Six Degrees Of Separation

Fred Schepisi, USA, 1993, 111 minutes

Every person on earth is connected to you by only six others. For Kevin Bacon fans, this is a familiar premise; we touch each other's lives, even if in tiny, imperceptible ways. We are all connected.

Flan and Ouisa Kittredge (Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing) are a perfect couple with their perfect lives in their perfect Manhattan apartment. A knock at the door of their apartment introduces them to Paul (Will Smith) who has been mugged nearby, goes to school with their children and happens to be the son of Sidney Poitier. This of course sends the Kittredges all of a flutter, name-dropping being their preferred sport. His association with success and with his flattering knowledge of their family dazzles them. The next morning they realise they have been conned ("My God! The Kandinsky!").

As all good upper-class couples do, the Kittredges turn their embarrassment and fear into a charming after-dinner tale and discover that many of their friends have been similarly deceived. Flan and Ouisa decide to investigate Paul and in doing so they, and the viewer, discover their hidden imperfections.

Six Degrees of Separation is adapted from the stage play of the same name, and this is fairly obvious throughout the film. It has been left deliberately stylised, to compliment the Kittredges way of life. Stockard Channing is the emotional pivot of the film and expertly guides us through the unhappy layers underneath Ouisa's façade of accomplishment. She also plays well against Will Smith, in a role that displays fine acting talents now hidden in Hollywood mire.

However, the finest point of the film is the pacy and witty dialogue that adds to the staged atmosphere, particularly when characters have pseudo-soliloquies. The ending is an emotional punch you will remember for a long time, and the film brings into question everything we do in this life to consider ourselves content. We are only six people away.

Review by Claire Devlin
Written for EUFS Programme Autumn 2003