Arts
Believably Lesbian Girl Talk
Believably
Lesbian
Girl Talk
by Peggy Luhrs
Girl
Play |
This
was one of my favorite films this year. It was believablely lesbian, it
was about adults, and it was well acted and well written. Mink Stole does
a fabulous turn as Robin's mother. And Dom Deluise is quietly hysterical
as the director of the play which is the vehicle for these women's meeting
and subsequent love affair. The film is based on a true story and played
by the women who lived it.
Leads Robin Greenspan
and Lacie Harmon shared the Best Actress prize at the 2004 edition of
Outfest for Girl Play, based on the play Real Girls.
The movie starts with the casting
call for a play and a funny turn by Deluise as an oh-so-solicitous director
with a young male assistant catering to his every whim. He tells the women
that to make the play believable they must get to know each other. He
continues to work this angle and the players seem only too happy to take
the chance to spend time together and build a rapport, which of course
eventually overtakes their plans.
Lacie is single and plans to
stay that way. Robin is in a six-year relationship and she is convinced
that she is in a happy relationship. After all, as she says, "Everything
was going great. I was in a six-year relationship. We had a townhouse,
a cocker spaniel, a cat, a circle of friends, favorite restaurants within
a five-mile radius, mutual funds, a CD collection, vacations, engagement
rings – our whole future completely mapped out." We notice
that there isn't a lot of connection between Robin and Audrey them but
Robin doesn't seem to have a clue about what's missing.
In what was probably a wise choice
for an independent film, the story moves back and forth between monologues
by the actresses and flashbacks of their lives. This allows for high production
values and for us to get the backstory in an amusing way as well as the
inner thoughts of each of the women as they become ever more deeply involved
in the play and each other and try to sort out play and reality. (The
DVD edition of GirlPlay includes a 26-minute featurette: "From Stage
to Life: At Play with Girl Play," a behind-the-scenes look at the
film with director Lee Friedlander.)
Robin's coming out to her mother
as played by Mink Stole is both funny and touching, as is much of the
film. Lacie's adventures in bar pickups are also a revelation of lesbian
life rarely screened. Girl Play was definitely a favorite for
the Sapphic Cinema audience. Directed by Lee Friedlander and played by
actresses Lacie Harmon and Robin Greenspan — who lived the story
and wrote the screenplay with Freidlander — I found this one of
the best independent lesbian films I've seen. If you're looking for a
love story with a bit of a twist that you can still relate to —
this is it.
Peggy Luhrs hosts Sapphic Cinema nights at the R.U.1.2? Queer Community
Center in Burlington.