We used to have a thread with reccomendations of great lesbian films. No idea where it is now, but figured I'd start up a new one because I just saw this film called "The Gymnast" and it was incredible. Starring Dreya Weber, who lesbian film fans might remember as the lothario character Luce in "Everything Relative" (a very BAD film, which I am NOT reccomending, although it was ok for its day, which was about 10 yrs ago). Its about this married woman in her 40s, an ex-gymnast who is unhappy with her life, who gets involved with an aerial trapeze group. They do the most beautiful aerial choreography (all the actresses do their own stunts--AMAZING!), and of course she falls in love with one of the other women in the troupe. I was very skeptical going in, but the writing, acting and directing were all top-notch.

Anyway, you can see a trailer here:
http://www.thegymnastfilm.com

According to this postcard I picked up, its playing at the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian film fest, the G&L film fest in Philadelphia, and OutFest (can't recall which city that film fest takes place in--Toronto? Los Angeles?). Anyway, check it out if you can, or keep an eye out for when it gets a real release.

Ah, I shall have to pop over for a spell and view the trailer ASAP !

Thanks for the recom, abzug !

Am I right in understanding that by lesbian films you mean films who's main theme is lesbian related one? In which case something like Foxfire wouldn't fit in.

Also, do you mean amazing from the point of view of the viewer or rather from a cultural, contextual point of view? In which case I would't dare say much.

I think it would be great if you could share those moments that made us say "wow, this is amazing!" (I wish I could find where you talked about why you liked the gymnast, it was something about turning some conventions on their heads).

It would be especially helpful for people who don't have the opportunity to go to film festivals and who'd be at a loss when it comes to the next lesbian film they'd want to watch.

I think a film like Foxfire could be categorized as a lesbian-themed film, even if that isn't the focus. And for once I wasn't thinking it through so much. I just know how frustrated I can get at the dearth of good films with lesbian characters. Good meaning the writing isn't embarrassing, the acting is competent, and the filmmaking shows at least workmanlike capabilities. See, I don't ask much! :)

So I guess a better name for this thread would be: Reccomend lesbian films you think are good/entertaining/enjoyable so the rest of us know what to rent/buy/see. And it doesn't have to be new ones either--if there are old ones out there which are favorites, then reccomend them here. Some of my personal all time favorites:

Aimee and Jaguar (which we discussed in another thread)
Fucking Amal (aka Show Me Love)
Gia
Bound

I'm sure there are many others, although they're escaping me at the moment.

Ah, yes, that was a discussion of the film "Stick It" which was also gymnastics related (yes, I have a bit of an obsession with gymnastics, I'll admit it--but you're from Romania, so its like a national pasttime there, right?). That's a post which got lost in the great board copy-over. Had something to do with a thread-merge gone haywire. But yeah, the teenage female gymnasts wrenching power from the corrupt coaches and determining the outcome THEY wanted for the competition. Brilliantly subversive ending to a just-ok film.

I love talking about lesbian movies as it is sometimes even difficult to find out about them. My current favs are as follows:

When Night is falling (By Canadian director Patricia Rozema I also really liked I've heard the mermaids fly)

Fire - Asian Indian story

Desert hearts - an oldie but stil one of the best

Bound - sexy gansta stuff

High art (I love Sheedy,Mitchell and Clarkson in this)

Costa Brava - funny Spanish tale.

Gia - Sad but Elizabeth Mitchell and Angelina Jolie ..hot.


haven't seem Imagine me and you yet. Has anybody else?
F

I've seen "Imagine Me and You" and I have to say, for what it is intended to be, it is ok. If you see it in a cinema, I think you'll be so taken by the scenery that you'll forget about the formulaic plot. I mean, Notting Hill is no better.
It's been picked up for distribution by Universal and Fox so it will probably have wide distribution. Which is good in itself, seeing as it is one of the very few, if not the first lesbian romantic comedies out there. But unlike Chasing Amy this one is about the women.
Watching it, you sometimes (or often times) cry for missed opportunities (in terms of plot development and directing). But at the same time you wonder whether in an ironic twist of life this will be much more widely seen and liked by your typical straight audience than, say, Lost and Delirious (a far superior film).
Watching this I finally understood why I was bored by uber predictable films like Notting Hill: because the only thing sustaining it (falling in love with a man) wasn't my cup of tea. Well, at least this one I could watch till the end. The fact that I could believe in most of the actors (they did a good job with what they had) made it easier.
Though clumsily, the picture it paints is a positive one and it is enough to forgive the movie all its shortcomings. It is about a woman married to a man "that's evertything you'd want in a man" but who can't actually love him because, as she finds out, it is for another woman that her heart stars beating fast.


