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Film series at BAM, Brooklyn:

WRITTEN BY JEAN GENET, MAY 14-22
"To achieve harmony in bad taste is the height of elegance."--Jean Genet, The Thief's Journal

A writer, criminal, homosexual, political activist, and self-styled renegade, Jean Genet spent much of his early life in reformatories and prisons. Championed by Jean Cocteau and Jean-Paul Sartre (who lobbied for Genet's pardon), his incendiary work offers dreamlike evocations of moral ambiguity in a repressed society--featuring characters in various states of submission and rife with homosexuality, outlandish fantasies, and acts of violence by the oppressed. His work not only had a profound effect on contemporary gay culture, but also filmmakers like Truffaut (who began a correspondence and friendship with Genet while in military prison), Fassbinder, Jarman, and Haynes--this series offers a snapshot of Genet's spirit and influence.

FILMS INCLUDE: POISON (1991) Directed by Todd Haynes; UN CHANT D'AMOUR (1950) Directed by Jean Genet (in a new 35mm print); QUERELLE (1982 Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder; THE MAIDS (1974) Directed by Christopher Miles; MADEMOISELLE (1966) Directed by Tony Richardson.

What a shame that no one has ever made a real film of Our Lady of the Flowers, The Miracle of the Rose, or The Thief's Journal. Perhaps a Genet revival is in order.

davidhare wrote:Patrice Chereau's very fine l'Homme Blesse is a loose adaptation of the Thief's Journal. Not aware if there is any DVD.

There's a new 2-disc Studio Canal version, no subs but it's got a Jane Birkin music video directed by Chereau! I haven't seen that movie in 18 years.

Plus a Jane Birkin music video directed by Chereau? FABULOUS!

L'Homme Blesse is a masterpiece but it isn't an adaptation of anything by Genet. It was written by Chereau and the late great Herve Guibert, and was inspired by Chereau's adventures in the West Village in the early 70's, where Bernard-Marie Koltes also hung out.

Thanks for the link, this DVD is a must! L'Homme Blessé is a major masterpiece and extremely moving.

Netflix had L'Homme Blesse for a while but not any more. I rented it last year and walked away from it feeling very queasy because it scratched off the old emotional scabs of the "wounded boy" I once was. The film navigated through the intensely dark ocean of emotions of what it was like coming out especially long before the age of the Internet. The intense alienation and confusion that came with it. Chereau created such a brooding and eerie atmosphere to reflect the young guy's new sexual awakening. The young guy making friends with older gay guys struck very true because I did exactly the same thing. My first gay friends were at least 40 years old and I was about 17 years old. They guided me through the "new world", unlike the majority of todays gay generation with the Internet and everything that I didn't have back then. Back then, I discovered the people of "my kind" in the rest rooms of the main library and on the street outside the towns only gay bar. I was too scared to walk in the bar (especially with the disturbing visions of gay people my family painted in my mind) so I hung around in the parking lot..and that's where I made my first friends. My parents were very close to kicking me out of the house after I answered my mom's questions: "are you gay?". My family outside the house cut me off and I spent Thankgiving and Christmas alone at home while everyone else gathered at my grandmother's. Because of all this, I had to seek people who could understand me or at least be with me. Yes in the rest rooms of all places.

L'Blesse Homme captured all this brilliantly and poetically in every respect. Plus some really hot hot hot sex scenes.

Children, there is R1 DVD out. No extras whatsoever, though.

Lino wrote:Children, there is R1 DVD out. No extras whatsoever, though.

But, my child, the American DVD is fucking bad.

Your experience matches mine, Michael -- save for the fact that my parents never wanted to kick me out, because they never caught on to what I was up to.

I always say L'Homme Blesse is my favorite movie about High School.

David Ehrenstein wrote:I always say L'Homme Blesse is my favorite movie about High School.

And doesn't Proust-scholar Frank in Little Miss Sunshine say that High School is the prime time for suffering in one's life?

Yep.

BTW, Chereau is the voice of Marcel Proust in Ruiz's Time Regained