"Let me tell you about the very rich..."
10 movies to watch as you suffer SUCCESSION withdrawals.
“…they are different from you and me.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
So, we’ve come to the end of Succession … now what?
If you need to fill that gaping hole in your life following the exploits of the mega-rich, might I recommend any of the ten films below? Wealth is both their setting and subject (to some extent). These films take the wealthy as their main point of entry to the narrative, rather than an outsider character looking to explore or explode the privileged status. These are also primarily stories about people who we do not watch actively pursue and achieve their wealth; rather, it’s just taken as a given that they are exorbitantly rich. (Also, no royalty, political leaders, etc. because that’s a different kind of cultural power to wield!)
With that in mind, enjoy everything ranging from international classic dramas to Hollywood studio comedies!
Clueless, HBO Max
As if … I was going to make a list without this brilliant satire! Clueless does such an excellent job of striking a balance between satirizing the ludicrously posh Beverly Hills environs of Cher Horowitz and treating her intentions sincerely. This restaging of Emma in high school hallways understands the duality of its characters, both curious about making the world a better place and constantly tripping over their own privilege in their myopia.
Foxcatcher, rental (or free with ads on Roku Channel)
I last rewatched Foxcatcher in 2017 to write about it for this Crooked Marquee essay that put it in conversation with I, Tonya and other projects about fallen athletes in the ‘90s. I really liked Bennett Miller’s film when I first saw it in 2014, but it’s only grown in my estimation since. The way it uses the sport of wrestling as an arena in which Steve Carell’s billionaire pariah John DuPont can play out his class anxieties has chilling relevancy in Trump-era America.
Friends with Money, HBO Max (but only through 12/31!)
Consider this as a pre-Downstream warning to watch Friends with Money before it leaves HBO Max at the end of the month and (probably) becomes hard to stream again! This wry, incisive work from writer/director Nicole Holofcener is really her calling card as the premier chronicler of “West of the 405 problems” cinema. This dramedy about three wealthy white women … and their one friend played by Jennifer Aniston who can’t quite keep up … manages to take their anxieties seriously while also placing the privileged nature of their problems into proper perspective. (Oh, and it’s also sub-90 minutes. What more could you want?)
Grey Gardens, HBO Max and Criterion Channel
This might count as breaking my self-imposed “no royalty” rule as the remarkable documentary Grey Gardens trains its camera on two distant cousins of Jackie O. Big and Little Edie, two relatives from the Bouvier family, are fascinating to watch in their own entropy. But as they mill about in their family’s decaying Long Island estate, it’s hard not to see them as a metaphor for the declining fortunes of a family and nation content to rest on their laurels.
High and Low, Criterion Channel
Cinephile confession: I oftentimes find Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s samurai and other historical films quite impenetrable. (Cancel me if you must, watching Seven Samurai in my intro film class was like watching paint dry until the climax.) But I found no such problem connecting to his contemporary thriller High and Low, a film that ripples outwards from a simple premise of a wealthy executive dealing with what appears to be the kidnapping of his son. When it comes to light that the culprits abducted his chauffeur’s child by accident, all sorts of fascinating class tensions come to light — and forces the characters to confront the idea that one human life might have more value than another.
A New Leaf, rental (or Paramount+)
Elaine May disowned the theatrical cut of A New Leaf, which the studio released after her preferred version ran upwards of three hours and reportedly ended in quite grim fashion. We can both wish that version saw the light of day and respect that the version we get to watch still maintains her acidic comic sensibilities. As Walter Matthau’s woebegone Henry Graham attempts to woo May’s wealthy Henrietta Lowell … and then off her for the fortune. If you think you’ve seen this storyline one too many times, you’ve never seen it executed with May’s unique alchemy of acerbic comedy, expert slapstick, and a cynical perspective dashed with just enough sincere hope to make it oddly winning.
The Philadelphia Story, HBO Max
Wealth was basically a prerequisite for any of the Depression-era screwball comedies that form the basis of the contemporary rom-com. (After all, to worry about things other than survival and sustenance was a luxury only afforded to the affluent!) It’s a backdrop to most of the era’s classics, but The Philadelphia Story foregrounds the pitfalls of privilege in the narrative. This love triangle for the ages pits Cary Grant’s yachting one-percenter against Jimmy Stewart’s tabloid journalist for the heartstrings of Katharine Hepburn’s socialite Tracy Lord, a woman for whom the ability to have everything has hampered her ability to decide on just one thing in her marital life.
The Queen of Versailles, Hulu
Artist Lauren Greenfield has made wealth the central theme of her work as a visual artist over several decades (if you find that interesting, check out her career-spanning documentary Generation Wealth on Amazon Prime). She’s found the odd humanity lurking beneath the surface of all her subjects, even if that means burrowing deep under the ritz and glitz. She’s practically subterranean in The Queen of Versailles, an emblematic film of America’s Great Recession. The Siegel family’s riches-to-rags journey is a weirdly perfect encapsulation of the country’s hubristic financial dealings catching up with it. Greenfield locates an uneasy tension between their story’s gilded nature and its society-wide relevance, milking it for all the drama she can get.
The Rules of the Game, Criterion Channel
World War II is looming just around the corner in Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game … and France’s upper crust is preoccupied with their rabbit hunt. This indictment of the super rich’s moral vacuity and utter cluelessness to the wider world in which they operate is just as notable for what’s lurking ominously outside the frame. But you should also pay attention to the frames, which have some jaw-droppingly meticulous and multidimensional compositions. (Jean Renoir was the son of French impressionist master Pierre-Auguste Renoir, after all.)
White Material, Criterion Channel
“She’s really completely crazy,” Claire Denis told me when asked to describe Isabelle Huppert’s Maria, the protagonist of her film White Material. This tense drama follows Maria’s foolhardy decision to stay put on her family’s longstanding coffee plantation in a former French colony in Africa. It’s a gripping look at what happens when entitlement sublimates into outright delusion as Maria refuses to cede any ground — a raging civil war around her be damned.
(A note here: I maintain that any Claire Denis movie has to be watched so it can then be rewatched. If it frustrates you on the first watch, be open to returning later when you know the contours of the plot and can watch it more for her unique constructions. The way she plays with the grammar of editing with both an economy and sensuality is just so unique and thrilling if you’ve primed yourself to parse it.)
OK, now to cry myself to sleep without any Roy family drama, bye!
Yours in service and cinema,
Marshall