But the most recent film I've seen is Unveiled (Angelina Maccarone). This is so consistently understated and raw and gritty that it is refreshing and worthwhile to watch it regardless of the subject matter.
It is not a drama and it is not a melodrama (the director and cast masterfully avoided it), it is the story of people trying to live their lives amongst the politics of the time. You can see in the details that this was thought out and, dare I say, written and directed by women. This is one of those movies where you feel alongside it's characters. Because it is so raw and realistic.
If this tells you anything about how non-mainstream it is, whoever compiled the info about it on imdb, doesn't mention Anneke Kim Sarnau (who plays the "german local woman" - incredibly well) in the cast overview, only in the full cast.

I loved this film! I can't believe I forgot to mention it! The writing was incredible, as was the acting by the two leads. And for once, it was a lesbian story where the stakes were really high (the fear of being caught and deported), which leant a real urgency to the film. In contrast, something like "Imagine Me and You" is just about a character figuring out she's in love with women--this seems tired and old, and not that dramatic by this day and age.

Entre Nous

Maedchen In Uniform

I agree with you abzug on "Imagine Me and You", but I felt that this was from the start meant for straight, bog standard audiences. The director said that initially it was between a woman and a man and it didn't feel like it was wroking, so then he realised it wasn't working because it should have been really between 2 women. yeah, right!

I stand corrected, Saving Face is a lesbian romantic comedy.

A very light-hearted movie is "Goldfish Memory". It's probably mainstream by now, but I still enjoyed it when a saw it again the other day. That Irish accent is as endearing as the Scottish one.

ekny,
which version of Madchen in UNiform have you seen and liked, the 1931 one or the 1958 one (with Romy Schneider)?

Ohhh and "Entre Nous" is one of my favourites as well. Which reminds me of La Repetition (Emmanuelle Beart and Pascale Bussieres), good exploration of obsessive destructive love.

Hiya munky, never bothered with the later one, I think the earlier is exquisite & very subversive, really an amazing piece of work. I was lucky enough to see the non-suicide ending in a cinema some years ago; it's available now on video, the Janus print is inexcusably sh*tty--unreadable subtitles, terrible choppy edits, they really should've done a better job--and could have, even 20 years ago, if they'd given half a damn & gotten a few prints to compare. I know Criterion isn't perfect but I think this film deserves a proper reintroduction on DVD, keep hoping someday....

Yeah, very keen on Entre Nous, I can remember arguments in the lesbian press about was-it-even-a-lesbian-film kinda thing. Thank god we're sort of post-all-that. I think it's a cinematically beautiful film, the acting's great, even has a real score for a change; it's so rare to get a lesbian film that's also a 'real' film, still.

Didn't want to risk La Repetition, sounded too fake-arty & way too irritating a premise. Haven't we seen enough of that? Did you find it endurable, then? --e.

Too fake arty ain't. Irritating premise and difficult subject matter are mitigated with ease by the very fact that it is French and it has those two very good actresses playing the lead roles. In other words, if we have to explore obsessive, possesive love, I personally would rather have these two doing it. Maybe it was endurable for me because I haven't seen any of "those" that you mention. For once, being limited in choice had its rewards.

I also enjoyed Amour de Femme because of the straight woman's journey.

I haven't yet been able to get hold of a copy of the 1931 Madchen, but I'm still hoping. And there is another one that's proving elusive...To my shame can't remember the name now..it's a about a nun called Sister Anunziata or something like that.

Thinking about it, there are loads of little, obscure European and Asian films that I can't seem to find in the renting places I have access to.

How can they say Entre Nous is not a lesbian film? It is about 2 women's love for each other. Deep, life-long, emotional and physical love for each other. Women who choose to spend their lives together as a couple. What is being a lesbian if not that???

Well, but they never kiss, and people can be so literal, dontcha know? ;)

Agreed about Entre Nous--its so clear at the end that these two women choose to spend the rest of their lives together, so I could never understand why the question "Is this a lesbian film?" was even debateable.

