Film

Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989)

Director: Paul Bartel

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Less the poor versus the rich than the poor struggling to emulate the rich. 'Anyone who spends $3,000 on a bathrobe deserves to die' says one of the scheming manservants who form the pivot of this cheerful sex comedy, but Bartel takes pains to show both flunkeys lolling in said garment. The sexual oneupmanship (a mild satire on decadence) revolves around widowed ex-soap star Clare (Bisset), keeping house with resident 'thinologist' (a camp cameo by Bartel) and dishy Hispanic houseboy (Beltran). Next door lives neurotic Lisabeth (Woronov), who's having her mansion de-infested in an unconscious attempt to rid it of her ex-husband's noxious influence. As this involves pumping it full of poison gas, she and her withdrawn teenage son, her playwright brother, his new black bride, and the houseboy (Sharkey) all take refuge with Clare. The servants each vow to bed the other's employer, and the sumptuous stage is set for frantic upstairs-downstairs bed-swapping, performed with charm and gusto.

---

• 
•