Friday, April 06, 2012
HE-SWANS
Today's gay film is not a film but a film of a ballet
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake (1995)
And it isn't a classical ballet either but rather modern dance.
And it is gay gay gay. And good for Matthew Bourne.
In this version of the famous and boring ballet the swans are men and the Prince falls for the head swan.
This has resonance for us partly because it is this dance that the mature, trained dancer Billy Elliot appears in at the end of the film. Spoiler but if you haven't seen Billy Elliot yet you are not likely to and to hell with it.
Why is this gay? Well, first of all, as Oscar Levant, a famous wit of the last century, said, "Ballet is the fairy's baseball". A favorite line.
Second, these swans are all bare above the feathers.
Three, and probably most important artistically, the Prince is a closet case, conflicted over his sexuality and the whole thing is a metaphor of his struggle. There is also a nice swing at the homophobia ball here and it connects.
It is a great show and very much worth seeing. Sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, always witty and the music is gorgeous. All Tchaikovsky of course.
If I die without seeing enough of anything, it will be live ballet.
When I was in high school, I went to the New York State Theater to see the NYC ballet whenever I was in NYC and had the time and when they were in season. Ballanchine. Then I added other companies.
But look at the odds of seeing them. In NYC. In season. Had the time.
Since then I try every opportunity. But now I live in the hinterlands. No ballet here that I want to see.
I went to a touring production of The Corsair but it was lacking. A made up Russian company.
So this DVD was a very special experience. It is very well produced and the people are all very talented. It is a 5 already as I have seen it several times.