Fair 'nuff. ; )

I thought it was much better than I'd expected--the women had chemistry, the actor cast as the straight woman (Hélène Fillières) was terrific, her face looked different in every shot, she was just right for the part. The soundtrack was irritating but I didn't mind it as much as some people; yeah it sounds like a French strip club but half the French movies I've seen sound like that. The kid was sickeningly cute but the basic dynamics between the women were strong & very credible. There've been a lot of pretty-good movies like that in the last 5 years or so; I thought the movie from Finland, Producing Adults, was in that league, a bit less compelling than Amour de Femme but still pretty good; Unveiled was terrific, though, whole nother ball game.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/630312072...glance&n=404272

Much as I loathe Amazon, if you're willing to open a US account, you can get it readily for not a lot of money while it's at least still in print on VHS... assuming you've a way of seeing VHS? Shoot, that part didn't occur to me.

Meanwhile, there's an excellent overview of the film by B Ruby Rich here:

http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessay...henUniform.html

(jumpcut went entirely electronic a few years ago, but was a long-time alternative film-review periodical with a genuine commitment to non-academic articles about emerging-nation, black, asian, lesbian & gay cinema. The early issues are archived at their site--worth knowing about.)

Lesbian? Any more data? You don't mean I, the Worst of All, do you? About Sor Juana? with Assumpta Serna? Sigh. I tried, I really did. 1990 Argentina, feels 20 years before that. It's extremely static, every shot's set up like theater. It's beautiful to look at, stilted, deadly slow. The lesbian subtext wasn't enough to get me to sit through it, frankly, but if you're into nuns or feminist theory you might be more patient with this one than I was. It meant well & the lead was excellent.

At some point about 2 years ago I started checking out various internet sites, making a huge list of everything I hoped to see that I'd missed. There's lots I'm sure I may never get a chance to see. But hey--that's how I found Bad Girls. Anything else I missed rather pales.

Well yah, I'm with you on the whole it's-lesbian thing, obviously. Not to mention the superb acting. Went looking for the article in jump/cut but it's not archived--but found the Maedchen one instead. ; ) --e

"I, the Worst of All" - that's it, you're a star! I think I'm into nuns. I'm into any exploration of "the weakness in me" thing. I'll watch it when I'll find it. Hell, I managed to sit through Chantal Akerman's "I, You, She, He".

Yeah, agree on Producing Adults.

Thank you on the jumpcut link. You've got me into another addiction now.

Are you willing to share that huge list? You've said you've got it now and my mind hungs on it like on a treasure trove.

Thankyuh, thankyuhver'much. I have left the building. This week's episode of ek, psychic bookseller brought to you by....

Welp, you've seen the Su Friedrich film then right? (Can't remember the name as it made little impression on me but given your um, special interest.... Heh. Ah!--Damned if You Don't.)

So you liked High Art. (I couldn't stand it but I think I'm in a minority.)

I didn't have a problem with the Akerman film; I'd been waiting to see it for years so damn if the fact that it was experimental was going to paralyze me. ;)

It's a great resource. --e

Its not lesbian, but have you seen the Australian miniseries "Brides of Christ"? One of the best things I've ever seen on television. Absolutely spectacular writing and acting, and showed the Catholic Church at an incredibly tumultuous time. I really can't reccomend this enough, actually.

Plus, its a real trip because you get to see a really young Naomi Watts and Russell Crowe.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B.../qid=1150241128

Three not-lesbian films that are nevertheless all wonderful (the first two are not available on DVD; first & third are by women directors): High Tide (Judy Davis's second film I think--[she looks spectacular]; very woman-centered, a bit sad but beautifully made); Leaving Normal (Christine Lahti & Meg Tilly--female buddy/road movie, quirky & genuinely good-natured, very funny in places & quite moving in others, just a quiet little film abt ordinary people trying to get their lives together); I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (minor lesbian content but also just brilliant about making art). --e

Thanks abzug for pointing that one out. The title seems familiar, but I can't recall why. I'm sure I haven't seen it, as unfortunately few aussie things apart from Neighbours made it into my part of the world.

I just remembered something. Isn't it odd that both the actress who plays Crystal and the one who plays Caisie (Kellie Bright) are in Imagine Me and You? Now I understand why Kellie Bright was saying that she adored the suit in which she entered Larkhall. Didn't really understand the reason behind making her so drab in Imagine Me and You.

