Barcelona (film)

1994 film by Whit Stillman

This article is about the 1994 American film. For the 2016 Philippine film, see Barcelona: A Love Untold.

Barcelona

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Whit Stillman
Written by| Whit Stillman
Produced by| Whit Stillman
Starring|

* Taylor Nichols
* Chris Eigeman
* Tushka Bergen
* Mira Sorvino
* Pep Munné
* Hellena Schmied
* Núria Badia
* Jack Gilpin
* Thomas Gibson

Cinematography| John Thomas
Edited by| Christopher Tellefsen
Music by| Mark Suozzo

Production
company

Castle Rock Entertainment

Distributed by| Fine Line Features

Release date

* July 29, 1994 (1994-07-29)

Running time

| 101 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $3.2 million
Box office| $7.2 million[1]

Barcelona is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by Whit Stillman. Set in Barcelona, the film stars Taylor Nichols, Chris Eigeman, and Mira Sorvino.[2][3]

Barcelona is the second film—after Metropolitan (1990) and preceding The Last Days of Disco (1998)—in what Stillman calls his "Doomed Bourgeois in Love" series. The three films are independent of each other except for the cameo appearances of some common characters.

## Premise

[edit]

In 1987, Ted Boynton is a Chicago salesman living and working in Barcelona. Ted's cousin, Fred, a naval officer, unexpectedly comes to stay with Ted. Fred has been sent to Barcelona to handle public relations on behalf of a U.S. fleet scheduled to arrive later.

The cousins have a history of conflict since childhood. Ted and Fred develop relationships with various single women in Barcelona and experience the negative reactions of some of the community's residents to the context of Fred's presence. Ted also faces possible problems with his American employer and with the concept of attraction to physical beauty.

## Cast

[edit]

* Taylor Nichols as Ted Boynton
* Chris Eigeman as Fred Boynton
* Tushka Bergen as Montserrat Raventos
* Mira Sorvino as Marta Ferrer
* Pep Munné as Ramon
* Hellena Schmied as Greta
* Núria Badia as Aurora Boval
* Jack Gilpin as the consul
* Thomas Gibson as Dickie Taylor

## Reception

[edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Barcelona holds an approval rating of 84% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10.[4] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 74 out of 100, based on seven critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[5]

### Year-end lists

[edit]

* 5th – Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News[6]
* 7th – Yardena Arar, Los Angeles Daily News[6]
* 8th – Todd Anthony, Miami New Times[7]
* Top 9 (not ranked) – Dan Webster, The Spokesman-Review[8]
* Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Steve Murray, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution[9]
* Top 10 (not ranked) – Betsy Pickle, Knoxville News-Sentinel[10]
* Best of the year (not ranked) - Jeffrey Lyons, Sneak Previews[11]
* Best "sleepers" (not ranked) – Dennis King, Tulsa World[12]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Barcelona (1994)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
2. ^ Brody, Richard (August 6, 2014). "Movie of the Week: "Barcelona"". The New Yorker. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
3. ^ "Barcelona". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
4. ^ "Barcelona". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
5. ^ "Barcelona". Metacritic. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
6. ^ a b Strauss, Bob (December 30, 1994). "At the Movies: Quantity Over Quality". Los Angeles Daily News (Valley ed.). p. L6.
7. ^ Anthony, Todd (January 5, 1995). "Hits & Disses". Miami New Times.
8. ^ Webster, Dan (January 1, 1995). "In Year of Disappointments, Some Movies Still Delivered". The Spokesman-Review (Spokane ed.). p. 2.
9. ^ "The Year's Best". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. December 25, 1994. p. K/1.
10. ^ Pickle, Betsy (December 30, 1994). "Searching for the Top 10... Whenever They May Be". Knoxville News-Sentinel. p. 3.
11. ^ Lyons, Jeffrey (host); Medved, Michael (host) (January 6, 1995). "Best & Worst of 1994". Sneak Previews. Season 20. WTTW. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
12. ^ King, Dennis (December 25, 1994). "SCREEN SAVERS In a Year of Faulty Epics, The Oddest Little Movies Made The Biggest Impact". Tulsa World (Final Home ed.). p. E1.

## External links

[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Barcelona (film).

* Barcelona at IMDb
* Barcelona at Box Office Mojo
* Barcelona at Rotten Tomatoes
* Barcelona: Innocence Abroad – an essay by Haden Guest at The Criterion Collection

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Whit Stillman

* Metropolitan (1990)
* Barcelona (1994)
* The Last Days of Disco (1998)
* Damsels in Distress (2011)
* Love & Friendship (2016)

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