of reason; sadly, Fred doesn’t seem to outgrow this juvenile yearning during the course of the film, and there is no indication that his relationship with Greta is less based on ciliary sloping and/or lip curvature than on the "real person."

Production companies