Mr. Skeffington (1944), Pakeezah (1971), Time Out (2001), Payment on Demand (1951), The Man Who Played God (1932), Kitty Foyle (1940), Evelyn Prentice (1934), Days and Clouds (2007) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Social Status movies.
Storyline: It's 1914 in New York City. Adult brother and sister Trippy Trellis and Fanny Trellis, whose parents are now deceased, were once wealthy, but Trippy squandered away the family fortune, about which no one knows except their cousin George Trellis and their many creditors. Fanny and Trippy still put on the façade to the outside world that they have money. The beautiful Fanny can have any man that she wants to marry, but she sets her sights on Job Skeffington, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants. Job's wealth was self-made in finance. They met as Trippy was once employed by Job in his brokerage house. Fanny and Job, who is now aware of the Trellis' financial straits, ultimately do get married, much to the consternation of Fanny's many suitors, but most specifically to Trippy, who knows the reason why Fanny married him. Job also realizes that Fanny does not love him, but is unaware of the real reason she agreed to marry him. After their marriage, Fanny's suitors are still around with more joining the ranks, which Job does not mind as he is aware that Fanny is not leading them on. But when the reason for Fanny marrying Job no longer exists, their relationship changes. They have to figure out what to do, which now takes into consideration their daughter, also named Fanny. As time goes on, they grow into middle age and Fanny's physical beauty deteriorates, Fanny comes to the realization of what is really important in life.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, family, classic, black and white, hollywood, 1940s ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Pakeezah is the story of a beautiful courtesan named Sahibjaan who is unable to break away from the cycle of prostitution until a young forest ranger named Salim falls in love with her enthralling beauty and innocence. Unfortunately, his wealthy parents are against their union.
Plot Keywords: romance, drama, indian cinema, classic, musical, song and dance, tragedy ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Recently fired from his job, but unable to confess the truth to his close-knit family, Vincent spends his days driving around the countryside, talking into his cell phone and staring into space. Vincent fabricates a new job for himself so his family and friends will not know that he is out of work. At one point, he even sneaks into an office building. As Vincent roams the building's sterile halls, peeking into meeting rooms where men are busy at work, we see a man who yearns not just for a new job, but also for a place in the world. While this pantomime of work initially registers as sad and even a little pathetic, it slowly and unnervingly becomes terrifying.—Sujit R. Varma
Plot Keywords: drama, french film, workplace, unemployment, identity crisis, social pressure, psychological struggle ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Well-to-do Joyce Ramsey is the dominant and domineering force in her household comprised of her lawyer husband David Ramsey, their young adult daughter Diana Ramsey and their late teenaged daughter Martha Ramsey. Everything Joyce has done in the course of her marriage to David has been in the pursuit of wealth, prestige, comfort and security for her and the family, which belies her and David's humble beginnings. Their current wealth and status began with a white lie told by Joyce to one of David's potential clients when David was still struggling as a lawyer, that lie which had the consequence of Joyce, and by association David, stepping on the back of a friend as they climbed the social ladder, Joyce never to look back after this and subsequent such actions. Joyce has no real idea of how her actions have negatively affected David's feelings for her, Joyce who is blindsided when David asks her for a divorce in no longer loving her. As such, Joyce has no idea why David wants the divorce. Although Joyce's friends put into her mind that another woman may be involved which does make Joyce curious if that is the sole reason for David's want, Joyce begins to reflect on key points in the course of her and David's marriage. Those reflections, Joyce's investigation into David's possible infidelity, she getting a glimpse of her future without David and his love, and she getting a sense of that young, pure love again that she and David truly had when they wed may affect what Joyce decides to do about David's request for the divorce.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: drama, film noir, family, marriage, divorce, legal, courtroom ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Montgomery Royle is a famed pianist whose student, the much younger Grace Blair, believes herself to be in love with him. When an explosion destroys Royle's hearing, he is bitter at the loss of his art and profession. His sister Florence persuades him to learn lip-reading as a way to break out of the isolation of deafness. Royle discovers a new meaning to his life when he uses his new lip-reading knowledge to help others. But the new skill has serious ramifications for his relationship with Grace.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, music, pianist, sacrifice, redemption, loneliness ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A white-collar worker from a blue-collar family, Kitty Foyle has spent her so far short adult life in her hometown of Philadelphia or New York City. She has had two serious relationships, one associated with each city and each man with who she falls in love but in vastly different ways. "Philadelphia" is blue blooded Wyn Strafford VI. Wyn hires Kitty to be his secretary, he the editor for his pet project, a magazine, which is funded by family money. Kitty's now deceased father, despite liking Wyn as a person, warned Kitty against falling in love with him, regardless of his outward intentions, as his type always returned to his own kind. If she believes her father, Kitty may come to the realization that if a union with Wyn were to ever happen, it would not only be to him but to his family and their traditions, they who may have some say in the matter. After the magazine folds, it not making any money, Kitty is forced to look for another job, she feeling she would have more opportunities in New York City. Working as a sales associate at upscale Delphine Detaille parfumerie and cosmetics, Kitty meets "New York City" Mark Eisen. Mark is a public-health doctor who makes little money and thus who is cognizant about how he spends that money, most specifically when he will splurge on the luxuries in life, including on women. Simultaneous, each of the men proposes a future together with her, those futures which would take divergent paths and have different outlooks. Mark, specifically, is aware of there being a "Philadelphia" when he asks her to marry him. Kitty has to decide what kind of future she wants for herself in choosing which of the two proposals she will accept.