The Last Days of
Disco is a 1998 sardonic comedy and
drama film written and directed by
Whit Stillman and loosely based on his
travels and experiences in various nightclubs in Manhattan
, including Studio 54
. The film concerns a group of Ivy League and
Hampshire graduates falling in and out of love in the disco scene
of Manhattan in the "very early 1980s".
Chloë Sevigny and
Kate Beckinsale have the lead roles.
The Last Days of Disco is the third film in what Stillman
calls his "
Doomed-Bourgeois-in-Love
series", which begins with
Metropolitan and continues with
Barcelona. According to
Stillman, the idea for
The Last Days of Disco was
originally conceived after the shooting of disco scenes in
Barcelona. In 2000, Stillman published a part-
novelization of the film, titled
The Last
Days of Disco, with Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards.
The film was released theatrically in the United States on May 29,
1998, and its DVD and video releases followed in 1999. The DVD
releases eventually went out of print and the film was widely
unavailable for home video purchase until it was picked up by
The Criterion Collection
and released in a director-approved special edition on August 25,
2009.
Along with Metropolitan and
Barcelona, a print of the The Last Days of Disco
resides in the permanent film library of the Museum of Modern
Art
.
Plot
The Last Days of Disco loosely depicts the "last days" of
the
disco era in the early 1980s, when
weirdness, sex, and drugs ran rampant. The story centers on Alice
Kinnon (
Chloë Sevigny) and
Charlotte Pingress (
Kate
Beckinsale), two young Manhattan women fresh out of college who
work in a New York
publishing
house. The two women, companions but not necessarily close
friends, frequent the local disco together in search of music,
dance, and romance. They are starkly different in personality:
Alice is intelligent, quiet, and rather soft-spoken, while
Charlotte is outgoing, conceited, and brutally honest, giving Alice
constant "advice". The women subsequently decide to move in
together and find a third roommate, Holly (
Tara Subkoff), because neither of them makes
quite enough money or receives enough help from her parents to
cover the expense. They begin a friendship with one of the club's
managers, Des (
Chris Eigeman), and
find one-night stands and relationships through the ensuing year,
until it appears that the disco era has ended. At the end of the
film, Alice and Charlotte part ways after a conflict, and Charlotte
and Des discuss how their "big" personalities are "too big" for
most people with "healthy-size" personalities, such as Alice. The
film closes with a spirited musical dance sequence on the subway
with Alice, Josh (her now-boyfriend), and the other passengers and
pedestrians to
The
O'Jays' song "
Love Train".
Cast and characters
- Chloë Sevigny as Alice
Kinnon: a quiet and passive but intelligent young woman working as
a book editor in Manhattan. She and
Charlotte, who attended a prestigious college together, work in the
same office and are frequent companions.
- Kate Beckinsale as Charlotte
Pingress: Alice's rather icy and conceited companion. She
constantly offers "advice" to Alice, and criticizes her lack of
sociability. She is outgoing but controlling and dominating toward
those around her.
- Chris Eigeman as Des McGrath: a
worker at the disco Alice and Charlotte frequent. He provides comic
relief in many sequences and provides much insight in
conversations. He is intelligent but somewhat conniving, and has
many hookups with Manhattan women, with a routine of pretending to
come out as a homosexual when he has lost interest in
them.
- Mackenzie Astin as Jimmy
Steinway: a quirky friend of Des who works in advertising, which is
constantly pointed out by Des. Jimmy has to sneak his way into the
disco in costume because the house owner doesn't want "those kind
of people" in the club. He dates Charlotte at one point in the
film.
- Matt Keeslar as Josh Neff: a man
who takes an interest in Alice. Upon his introduction to Alice at
the disco, he is rudely interrupted by Charlotte who pushes him
away. Alice eventually begins a relationship with him, and comes to
learn that he suffers from manic
depressive disorder.
- Robert Sean Leonard as Tom
Platt: a charming, wealthy environmental lawyer with whom Alice has a one-night stand. He gained interest in Alice
after meeting her at the disco, but proved to not be relationship
material. In her sexual encounter with him, Alice contracts both
gonorrhea and herpes.
- Jennifer Beals as Nina Moritz:
one of Des's female conquests, who falls for his "coming out" act
and later discovers he was lying to rid himself of her.
- Matt Ross as Dan
Powers: a Harvard
graduate and
co-worker of Alice and Charlotte. He often criticizes the
two women, who refer to him as "departmental Dan".
- Tara Subkoff as Holly: a quiet
woman whose intelligence and relationship choices are questioned by
Charlotte and Alice. She becomes their third roommate when they
decide to move in together.