Ohh and to respond to you ealier post about gymnastics in Romania... we used to have a very good school and we're still winning at international competitions. But, like all things in RO at the moment, gymnastics is in that transition period between doing it as your only chance to a bit of freedom or because that's what the party said you have to do and doing it because that is your vocation, because you are a professional. They are two completely different frames of mind.
There was a bit of a revolt from the girls a few years back. It was the first time they had the courage to denounce the inhumane treatment they were sometimes subjected to for performance's sake. There were loads of accusations back and forth between the girls and the coaches. In the end, the girls took their freedom in their own hands, said bollocks to us being role models and all that, and went to Japan to make good money out of posing nude. It might not be dignifying, but for them is was liberating just because they could do it and still return to high level gymnastics.

Ekyn - I loved "High Tide" too. I saw it years ago and tried to find it recently. Also loved the quirkieness of ”I’ve heard the mermaid singing” did you realise that the art directors girlfriend is the geeky bookstore owner in “Better that Chocolate” .

Also loved Producing adults.

I recently managed to get hold of an old movie based in Budapest in the 50’s? called “Another Love”. I originally saw it back in 1983 ish when it was first released. It’s just been released on DVD and in my opinion well worth a look if nothing else to get a sense of living and working in an iron curtain country.

Where can I find “Unveiled”?

Fi

Slow down a bit you nuns connoisseurs! I just discovered this nuns thing.
No, I haven't seen Damned if You Don't but I'll keep an eye out for it. I've heard about it in a review of lesbian directors. But since my head is spinning with all this new info, I forgot about it.

Nope, High Art didn't do much for me. I've seen it cause I wanted to see what it was about but I wouldn't go back to it. It didn't irritate me (like Girl Play for example), it just didn't stir me in any way either. I just think it's plain stupid (nothing glamorous or intelligent about it) to drug yourself to death. Or maybe it's
because I believe too much in life and I don't believe at all in malaise.

The "weakness in me" that I like is the one that makes Roisin fall for Caisie. You remember, in one of the early scenes in their cell (s4 ep4, two thirds on), when Caisie is telling her how she's all sorried out and they have to make the best of what they've got and all that? Roisin, not listening anymore, says 'Will you please just get into my bed?" I'd have been in her bed like a bullet! Hell with the consequences!

What did the experimental feeling of the wrestling love scene in Akerman's film say to you?

Scottish Fi,

Do you mean Another Way:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083872/
I just got it as well and can't wait to see it. Yep, in 1958, Hungary (like the entire eastern block) was stalinist. I put off seeing this film for many years as it felt too close to home. But i'm now ready to see it.

I loved this line! It was so sexy and emotional and desirous (desiring?). I wanted to throttle Cassie when she didn't jump on in.

I think the producers missed an opportunity here as well. If Cassie (thank you for correcting me abzug, I can't believe I've spelled it wrongly) would have jumped, even if just for the human contact with Roisin, the overall meaning and experience (from the viewer's point of view) of the scene wouldn't have been altered for the worse. On the contrary I think it would have given Cassie & Roisin relationship the same yearning factor we had for N&H (and they for each other). I always felt that they tamed post H&N gay love. I think the actresses that played Cassie and Roisin would have been ready for a more uncontrolled love. Or is it that credit to Simone and Mandana.

Hiya Munky, I took your post above and replied to it over in the season 4 thread:

http://z4.invisionfree.com/Nikki_and_Helen...=0&#entry351883

Hi Fi--yeah, High Tide is out of print, it *kills* me that all the crap that's so readily available is out there & things like this, Leaving Normal (& Mike Leigh's High Hopes--what's up with *that*?!) aren't! (High Hopes isn't remotely lesbian but it is a sharp & quite moving indictment of Thatcher's England. Must remember to mention it to Richard, he'd love it....)

Yes, I was going to mention it to munky but then thought perhaps it was a little too familiar... I see from her post she already knew about it though!

It was just released on DVD in the US, do you have a place you can order from?? --e

Couldn't agree more about High Art. I've a friend who's convinced it's really the perfect murder mystery, I'm like... what madness this?! I felt active hostility to Girl Play, the whole thing just offended the crap out me.

Wow, that's a tough question. You go first. Well--no, ok, I'll give it a try.

It's a totally formal film, it follows those scenes are also entirely formal. They brought about almost no emotional response from me whatever: I didn't think they were intended to.

