FauxNixon

“Chaos; control; chaos; control; You like?  You Like?” states Stockard Channing while portraying Ouisa Kittredge and having her husband Flan Kittredge (Donald Sutherland) flip a double-sided painting by Wassily Kandinsky with the styles on each side being either chaotic or controlled in Six Degrees of Separation.   Adapted from the play of the same name by John Guare who also writes the screenplay, director Fred Schepisi is able to do what very few directors dare try, let alone succeed in doing: adapting a play (Six Degres of Separation) into a feature-length Hollywood film (Six Degrees of Separation) and doing it well!

Will Smith is an unnamed con-man who charms his way into the homes of wealthy socialites by claiming to be the son of Sidney Poitier, Paul Poitier, steals nothing but their time and attention, and throws their seemingly controlled lives into chaos in  the process.

Flan and Ouisa are New York socialites who deal artwork as brokers between those who have the money to buy the artwork in question, then brokering deals to those who wish to purchase the art and pocket the extra.  While they live extravagant lives, Flan often mentions debt and his fears that it will rise up and crush them, indicating an element of chaos laying just below the surface of their controlled lives.

When Paul bursts into their homes, he regales them with stories and claims to be friends with their children.  He entertains them, tells them stories, cooks them a fantastic dinner and then once the sale is finalized and everyone is happy, Flan and Ouisa ask Paul to stay in a guest room since the way he introduced himself was that he had been mugged and was waiting for his father to arrive in the morning.  Ouisa discovers him having sex with a man when she goes to wake him up and the true chaos underlying the lives of Ouisa and Flan begins as they try to unravel the mystery of who Paul is, how he has come to know what he knows and behave as he behaves, and who he really is.

It is Will Smith’s first dramatic performance and it is fantastic, but I feel Stockard Channing’s portrayal of Ouisa to be the most equisite of the film.  She is at once snobby and empathetic; controlled and in a whirlwind of emotional turmoil; reasonable in her knowledge of Paul’s criminal behavior, but unwilling to let that get in the way of her wanting to help him.  In a way, the movie is most about her and how she changes from the wife of a prominent New York art dealer who tells anecdotes and stories to friends at social functions into a true human being who is able to appreciate the grandeur, beauty and depth of the world.

Look for cameos by Anthony Michael Hall, Heather Graham, and a small, but well-played part by Ian McKellen and give some consideration to what the title alludes: how closely linked is an otherwise anonymous homeless man to a prestigious New York art-dealing socialiate?

* It is worth noting that the play upon which this movie is based, is inspired by a man named David Hampton, who according to the IMDb Trivia page, unfortunately died of AIDS on 18 July 2003.  Perhaps the connection between humanity that is embedded in this movie is in some small way a memorial to him.