L-FILMS, TV-SERIES reviews
The L Word Generation Q12/25/2019 Showtime's The L word generation Q (USA, 2019) is here and lesbians have finally some TV representation again. Of course, nowadays it is a queer TV show, in 2004 it was a lesbian TV show, nonetheless it is show about women who love and have sex with women and that is the most important. Of course, it is a bit of a different show with promoting lots of inclusivity and diversity. We can read about a lot of different opinions and comparisons between this and 2004 show. However, how and was it any different in 2004 when show was promoting lesbians and women of colour, black and Latino and military lesbians? Most importantly how and if the main characters have changed in the meantime? Bette Porter (Jennifer Beals) is always a bit of domineering and authoritative figure with sexual energy and friends abundant, only this time she runs for a mayor of L.A. and she is single (divorced) for the first time while trying to be a role model parent for a teenager daughter Angie which is not easy since it publicly came out that Bette was having an affair with a former married female employee Felicity while she was CEO of the California Arts Center and with whom she reconnects and continue having an affair with for some time. Bette's affair affects her daughter's life as Angie's classmates keep teasing about her mother's behavior to which Angie responds angrily. All that escalates when Felicity's husband comes to harass Bette and Angie. Because of all that, Bette's ex-wife Tina comes to visit in order to calm things down. However, we learn that Tina is going to get re-married to her girlfriend Carrie and the news was not calming for Bette at all. Despite obvious attraction between the actresses playing Tina (Laurel Holloman) and Bette (someone did a great casting job!) it is great that Tina finally gets her own life independent from Bette. I also believe it is true what Tina said how she felt while being married to Bette, feeling not being her own person and that everything always revolved around Bette. This is a great step forward for Tina. I hope we get to meet Tina's future wife as a caring, faithful, loyal and nurturing wife which she deserves in second season. Alice (), now having her own TV show, is as usual dating someone politically correct, this time a divorced mother of two kids. However her girlfriend Nat (Stephanie Allynne) has no ordinary ex-wife, Gigi (Sepideh Moafi) is from west Iran (let us recall that Alice previously dated soldier Tasha which was actual due to military LGBT ban in USA at that time). Alice through parenting learns that Gigi is a great mom and that Nat still admires and misses her. Thus at one point Nat, Alice and Gigi became throuple couple which Alice ended it because she felt used by Nat and Gigi getting back together although Nat finally decides that she wants only Alice after all. Therefore this is happy ending for Alice. And who in million years would thought that Shane (Katherine Moennig), who just returned from Europe, would be married to Quiara (Q) (Lex Scott Davis), a famous singer. However we soon learn that her marriage wasn't blissful at all and her wife filed for divorce while Shane was still in love with her wife. This time it seems Shane does not want to go for old self, having sex with random women everywhere she goes but she does sex with one of her ex lover's, Lena who seems to be still in love with her. However, as we learn through the episodes Quiara is still in love with Kate too and wishes to have a family with her. If Kate agrees and she does, Quiara is more then willing to stay with her. For sure, Quiara makes a big difference from Kate's previous singleness and macho speed dating style to being a 'loyal' wife, I just don't feel passion and spark between these two characters and I don't feel sorry that/if Quira finally broke up with Kate. Speed dating style lesbian is now portrayed in the character "Finley" (Jacqueline Toboni) though. Finley is Alice's executive assistant, coming from a religious family who first slept with Rebecca for a while, then had sex with Kate's bar manager, Tess (Jamie Clayton) until she kisses her best buddy, Sophie (Rosanny Zayas) and now she has to decide whether to pursue a relationship with Sophie or not. However, this means Sophie should break up with her fiancee Dani Núñez (Arienne Mandi). Dani is actually a new major character in this L word sequel, a prominent latino PR executive lesbian coming from a wealthy influential Latino family. Her heteronormative father loves and appreciates Dani a lot, only not as a lesbian, and consideres her lesbianism a phase in young woman's life. Dani of course disagrees with her father and instead proposes to her girlfriend Sophie and the two have a big engagement party with Sophie's family and as suggested by Dani they should get married in Hawaii. There is just this one thing with Dani – Bette (as Finley is with Sophie). Dani offers her services as a political campaign manager to Bette. Bette