Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills

(Upstairs/Downstairs Hollywood Style)

So, let’s check the Box scores;

            Frank – To Bel, Zandra, and Juan = 3

            To Bel – Frank, Willie, and Howard = 3

            Willie – To Bel, and Rosa the maid =2

            Juan – Elizabeth and Frank = 2

            Peter – Clare = 1

            Zandra – Frank = 1

And the winners are:

Most likely to become a gigolo – Frank, who sees sex as a stepping-stone to financial security.  He is perfect for West Palm Beach.

Most romantic – Juan, who is looking for love and wants to believe he might have found it (and lets Frank win the bet to protect Elizabeth’s reputation)

Most needy – Elizabeth, who believes Juan can save her since she doesn’t know what love is (she said so in the dialogue)

Most obvious – Clare, who sleeps with Peter but pushes him away to find out more about herself

Most obnoxious – Howard, who feels compelled to reveal his innermost feelings in front of the world at Clare’s brunch to jumpstart her career.

The couple made for each other – To Bel and Howard, both brutally honest about themselves.

This movie is billed as a satire, and was released in 1989, at the end of the go-go 80s.  The 90s were just as wild, if not more so, than the 80s and one wonders if anything has changed much in the world that Paul Bartel sought to skewer.  A fun movie to watch, and it may take multiple viewings to appreciate all the sexual comments and innuendo that pepper the movie.  After all, how many TV stars would admit that in certain South American countries you can choose between watching an episode of her TV show or sexual torture (not an exact quote, you will have to listen for it yourself!).

A note however; while the move takes a very wicked look at the Hollywood glitterati, their households, family and hangers on it is not the first time this has been done.  There is a long history to such exposés.  One only needs to watch The Women, which focused on New York socialites, to know this.  I personally would love to see Ray Sharkey’s “Frank” tangle with Joan Crawford’s “Crystal.”  Paul Bartel has a history of comedic sendups, such as Lust in the Dust and Eating Raoul, and this movie is one of many that reflect his personal preference in storytelling.  What keeps this movie from being more than a box score of sexual liaisons is the interaction between the characters.  The worldly Frank has seen it all, done it all, and may have the panties (or shorts) to prove it.  He is quite a contrast to Juan, who wants to move ‘upstairs’ from ‘downstairs’ but isn’t quite sure how to go about it.  Their approach to the bet really shows the difference.

Frank wastes no time with seduction, he goes straight for the jugular, or in this case Clare’s bared shoulders.  Juan attempts to win Elizabeth with earnest, if confused, descriptions of his desire for her.  In the end, Frank will do whatever it takes to win, while Juan is ready to throw in the towel when he realizes that he may be getting other than what he wanted.

Watching the rest of the characters in this maelstrom of sex and pretentiousness is amusing.  No one will admit to the truth until Howard spills his guts at brunch, in front of a journalist, which sets off a chain reaction through the group.  And most fun of all is Paul Bartel as the unctuous Dr. Mo Van de Kamp, whose lust for Zandra is masked behind his own veneer of snobbery.  Zandra proves to be more naïve than worldly as she falls for it.  As does Clare, who blithely sends her foxy daughter into the wolf’s den.

I liked this movie because it was more than a romp between the sheets by multiple characters.  The stereotyped beliefs held by the women and their servants, revealed in the dialogues, were a mix of absolute horse hockey and nuggets of truth.  The characters flirted with becoming predictable, and generally avoided it, although the wrap up of Juan and Elizabeth, and Clare’s search for herself, seemed a little too neat.  The visits by Clare’s dead husband, while humorous, could have been left out with little or no damage to the movie.  Watching Howard and To Bel take off, along with Peter’s resignation to what happened, seemed the most honest resolutions of all.

A Word about Robert Beltran as Juan

As an RB fan it is almost impossible to not like this movie.  It doesn’t have to work at being funny, and part of what makes it so is Juan.  Juan is able to say the most outrageous stuff to Elizabeth, including the mangled quotes from Nocturnal Emissions, without any self-consciousness and then zip his pants and walk away unflustered when rebuffed.  Yet when opportunity finally knocks, he is suddenly abashed as he realizes what he truly feels about the moment.  It is not exactly clear if Juan is naïve or more worldly than he cares to admit.  The non-sequiters Juan tosses about when confronted by Junebug and his henchman suggest the former.  His resignation to the liaison with Frank speaks to the latter.  Regardless, Robert makes Juan totally believable, whether as the earnest seducer-wanna-be; the amazed buddy hearing about Frank’s formative sexual encounters, or the resigned loser of the bet.  It comes out in his voice, body language, and the looks on his face.  Especially when he is going through with the encounter with Frank.  Each moment rings as generally the right response, although the scene with Elizabeth where he proclaims his desire seems a little forced.  Watching Juan the morning after the night before with Elizabeth, I recalled the scene between Chakotay and Seven of Nine in Endgame.  Chakotay’s passionate entreaty to Seven, when she begins to doubt their relationship, is a more confident response than Juan’s to Elizabeth.  It is the same actor, but more experienced in life by the time we see him in Endgame.  I would love to see Robert in another comedy.  He, like all of us, has more experience in the absurdities of life since this movie was released.  It could prove very entertaining.