- Burr Steers as Van: a worker at the
disco and sort of henchman of Bernie's.
- David Thornton as Bernie
Rafferty: the owner of the popular Manhattan disco, and Des's
boss.
Soundtrack
- I Love the
Nightlife - 3:01 (Alicia Bridges)
- I'm Coming Out - 5:25 (Diana
Ross)
- Got to Be Real - 3:45 (Cheryl
Lynn)
- Good Times - 3:45
(Chic)
- He's the Greatest
Dancer - 3:34 (Sister Sledge)
- I Don't Know If It's Right - 3:48 (Evelyn
"Champagne" King)
- More, More, More, Pt. 1 - 3:02 (Andrea True Connection)
- Doctor's Orders - 3:31 (Carol
Douglas)
- Everybody Dance - 3:31 (Chic)
- The Love I Lost - 6:25 (Harold Melvin & the Blue
Notes)
- Let's All Chant - 3:05 (Michael Zager Band)
- Got to Have Loving - 8:18 (Don Ray)
- Shame - 6:34 (Evelyn
"Champagne" King)
- Knock on Wood - 3:52 (Amii
Stewart)
- The Oogum Boogum Song - 2:34 (Brenton
Wood)
- Love Train - 3:00 (O'Jays)
- I Love the Nightlife (Disco 'Round) - 3:13 (India &
Nuyorican Soul)
Production
Development and casting
The idea for the film reportedly came to director Stillman after
filming the disco scenes in his previous film,
Barcelona.
Stillman, who had frequented the New York discos in the 1970s and
'80s himself, announced the project soon thereafter, and interest
from a handful of film distributors and actors sprouted before the
film had even been written. According to Stillman in the 2009
audio commentary for the film,
various actors (many of them reportedly "big names") were
interested in the project from its original conception;
Ben Affleck was originally looking into playing
the role of Des, but Stillman, who had worked with
Chris Eigeman before, handed the role over to
him instead. Kate Beckinsale, who was living in England at the
time, mailed an audition tape to Stillman; he was immediately
mesmerized and cast her in the role of Charlotte. The leading role
of Alice Kinnon took the longest to cast - it originally was going
to go to an unnamed European actress, but according to Stillman,
she resembled co-star Kate Beckinsale "too much" and also had a
non-American accent that caused complications.
Winona Ryder was subsquently offered the role
through her agent. The call was placed by studio executives on a
Monday. The film's editor, Chris Tellefsen, who had previously
worked as the editor of
Kids,
recommended Chloë Sevigny after seeing her performance in that
film. Two days after the phone call was placed to Ryder's agent,
Sevigny, who had been given the script through her agent,
auditioned for the role, and won it. By the time Ryder's agent
returned the call, Sevigny had already been cast.
Jaid Barrymore,
Drew Barrymore's mother, was also cast in a
small
cameo role as the 'Tiger
Lady' seen several times at the disco.
Filming details
Shooting began on August 12, 1997, and ended on October 27, 1997.
Filming took place in various New York City locations, and the
structure used for the disco was an old
movie theater in Jersey City, New Jersey, that
was in the process of being
renovated. The
filmmakers had to share the location with another film production
that took place there beforehand. The other production paid for the
red carpeting used in the building, and the rest of the interior
was designed and paid for by Stillman's crew.
The film's distributor had also pushed the filmmakers to complete
the film and get it released before the
Columbia Pictures disco club film
54, and it was;
54 was
released in US cinemas in late August 1998, just three months after
the theatrical debut of
The Last Days of Disco.
Themes
Like Stillman's other films,
The Last Days of Disco deals
with
social structure and group
dynamics. The relationships that bloom from the disco are often
expressed through long dialogue sequences, with Stillman's
trademark
dry humor and "sharp lines"
often blurted out (especially by Charlotte and Josh).
The film also deals with the dynamics of friendships; the
relationship between the two main characters, Charlotte and Alice,
is an odd one. The two are polar opposites in personality, with
Charlotte taking a dominant role as the timid Alice politely
questions her constant lines of advice and personal criticism.
Charlotte often mentions that she wishes the two had been friends
in college, and often points out Alice's lesser sociability;
Charlotte is a
social butterfly.
Their friendship is uncertain: Alice questions whether the two
"even like each other". As Kate Beckinsale mentioned in a
promotional behind-the-scenes short on the film, the two characters
are companions and end up rooming together "by necessity".
Charlotte is ultimately a
foil of
Alice.
