The Grateful Deb

Debutantes have rarely fared very well in American film. While Judy Garland's long-suffering Betsy, the baby socialite in the Andy Hardy series, was at east symPathetic, most cinematic debs have been spoiled, soulless creatures, waiting for a bracing manof-the-people to turn them around. Now fledgling director Whit Stillman, a former journalist, and illustrators' agent, is asking us to reconsider the girl in white gloves. His Metropolitan, a low-budget feature which

drew crowds at the Directors' Fortnight Series in Cannes, follows a covey of Manhattan debs and their escorts through a season of comingout parties with an engaging blend of detachment and compassion. Played by a sprightly cast of unknowns, these Park Avenue adolescents are, like most adolescents, awkward, selfimportant, and tirelessly introspective. The particular prep-school mores and jargon are dead-on, but Stillman's kids—who see themselves as part of a "doomed" class—are much more than the sum of their manners.

B.B.