(For those who are not familiar, Je Tu Il Elle was an experimental film by Chantal Akerman, 1974. It has 4 sections, each divided into movements of roughly equal time. First shows a girl walking around an apartment for 20 minutes: picking up things, putting them down, rearranging furniture, obsessively eating sugar, etc. [Hey don't ask me, *I* didn't make it.] [It's Akerman, btw.] Can't recall the second section--oh, reading from her diary aloud, I think? all choppy bits & pieces, out of order. Third is she hitches a ride with a trucker, he goes on this long monologue, she gives him a hand-job. Fourth is she meets someone--girlfriend? friend? & they make love despite the woman saying Akerman can't stay. That's the whole movie.

It was partly-famous for having the 'longest' lesbian lovemaking scene outside pornography/erotica in a serious film. Before you go ripping through the internet trying to find it, I should say: this is not sexy. 5 minutes of a middle-distance shot with one woman's head mid-body over another woman. 5 minutes reversed. Etc. No music, no narrative or emotional relation between the characters that you can figure--whatever this is about, in short, it's not really about what's on the screen in any ordinary way where you'd expect to care about/identify with the 'characters', etc.--none of that. The shots are all deliberately static, middle-distance; no panning, no change of focus, stripped bare of all 'embellishments' associated w/traditional narrative storytelling in film.)

What do I *think* it's about? Dislocation, alienation, people living lives stripped of meaning, etc. It's deliberately monotonous & banal. I appreciate what she's doing but the films are hard work. --e

I haven't seen the film, but I've read a bit about it, and I believe her intention was to thwart the impulse to view the women voyeuristically, thereby making a statement about the objectification of women in film etc.

Of course, us liberated lesbians have come to realize we're voyeurs too (I mean, who doesn't like a sexy scene between two women?), so this kind of ploy seems hopelessly dated and simplistic. Although, of course, I find many of the sex scenes in The L Word to be very troubling because they are staged and filmed in a way that makes me feel like I am watching porn. I don't usually feel this way when I watch lesbian films with sex scenes, so I think its something particular to The L Word which feels TOO voyeuristic and exploitative.

It's a unique experiment if nothing else. I don't recall seeing something as bare since. It reminded me a bit of "Immagini di un convento" (my forray into sexploitation stuff).

It's interesting to think that the intention was

and that she was trying to achieve this by playing herself. This is a movie by Akerman with Akerman trying to tell us not to be voyeurs with Akerman.

I didn't mind the love scene. In it's animalistic rawness I found it interesting.
But I failed to get any message from the film. I was reminded for myself more about voyeurism, like abzug said, by watching L Word.

I found it too stark to be at all engaging, just boring/tedious. I am not sure, per Abzug's comment, if Akerman's intentions were that overtly political regarding feminism, how women are viewed etc. This was before the Mulvey essay.* I don't mean she mightn't have considered this--she'd have to've given thought/decided to photograph herself nude, in this setting--only that I'm not familiar enough w/her work to say, really.


*Sorry. ETA: Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema, probably the most influential essay abt women & film in the last 30 years. This is where all that stuff about 'the male gaze' originates.

Fortunately I am too busy this afternoon to allow myself to be tempted to go on a rant here. The double-voyeurism of the guy in the second season watching them? was if possible more offensive than the 'normal' level of voyeurism the show encourages. --e

Brides of Christ was an Aus/UK/Ireland co-production. It had the wonderful UK/Irish Brenda Fricker in it - brilliant actress.

I have seen High Tide in the last 3-4 years. I either taped it from the TV or got it from our uni's AV library. I may have a copy somewhere (I have so many tapes it's hard to find some stuff these days - need a better cataloguing system). Julie Davis is a class actor. I looked at it for a 3rd year undergrad course I co-convened & co-lectured on a couple of years back. I did a lecture on queer Aussie films for it.

Aussie lesbian films of note in the past: I always liked The Getting of Wisdom. It was unusual for the lesbian relationship in the 70s/80s even tho it's quite tame by today's standards. Romantic cross-class love between 2 girls in a boarding school.

Brilliant long short film by Ana Kokkinos: Only the Brave (about an hour long). Raw, brutal dealing with issues of homophobia and lesbian awakening in a Greek-Australian community. Kokkinos is lesbian and made the feature film Head On - gay male story - that developed a cult following.

Love and Other Catastrophes is a fun avante-garde, screw ball comedy -student type film but fun & has a mix of lesbian & het relationships. these days it seems a bit to much like a Friends clone.

The Monkey's Mask is an interesting but failed lesbian film. It has a lesbian PI & Kelly McGillis as a lesbian character.

