GAY
FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
|
||||||
|
GAY
FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Law
Of Desire Sony
Pictures Classics, Director/Screenplay:
Starring:
Rated NC-17, 102 minutes |
Last
Tango In Madrid
One of the greatest crimes against cinema has just been corrected. Pedro Almodovar's early catalogue of films, prior to 1988's Women On the Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, is finally making its way onto DVD in The United States. Amongst the titles is what many consider to be the Spanish director's breakthrough film, 1987's Law Of Desire ((La Ley Del Deseo). |
 Law
Of Desire
is one of the landmarks of queer cinema. This comic thriller concerns a
love triangle between three gay men and a one night stand that leads to
terrible consequences. Pablo Quintero (Eusebio Poncela) is a film and stage
director. He is a man with no control over his penis, enjoying fast men
and lots of drugs. The two most important people in his life are Juan (Miguel
Molina), an actor in his latest film, and his transsexual sister, Tina (Almodovar
muse Carmen Maura). Tina used to be a boy and hates men for reasons which
will be revealed later. |
|
 Tina
looks after her young niece, Ada (Manuela Velasco) and has become her surrogate
mother. Pablo gives the lead role in his latest stage production to his
grateful sister and Ada happily proclaims that her prayers have been answered.
The young girl prays daily to a large shrine that occupies a corner of their
living room. The kitschy altar features equal parts religious and Hollywood
icons, Marilyn Monroe and the Virgin Mary competing amidst the plentiful
candles and flowers. |
|
|
|
|
 Antonio
Benitez (Antonio Banderas)
is a dashingly handsome, and crazy, young man who has been seen stalking
Pablo during the film's opening scenes. The visual cues in their first meeting
are splendidly suggestive; Antonio is shooting a rifle in an arcade and
Pablo, trying to walk by, pushes down the long, phallic gun so that he can
pass. Antonio chases after Pablo, the men exchange a few words and return
to the director's apartment. |
|
 Once
they are alone, Antonio wastes no time and kisses Pablo with clumsy, and
violent, ferociously. Pablo reacts to this comical seduction by saying,
"You don't kiss like you were unblocking the sink.!" Antonio asks the director
to show him how and within seconds they are in bed together. Antonio is
a virgin but he's also a fast learner. The sex is hot and also very funny.
The next morning, Antonio finds a letter from Juan (the one that Pablo wrote
and asked his young lover to sign and send back to him) and flies into a
jealous rage. He leaves a note that states, "If I was 16 instead of 20,
I would report you as a child molester," and storms out. |
|
 |
|
| He returns the next day and, even though he seems a bit nuts, Pablo is unable to resist his awkward, but persistent, charms. (We are talking about Antonio Banderas in his twenties, after all.) Antonio thinks that Pablo loves him and refuses to allow any other possibility to enter the reality that he has created for himself. Realizing that his beloved's heart belongs to another, Antonio travels to the seaside resort where Juan is working with his family, and kills him. | |
 Law
of Desire,
coincidentally, came out the same year that Fatal Attraction did
and those who need to categorize their movies can view this as a gay variation
on that same theme - except that in this case the femme fatale is a smoldering
Latin hunk. Law of Desire is
a sensual and comic thriller that mixes Hitchcock
and soap operas into a very enjoyable romp. |
|
 The
second half turns into a cat and mouse escapade between Pablo and his murderous
boytoy with his sister caught in the middle. It also features a pair of
idiotic (and homophobic) cops hellbent on proving that Pablo killed Juan.
There are many visual nods to Hitchcock and, like so many of Sir Alfred's
killers, Antonio lives with a doting and suffocating mother. Amidst the
madness, the film also knows when to slow down long enough to let the audience
take a deep breath. There is a beautiful scene between the siblings in which
Tina confesses to her brother - who is suffering from a temporary amnesia
following an automobile accident - the real reasons behind her gender reassignment
surgery and what transpired between her and their estranged father. |
|
 Law
Of Desire
tackles a lot of serious themes. It can be quite dramatic while handling
its occasional histrionics with tongue planted firmly in cheek. There are
so many funny images scattered throughout the film. Who can forget watching
Antonio, in his underwear, setting fire to an incriminating shirt over a
toilet? Also consider the scene where the sexually repressed Tina is so
hot that she asks a streetcleaner to hose her down - a long phallic
stream of water blasts her from across the street as she rubs herself all
over while her tight dress is plastered to her skin. Tina's role in Pablo's
play involves a scene in which she attacks a bedroom with an axe while the
young Ada, dressed in her Communion gown, glides across the stage, lip synching
a seductive ballad. The connection between sexual attraction and death are
made explicit when Antonio pushes Juan off a cliff as a phallic lighthouse
looms in the background. |
|
 Is
the film over the top? Yes, and gloriously so. Almodovar has a talent for
directing lurid melodrama without making it ludicrous. This talent would
make him a major player on the international stage and he would enjoy worldwide
success a year later with Women On the Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
along with his first Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film; an award he
would finally claim with 1999's All About My Mother. |
|
|
This is a terrific film, beautifully acted and filmed. It was brave for its day, sexy and smart, and lots of fun. You can't go wrong with this one.
More
on Pedro Almodovar Antonio Banderas
also appears in: |
Pablo
is unhappy because Juan has gone home to his family for the summer, leaving
much unsaid between them. When Juan sends Pablo a short postcard, Pablo
types him a love letter - which he asks his young lover to sign and send
back to him as if he had written it himself. He is a narcissist of the
first order. It's not as if Pablo's bed is ever empty... and another young
man is about to enter his life.
Law
of Desire
broke a lot of ground. None of Almodovar's gay characters are wrestling
with coming out issues or the closet, a rarity for films from the 80s.
Modern gay audiences are accustomed to seeing explicit sex between men
in the movies (except, of course, in most major studio releases) and that
is why I take such pains to remind readers how gutsy Law
of Desire was in its day. To illustrate how European films
always blazed such trails years before their American counterparts,
look no further than the timid depiction of sex in