The theme of young people "finding themselves" in the world is also
major, as each of the characters seems to be looking for something,
whether it be romance, a successful career, social life, or simple
understanding of the people and world around them. Charlotte often
mentions being in control of "one's destiny". Sevigny referred to
her character of Alice as "a good girl" who is "starting to come
into her own" against the backdrop of the disco scene.
The era itself is also of course a very large part of the film. The
characters' dealings with
VD,
sexuality, labels such as "
yuppieism", etc., are very much of the time
period.
Critical & box office reception
The Last Days of Disco was released on May 29, 1998 in 22
US theaters where it grossed $277,601 on its opening weekend. It
went on to make $3 million in North America. With a budget of $8
million, the film was considered a financial failure; it was,
however, well-received by many critics.
The film received positive to mixed reviews. It has a 66% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes and a 76 metascore
on
Metacritic. Film critic
Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars
out of four and wrote, "If
[F.]
Scott Fitzgerald were to return to life, he would feel at home
in a Whit Stillman movie. Stillman listens to how people talk, and
knows what it reveals about them". In her review for
The New York Times,
Janet Maslin praised Chris Eigeman's
performance: "Mr. Eigeman makes the filmmaker a perfect mouthpiece
who can brood amusingly about anything, no matter how petty. Here
he plumbs the psychological subtext of
Lady and the Tramp".
Andrew Sarris, in his review for
The New York Observer, wrote,
"Mr. Stillman's free ticket with the critics for the seemingly
magical minimalism of
Metropolitan has long since expired.
In his future projects, all the charm and buoyancy in the world may
not compensate for a lack of structure and bedrock reality".
Entertainment Weekly
gave the film an "A-" rating and Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote,
"Stillman's gang may be maturing precariously close to middle age,
but it's lovely to know the important pleasures of conversation and
intellectual discussion endure". In his review for the
Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan
praised the "exceptional acting ensemble" for being "successful at
capturing the brittle rituals of this specific group of genteel,
well-spoken young people on the cusp of adulthood who say things
like 'What I was craving was a sentient individual' and 'It's far
more complicated and nuanced than that'."
The internet film review
aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes currently
(as of September 2009) has the film ranked at 65% "fresh", or
positive of its 48 collected reviews; 31 of them in favor of the
film, and 17 not.
Aftermath
According to Chloë Sevigny in a 2009 audio commentary track for the
film, her performance in
The Last Days of Disco -
particularly the upbeat dance sequence finale in the subway - got
the attention of director
Kimberly
Peirce, who cast Sevigny in
Boys Don't Cry. Sevigny received
an Oscar nomination for her performance in that film, but said that
of all the films she's made,
The Last Days of Disco is the
one "people come up to me about" the most.
Sevigny also stated that she became good friends on the set with
co-star Tara Subkoff, to whom she continued to remain close after
shooting. The two worked together on a fashion line called
Imitation of Christ in 2003, along with
Scarlett Johansson.
The film
is still Stillman's most recent, and was placed in the film library
at the Museum of Modern
Art in New York City, where it is sometimes screened to
the public. It was last shown at the museum's
Pop
Rally event in August of 2009, with director Stillman and star
Chris Eigeman present for a
Q & A
session following the screening. Subkoff was also present during
the Q & A. An after-party in celebration of the screening was
advertised and held that evening as well.
With devoted fans, art museum screenings, and even
after-parties to celebrate the screenings, the
movie appears to be a budding
cult
classic.
Home media availability
The film was originally released on VHS and DVD in
1999 through
Image
Entertainment, but as of 2009, that edition is
out of print and very hard to find; copies
available for sale on line have been priced at over one hundred
dollars. This DVD release included the film's original theatrical
trailer as the single bonus feature on the disc.
After being unavailable for home media purchase for a significant
time,
The Last Days of Disco received a second release,
and was added to the esteemed
Criterion Collection DVD series. It was
the 485th film to enter the series, and was released on
August 25,
2009, in a restored
version that was approved by director Stillman. Stillman's first
film in his 'trilogy',
Metropolitan, was also released in
the Criterion series three years prior. The Criterion release of
The Last Days of Disco included as supplemental materials:
an
audio commentary with Whit
Stillman, Chloë Sevigny, and Chris Eigeman; four deleted scenes, a
promotional making-of featurette, an audio recording of Stillman
reading a passage from his film novelization, a still gallery with
a text narrative by Stillman, and the original
theatrical trailer. A liner essay by
novelist
David Schickler was also
included as a paper insert in the package.
The cover of the DVD features an illustration by French artist
Pierre Le-Tan, depicting actresses Beckinsale and Sevigny preparing
themselves in the powder room before entering the disco; the
painting is a replication of a scene in the film.
Notes
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