being very progressive and politically correct at first turns her down but eventually hires her. And thus we finally starting see cracks in Sophie and Dani's relationship: Dani is so immersed in Bette's political campaign and that it is all she can think of. Maybe because Dani is more then just inspired by her employer and maybe because Sophie admits having feelings for her best buddy, Finley with whom she kisses? I believe the situation with Sophie's grandmother just brought up what was going on between Sophie and Dani for a while: all little misunderstandings regarding the wedding ceremony, different lifestyle and upbringing finally showed all their differences and their true affinities with other people. And perhaps all that is because it is set up for Bette and Dani to eventually hook up in season 2? Sophie and Dani also share house with Micah Lee (Leo Sheng), a trans man who starts dating Jose (Freddy Miyares), a building manager. Micah is an adjunct professor and art lover who struggles with his mother to truly accept him as a trans man. And not only Micah should be accepted as he is by her mother, his lover should have been honest with him too. Namely, Micah discovers Jose has a husband. I believe there are going to be arguments between these two in season 2. as well. As far as the stories go, the show presents some stories from the past as well as some new ones. I must say that I don't like the sequel a lot. It is not only stories are unbelievable and luck passion, acting is not very good as well. We don't care or love the characters as we used to. Kate, Alice and Bette are not the same as they used to be, and new characters, Dani, Sophie and Finely are even less memorable.
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Portrait of a Lady on Fire12/8/2019 In Céline Sciamma's debut film Water Lilies (FRA, 2007) we were faced with society's gaze of teenage girls, in Portrait of a Lady on Fire (FRA, 2019) we experience a female gaze of another woman. Again Adèle Haenel, Sciamma's muse (and ex-partner), now experienced and acclaimed actress, plays the main role as Héloïse who returns from the monastery to pose for a portrait intended for her future husband. This is a film that will slowly but steadily nail you to the screen, both with the picturesque scenery of the Breton rocky coast with the roar of the waves, as well as the exuberant excellent play of the main actresses who present in front of us and in us the landscape of their emotions and irresistible attraction to each other. The film is an aesthetic and emotional delicacy and a lesson in passion and desire. Once again, I draw a parallel to the initial comparison: if we were dealing with a controlled environment of the pool and the social perception of the main characters in Water Lilies, we are dealing with a violent nature and the raw emotions of the main protagonists who resist the social perception of women, but only partially succeed in Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Their love, though consumated several times, has since been devoted solely to memory and longing. It is certainly no coincidence that the main character's name is Héloïse who came from the monastery to get married. Héloïse is a French symbol for the unrequited love between Héloïsa d'Argenteuil and philosopher Peter Abelard who had a forbiden love affair between pupil and teacher. After their affair was discovered Héloïsa went to monastary and the only contact between her and Abelard were through letters in which they passionately remembered their love for the rest of their lives and which French philosopher Jean J. Rousseau depicted in his epistolary novel Julie, or the New Héloïse. The French Héloïsa d'Argenteuil is as symbol of unrequited love as the English Juliet Capulet. At the same time, it seems that Sciamma wanted to 'object' to the portrayal of female sexuality as percieved by men, such as Kechiche in Blue is the Warmest Color (FRA, 2013) since it does not show one whole scene of sex in the film between Héloïse and Marianne (Noémie Merlant), but we clearly feel the passion and lust between the two heroines and we can easily imagine what they are doing between the sheets. This is because Sciamma roots for a 'deep' passionate love that remains in us for whole life or as Sciamma said in an interview: "I wanted to write not only a memoir about a love story, a film dedicated to love ... but, above all, the politics and philosophy of love." And in the film, we undoubtedly recognize ideas of the Belgian philosopher Luce Irigaray, her idea of a speculum, and last but not least, by sending Héloïsa's portrait to a future suitor, we recognize Irigaray's idea of women as a commodity on the market and what Sciamma wants to resist. Film with refined story telling and aesthetics has undoubtedly earned the best screenplay award and queer palm at Cannes. AuthorPhilosopher, publicist, editor, screenwriter with passion for LL-films and TV-shows. Archives
November 2021
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