There are
lots of reasons to like Can You Ever
Forgive Me? – its well-crafted script, its tight direction, its splendid
performances, its complex characters, its interesting subject matter… The list goes on and on. Today, though, there’s one thing in particular
I want to look at: its place as an LGBTQ
film.
Both the
central character (Lee Israel) and her closest friend (Jack Hock) are gay, a
fact that’s woven into the film pretty naturally. Although Lee is prickly and can be quite
misanthropic, she’s still preoccupied with an ex who left over Lee’s aversion
to commitment, and the film sees her becoming awfully taken with a rare book
seller who serves as one of her marks.
(Also, not for nothing, she’s kind of casually butch, which I
appreciate.) With Lee especially, I’m
grateful that they didn’t straightwash her.
There have been plenty of films based on true stories that conveniently
leave out a real-life person’s sexuality, outright change it, or reduce it to something
to be inferred between the lines.
Meanwhile,
while Jack’s character does flirt with archetype, his position as an aging
party boy places him in a somewhat uncertain place within the 1970s/80s New
York gay scene. Plus, “gay best friend
to the female protagonist” is certainly a trope, but that dynamic is rarely
seen when that female protagonist is gay too, so Lee and Jack’s relationship
stands out from what we more typically see in movies/on TV.
Another
quick note on the Lee-Jack relationship.
They remind me a little of Hannah and Elijah from Girls in that, even though Lee is definitely the lead and Jack is a
supporting character, the film never gives off an air that Jack only exists to serve Lee’s storyline. Like Elijah, Jack is most likely the star in
own mind, and while Lee’s story is what drives the plot, there are enough hints
that Jack is getting up to plenty of things on his own. (Not to mention, Hannah, Elijah, Lee, and
Jack are all kind of terrible people, and yet, their friendships work so well
together.)
What I
love most of all, though, is that, from a storytelling perspective, the only
“reason” Lee and Jack (again, especially Lee) are gay is that they were in real
life. In other words, it’s a gay move
but not a Gay Movie. It’s not about
coming out or homophobia or AIDS or an engaged woman’s textbook-life getting
disrupted by the realization that she might be a lesbian – it’s just about this
woman, the fascinating con she pulled, and the friend who was in on her
secret.
I know
I’m not the only person who’s lamented the fact that LGBTQ-themed cinema can
sometimes feel boxed into very specific narratives. In fact, I think the next big leap forward
will be seeing protagonists in a variety of stories and genres who “just happen
to be LGBTQ” – LGBTQ characters as detectives solving murders, as teens trying
to escape horror-movie monsters, as aspiring business owners with big dreams,
as travelers finding themselves on vacation in foreign countries, as unlikely
superheroes discovering their power. I
want all that and more for LGBTQ characters, and I think this movie fits into
that idea nicely.
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