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Having become the self-appointed chronicler of the “urban haute bourgeoisie” in films such as Metropolitan and The Last Days of Disco, Whit Stillman’s first foray into television with The Cosmopolitans follows its cinematic predecessors in a similar vein. More atmospheric than plot-driven, the show charts the lives of idle American expatriates Jimmy (Adam Brody), Hal (Jordan Rountree) and Aubrey (Carrie MacLemore) as they attempt to navigate the two opposing worlds and identities in which they live, and the one which refuses to leave them behind.

Thinking of themselves as Parisians, the expats admire all things French and denigrate all things American, which provides an irony and humour when they encounter individuals and experiences which further confound and obfuscate their perceptions of Parisian and American life. A beautiful woman at a soirée is automatically assumed to be French to such an extent that Jimmy cannot fathom that her hometown of Vancouver is outside France. The earnestness of this exchange highlights the irony and obliviousness of the expats’ situation but also the gap between reality and one’s sense of perception.

Stillman nods at the romanticised expatriate experience of Parisian living cultivated by Fitzgerald and Hemingway (with Hemingway’s great-granddaughter Dree Hemingway included amongst the cast) and subtly deconstructs the quasi-mythical sense of glamour which has been emulated in the succeeding generations. The protagonists’ idleness, pedanticism and frivolity serve only to  highlight the loneliness of expats drifting between two worlds, devoid of any apparent purpose.

Although Amazon has only commissioned the pilot, this standalone and well-crafted episode highlights its potential as a sharp and intelligent comedy of manners, which hopefully will not be Stillman’s last.
The pilot of The Cosmopolitans can be seen on Amazon.com or YouTube.