There was a very interesting Auusie film made in the 70s called Journey Among Women. I saw it back then at the London National Film Theatre on the Sth Bank. It was described in the promo as a historical Aussie film about women convicts. I was completely blown away at the time because it developed into a lesbian feminist rebellion against male sexual & other violence. It was one of the most out there lesbian movies I'd seen at that point. Women escaped, explicit lesbian romance & sex scene/s. Apparently women working on the film rebelled against the original script & re-wrote it. But now all the reviews/comments on the film say it was noted for being picked up by porn cinemas or it's voyeuristic appeal to men. I tried to get hold of a copy of it in the last few years, but sadly it seems to be unavailable. I would love to do a retrospective re-evaluation of it. hmmm there's an IMDB review of it & apparently it was on Aussie foxtel in 2001 (typical dismissive review):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076236/

NZ lesbian films of note: Heavenly Creatures. One of the best of Peter Jackson's movies - mainly because it's his partner writer Fran Walsh's project & vision and has more of her focus on the relationship between the 2 women. It's a pity that she's since become subordinated to Jackson's Hollywood ambitions & focus on big screen visual effects & male adventure stories. Desperate Remedies: a camp post-colonial drama made by two gay men who co-wrote & directed it. There is an interesting lesbian relationship played by Jennifer Ward Lealand & Lisa Chappell. Short film "Peach" is interesting for having Lucy Lawless in her pre-Xena days playing a very cool looking lesbian truck driver.

I didn't really like High Art - the problems with the drug aspect of the story & too much of a self-consioucly arty portrayal of the lesbian scenes.

I liked Desert Heart (though preferred the book) and Personal Best at the time they came out.

Only the Brave just recently became available here: I feel somehow I managed to see it a long time ago. W/o giving too much away, doesn't this involve a rather violent torching scene at the end?

Peach is available here as part of a mixed-bag collection, if that's the only reason you're renting it... you'll prob be disappointed unless you're a major LL freak! ;) Cute film but... 5 minute short, as you said.

Your post reminded me: saw the Sticky Fingers of Time recently, it's quite good in terms of plot, structure, etc. Definitely slow in places, zero budget shows, weak acting from the male secondary char... still, an unusually intelligent plot--esp given it's from the sci-fi genre (sort of). And definitely lesbian/indie.


ETA: Never been able to find a copy of Getting of Wisdom, out of print in VHS & never issued here on DVD. What's his name, Beresford, right? Breaker Morant, Black Robe? It's got to be gorgeous-looking at the very least.

Speaking of 1980s lesbian films, has anyone else seen John Sayles' Lianna? In a number of ways I thought it was much more groundbreaking than Personal Best or Dessert Hearts (although I am a big fan of both those films). There's this fantastic sequence in Lianna where the main female character (who is married but begins having an affair with her female professor) walks down the street and starts seeing women. Like, seeing and desiring them for the first time. It blew me away the first time I saw it, because I had never seen a film sequence which so effectively captured the awakening of desire, and lesbian desire at that!

Thanks campgrrls for "Head On". I've seen this film on telly, but as usual, didn't get a chance to see what it was called or any credits and it was annoying me because I liked it very much at the time.

Unfortunately you mean. We love it when you rant.

For the unitiated like me here's a link to the full version (or so I think) of that Laura Mulvay essay:
http://www.nwe.ufl.edu/~lhodges/vpnc.html

Munky - it is Another way - disturbing and tragic but I really found it riveting. I thought the director ( male) did a very good job of realistically building the tension between the two women.

Girl play was a bit dodgy. Now there's an erudite assessment.

Also think Lianna was ground breaking I understand that is available in DVD. Worth a look.

The monkey mask looked promising but really was a bad movie . Some nice filming but a crappy script and pretty weak acting.

Did like Heavenly Creatures but it was to disturbing for me.

Fi

Yes it has that fire scene. It's kind of in the tradition of European avante garde which, like a lot of Aus & NZ films resists the Hollywood happy endings/feel good style, for het movies as well as queer ones. I like the fact that the two young women are sensual and attractive without being conventionally attractive in Hollywood terms. I also like the sensuality between women characters.

