sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) (08/24/84)
YAFM = yet another forwarded message posted by bbncca!sdyer
I found in my files something which I wrote a while ago in re some
movie I had seen and which impressed me a lot, not only because of its intrinsic
qualities (of which I shall try to give an idea), but also because of it being
the only film that I know of which treats of gays with sense and sensibility.
I may be wrong, and if you know of counterexamples please say so, but I have
the impression that most movies with gays as central characters are either of
the soap-opera/hollywood type (for straight consumption), or pornographic (for
gay consumption). This one is...
A year ago in Paris, I saw the film `L'homme blesse' (accent aigu on last
letter), by Patrice Chereau (who, by the way, staged the Ring at Bayreuth
under Pierre Boulez). This is the story of a young, innocent (i.e., naive,
but not stupid) man's first love & total infatuation with a savage, sordid
and bestial character (who has also some redeeming, but all too rare, moments
of gentleness). This movie depicts in a very intelligent, sensitive and tactful
way the anguishes of a first love (whether hetero- or homosexual), its
blindedness, its madness, its devastating effects.
It also portrays some of the bleakest aspects of the `homosexual scene'
(back streets, railway stations, toilet rooms...) into which closeted people
are sometimes forced as the only place for them to find gay contacts, yet it
is not a *disgusting* film--in much the same way as Satyricon was not--because
even in its grimmest moments it appeals to the better side of the viewers--in
this case, to compassion, pity, humour (rarely though, it is not a comedy),
understanding.
Another virtue of this film is that it transcends homosexuality and
soars to the level of a Greek tragedy. It is not a sordid love affair between
a young man and a criminal anymore, but a tragic and hopeless love between two
people who are too different ever to come close enough to each other. As such,
it is not cinema-verite, realism or whatever the term is, but (close to being)
a work of art. (Aside: reality is not a work of art. But Oscar Wilde said
it and lived it -- to its tragic end -- so much better...). This film is very
bleak, and does not end on a typically hopeful note. Yet it is different
from the sordid despair of some German movies (not necessarily on or about
gays) in that it speaks of lofty sentiments, also; in that it has the grace
and aesthetic senses (that I tend personally to ascribe to the better French
film directors); that--it may seem corny, sorry--it seems to have been made
by a good-hearted person (I mentioned compassion above).
It does not seem that the makers of the movie wanted to do a film
*about* gays; rather, the main characters *happen to be* gay. See the
difference? I have the impression that many a movie made here includes
characters of some specificity (racial, religious, sexual, whatever) in
order to placate the members of that minority and "prove" that it does
not discriminate, and thus avoids saying or showing anything which might be
seen as detrimental--which I find as ridiculous and stereotypical as the
notion of a Mr. Average Guy.
--
/Steve Dyer
{decvax,linus,ima}!bbncca!sdyer
sdyer@bbncca.ARPAsdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) (08/24/84)
Another good example of a movie with characters who just "happen to be" gay
is a new Dutch film, "The Fourth Man", in which a gay (or more properly,
bisexual, but gay-identified) Catholic author, Gerard Reve, gets involved
with a beautiful young woman after he sees just what her current boyfriend
(a European James Dean/Brando punk) looks like, with the intent of seducing
him.
Far more central to the film than any "gay issues" is its use of Catholic
(gothic, pre-Vatican II) iconography: Reve recreates the world around him
as a series of religious symbols. A woman holding her child becomes the
Madonna, ketchup spilled becomes the blood of Christ, Christ on the cross
takes the form of a beautiful young man in a swimsuit. The sacred and the
worldly are co-present, but irreconciled. By the end of the film, Reve is
either stark-raving-crazy, or saved by the intercession of the Virgin Mary.
This sounds lugubrious and heavy-handed, and it could be, but the director
has a light touch, allowing us to smile at Reve's over-wrought world view,
even as he remains uncommitted to resolving where the truth lies.
This film reminds me a lot of "Don't Look Now", Nicholas Roeg's supernatural
thriller. By the way, it is gruesome in one or two scenes, probably
mild stuff compared to the slice-and-dice genre, but worth noting if you
are completely intolerant to this.
--
/Steve Dyer
{decvax,linus,ima}!bbncca!sdyer
sdyer@bbncca.ARPA