'Double Grudge': The Pioneering Gay Film

Sylvan 2022-03-12 08:01:02

Many people know about "Roman Holiday", but they don't know that Hepburn and the film's director, William Wyler, have also collaborated on a film, which is 1961's "Double Resentment". This is the most serious gay movie I've ever seen. The film does not have any erotic color, but it is very dignified.

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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Extended Reading
  • Laurie 2022-04-23 07:05:19

    7.8 under the open only to find that the original protagonist is Hepburn. . . The most fascinating thing about her is her voice. Do not create is not their own or dubbing. The movie is pretty simple.

  • Rigoberto 2022-04-23 07:05:19

    Isn't it a matter of course to be bent by Hepburn, girls of this era are really forgiving~ Of course, as far as the movie is concerned, I don't think Hepburn has added much color to the movie, because the movie itself is not attractive to me, but the bear child Mary This image is very successful, not only the words are not shy, but the expression that everyone has to kill makes people can't help thinking about whether this guy can be strangled if he is born...

The Children's Hour quotes

  • Mrs. Amelia Tilford: I don't believe this talk of jealousy between Miss Dobie and Miss Wright.

    Mary Tilford: But I didn't say she was jealous of Miss Wright. I said that Mrs. Mortar said that Miss Dobie was jealous of cousin Joe.

  • Mrs. Lily Mortar: Any day that he's in the house is a bad day. You can't stand them being together and you're taking out on me. You've always had a jealous, possessive nature even as a child. If you had a friend, you'd be upset if she liked anybody else. And that's what's happening now. And it's unnatural. It's just as unnatural as it can be.