Christine Parker (an out lesbian) who made Peach was talking about making a lesbian detective feature movie a couple of years back. I haven't heard about it recently so I googled it. I think it's the one called Firebird and the writer is Peter Wells (very successful writer of books & movies including Desperate Remedies, who is also gay).

http://www.unitec.ac.nz/?0B6BEF01-1CC9-499...F1-368EAD2C0072

I see also she's converting one of Annamarie Jagose's novels into a screenplay (a novel about a het couple & the woman's relationship with a chimpanzee). Annamarie is also a dyke & is the deputy head of the dept at Auckland Uni in which I'm enrolled & have done a lot of teaching. Annamarie is noted for her intro book to queer theory. Her partner is also a lecturer at Auckland uni (in fact I saw them both at a launch for a book by a documentary maker in our dept last night). You can see that the NZ industry is pretty small & everyone knows everyone else, especially the lesbian & gay ones.

Annamarie also helped me with my application for funding for that conference in the UK & recommended a substantial contribution from the dept.

Getting of Wisdom does look pretty good. Set in the 19th century so big frocks etc. It's curious how these films are dropping out of circulation. Getting of Wisdom was based on a novel & doesn't get as good reviews as Picnic at Hangng Rock which also has a bit of lesbian subtext and looks good.

I wasn't keen on Hanging Rock, I'd heard about it for years & finally saw it only a week or two ago, hard to put a finger on why. Mainly it felt dated--not bec it's an historical setting but certain approaches/tricks to the cinematography just... didn't age well, for me. Audiences get savvier all the time, so sometimes things that looked innovative 20 years ago now just look totally old-hat. You should definitely see it someday, just to say you have. Most people think it's visually very beautiful & find all the girls dressing each other, etc., very suggestive. I certainly expected to but... didn't, I found it irritating but am pretty sure I'd be in a minority regardless of audience. ; )

Yes, I think Picnic at Hanging Rock is all style and limited substance. I do like some of the cinematography of the landscape & the music with it can be kind of seductive. I think when these films first came out lsbans were really interested because there were so few mainstream representations of lesbians in film. And it also got some feminist attention - largely for having so many female characetrs central to the film I think. There was the lesbian subtext between some young girls and between the head of the school and another teacher - the maths teacher I think.

I also have misgivings about a mixture of appropriation of Aboriginal culture and their relationship to the land as well as writing Aussie history and nation building from a European perspective.

Peter Weir went on to do The Year of Living Dangerously which I really liked when I first saw it (Mel Gibson & Sigourney Weaver) but it also was quite Orientalist in its depiction of the seductive and dangerous East. He also made The Last Wave which was quite interesting with regards to Aboriginal representations, but problematic too.

I think The Getting of Wisdom has more depth to the female characters and relationships between women. However it did recuperate the film for heterosexuality in the end - but still a rare visible lesbian story which was unusual for the time... and relatively positive, as well as dealing with issues of social class.

BTW Christine Parker has talked about her movie about a heterosexual relationship (Channelling Baby: starring Danielle Cormack and Kevin Smith) as a queer film. She says a heterosexual person would not have made the film the way she did. I'm not sure what this means, or if there are other films het films that could be said to have a queer sensibility. Tho I tend to think it's not necessary for everybody in key roles in making a film to be gay in order to make a good lesbian movie.

I kind of liked Lliana when I first saw it. But since then that story of a previously het woman discovering her lesbian self has been done to death. I also thought it suuffered like many lesbian films of having one woman in the couple convey a convincing emotional leasbian romance/attraction and the other actor falling short (e.g. Desert Hearts, Personal Best).

has anyone got any copies of any lesbian film that they could send my thanks pm me please

True, but, Lianna came out in 1982, the same year as Personal Best, so at that point this particular plotline hadn't been done to death. It also was far more progressive than PB, if only because the protagonist actually ended up a lesbian, rather than ending up with a guy. It wasn't just portrayed as a one-time thing.

I guess I just have a soft spot for this film. :)

Edited to Add: Ah, I am an idiot--that was your point, that the plotline has been done to death SINCE Lianna, so its not all that interesting to watch anymore. Yeah, I know what you mean, although I still think there are aspects of it which hold up today.

I had a quick scan through this thread so apologies if this film has already been mentioned and I missed it!

My Summer of Love is brilliant. It's a british film with two fairly unknown actresses playing the lead - Natalie Press (who was in the excellent BBC's adaption of Bleak House) and Emily Blunt who are both excellent in this. 2 teenage girls, one from a wealthy family and the other lives above a pub with her brother, form an unlikely friendship on their summer holidays from school. It also has Paddy Considine from Dead Man's Shoes in it who is a bloody great actor, and he's great in this. It's nice and summery too with lots of sunshine!