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: romance, drama, love, female empowerment, class conflict, marriage, social norms ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Evelyn Prentice is the respected wife of a high-profile New York attorney. Despite the prestige and status she enjoys, she feels neglected and out of boredom becomes involved with an unscrupulous womanizing poet, who gives her the attention she craves. She eventually finds herself a victim of blackmail and becomes involved in his murder. When another woman is accused of the crime, she begs her husband to defend her.—duke1029
Plot Keywords: crime, drama, courtroom, mystery, film noir, lawyer, marriage ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Manager Michele lost his job but didn't tell his wife Eve, who was completing her art history PhD. Michele ponders whether to accept quickly a less lucrative job or hope for a better one. He opts to look for a higher paying job, in an attempt to retain their upper-middle class status and lifestyle, but is disappointed time and time again. Eventually, they are forced to sell their home and rent an apartment in a working class neighborhood. Meanwhile, she is forced to take two part-time jobs, and stop her volunteer work restoring a fresco. As the reality of their new working-class status emerges, they struggle to hold onto their sense of selves and their relationship.—EA Bianco
Plot Keywords: drama, family, marriage, unemployment, midlife crisis, italian cinema, emotional conflict ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Ambitious poor relation Blanche Fuller accepts a job as governess from her wealthy cousins who have adopted the name Fury since they acquired the ancestral home of the Fury family. Blanche plots to become the lady of the manor but her illicit passion for the vengeful, obsessed Philip Thorn sets off a string of tragic events, including murder.—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: drama, suspense, crime, romance, historical, british, film noir ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: For centuries, Bordeaux has assumed a mythical status in the world of fine wine as a leitmotif of wealth, power and influence, but its prosperity has always been linked to the capricious nature of markets and the shifting fortunes of global economies. Now change is coming to Bordeaux, with traditional customers like the US and the UK falling away, as China's new rich push prices to stratospheric levels. The demand is unprecedented, but the product is finite and this new client wants it all. Will the China market be the bubble that never bursts or the biggest threat yet to Bordeaux's centuries old reputation?—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: documentary, china, wealthy, culture, globalization, france, economy ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Brad Sloan (Ben Stiller) runs his own non-profit organization, and lives a comfortable life with his loving wife and son, but cannot help contemplating how his old friends Craig Fisher (Michael Sheen), Billy Wearslter (Jemaine Clement), Jason Hatfield (Luke Wilson), and Nick Pascale (Mike White) are rich and accomplished. Craig works in the White House and published a best-selling book; Jason owns a hedge fund firm; Billy sold a company he founded, moved to Maui, and retired; and Nick is a Hollywood director. Brad's wife, Melanie (Jenna Fischer), tries to comfort Brad, telling him that they do not need to compare themselves with the wealthiest 1%..
Plot Keywords: drama, comedy, midlife crisis, family, father-son relationship, self-reflection, success ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Set in the 1950s, Inventing the Abbotts is a dramatic look at the life of two boys from the wrong side of the tracks and their interaction with the three daughters of local aristocrat Lloyd Abbott. The boys, Jacey and Doug Holt, have only three things in common: their family, table tennis and chasing the beautiful Abbott sisters. Their father, a reckless risk-taker, lost his life through a wager with Lloyd Abbott, his then business partner.
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, family, coming of age, american, 1990s, small town ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: At a party for Bright Young Things, a "treasure hunt" for attractive yet virtuous people nets Sir Christopher Strong, M.P., and Lady Cynthia Darrington, dashing aviatrix. Their acquaintance is innocent at first; but after he sees her in a spectacular silver moth costume, virtue begins to wane. Against their wills, they are drawn into an affair whose consequences threaten Strong's happy marriage and both their careers.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, female director, female protagonist, 1930s, classic film, female independence ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Based on a Sinclair Lewis novel "Martin Arrowsmith". A medical researcher is sent to a plague outbreak, where he has to decide priorities for the use of a vaccine.—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, medical, idealism, sacrifice, moral dilemma, social criticism ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Doug is a Secret Service Agent who has just completed his stint in charge protecting Tess Carlisle, widow of a former U.S. President, and close personal friend of the President. He finds that she has requested that he not be rotated but instead return to be her permanent detail. Doug is crushed. He wants off her detail. She is very difficult to guard and makes her detail crazy with her whims and demands. Doug returns with no idea of how to continue dealing with her.
Plot Keywords: comedy, drama, american film, nicolas cage, shirley maclaine, bodyguard, generational conflict ...
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