The role of Paul, a wily and plausible imposter, is a gift for any young actor.
When he steps up to prepare their dinner, he shows he's no slouch in the culinary and sommelier arts either. Flan and Ouisa and their guest, Geoffrey (Ian McKellen), are sceptical but intrigued by their uninvited guest, who is so confident, articulate and, well, charismatic. His name is Paul, he says, and he is the son of actor Sidney Poitier. He was mugged, he says, then saw the name Kittredge downstairs and realised they were parents of friends of his at college. So, they are seriously challenged when an attractive young stranger (Will Smith) with a knife wound to the stomach arrives at their front door, requesting refuge. They live on Fifth, of course, in a high-rise apartment crowded with artworks that reflect their taste and their cultural capital, but they are liberal, decent folk, wanting to do the right thing. With their adult children away at college, their life is a constant round of art deals and dinner parties.
Upper East Siders, Flan (Donald Sutherland) and Ouisa (Stockard Channing) Kittredge are an affluent couple who have reached the pinnacle of success. Its theatrical roots are very apparent, but it is well worth revisiting not just because of the intriguing take up of its title, but for its satiric take on the notion that people who live in the same country can still be worlds apart. The film, directed by expat Australian director Fred Schepisi, is a sharp, funny, and acutely observed comedy of manners. There have been media reports since that the thesis is verifiable and correct, and that we are connected, by five to seven informal acquaintances, to every other person in the world. Six Degrees wasn't a new idea when screenwriter John Guare put it forward in his play of the same name, on which this film is based. And there's another one that's trending, from the title of George Cukor's 1944 thriller 'gaslight' has become a shorthand for an insidious type of psychological abuse. A name for a list of must-see travel destinations before you kick the bucket has caught on, as has the idea of being caught in a time loop of repetitive routine.
Other movies come to mind, like Groundhog Day and Bucket List, but there aren't many more. When it first came out, the film had a catchy idea and title to match, and now has the distinction of becoming part of our lexicon. In the age of the coronavirus pandemic, the idea that we are interconnected to a degree we had never realised doesn't seem far-fetched at all. Six Degrees of Separation, the 1993 film currently streaming on Stan, proposes the idea that people are only six connections away from each other.
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