The place where the story takes place is an innocent girls' school, even the title of the film is "The Children's Hour", and the key character driving the story is a girl named Martha. However, the film rarely shows the evil of children. This liar, revengeful, and tricky girl half-truths up the rumor that her two female teachers, that is, the two heroines, are lesbian lovers, and it spreads quickly.
The heaviness of the story is double-layered. The first was the devastating blow to the lives of the two girls due to the rumors, school closures, social isolation, and marriage contracts being put on hold indefinitely. But there's another layer: It's that Dobie (Shirley Maclaine) really loves Wright (Hepburn). And the drama is that after she revealed her true feelings, the rumors were also clarified, but it was useless, Dobie's feelings had no way out, and life could not start again, and soon committed suicide.
If you compare it with other gay movies, the difference is quite obvious. Contemporary gay films, no matter domestic or foreign, lesbian or gay - "Breakthrough", "Lan Yu", "Brokeback Mountain", "My Private Ihoda", "Butterfly", the director's perspective is mostly It is introverted, and it focuses on the emotions of two people, and often focuses on the emotional entanglement of the two protagonists. As we said, homosexual love is the same as heterosexual love, just changing the character of one party to be of the same sex. However, the perspective of "Double Sisters" is extroverted. In addition to paving the way for Dobie's feelings for Wright, it also considers the relationship between homosexuals and society. This is also determined by the times. The focus of the director's thinking is not "human nature", "Love", but "sociality".
In the United States in the 1960s, although there was a discussion of homosexuality in the media, legislation and society did not change until 1969. So, in this film, you will see people's fear and disgust for homosexuality, like an infectious disease. Conservative old ladies don't even let them into their houses. The scene where Martha confides in Wright, not with warmth or romance, but with despair and confusion. Even she herself was ashamed. On the other hand, it is precisely because of this that William Whler's filming is more avant-garde.
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