How Foreign-Born Actress Jacqueline Bisset Made it in Hollywood

In 1989, she headlined Paul Bartel’s Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, a sharp satire about wealth, sex, status, and social games. The film gave her a more knowing role, using her elegance and image in a sly, self-aware way.

By this point, Bisset was no longer being presented simply as a romantic ideal. She could play with the audience’s expectations of sophistication and glamour, turning them into comedy and critique. That sharper public image would carry into the next decade.