Flip side of the 1890s, and more Stephen Fry

Tipping the Velvet (2002) is the BBC adaptation of Sarah Waters' novel. I've only seen the first of three episodes, and I'm loving it so far. I'm especially happy to be seeing it in the same week as Wilde since that is also set primarily in 1890s London. However, Wilde is a biography, whereas this is a coming of age tale. Oscar Wilde was upper middle class, and this takes place around the theatre world, which is working class; in fact Nan begins as an oyster girl. Some would call this a lesbian film, because the main characters are "tipping the velvet," a British term in the time for women's oral sex. The women play male impersonators on the stage, and are lesbians, so obviously this is one essential element of the story. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324264

Now I want very much to read the novel. :-)

In another connection, also saw Stephen Fry in Peter's Friends by Kenneth Branagh, which also features Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, and Rita Rudner, to name those I knew. Imelda Stanton, who was Vera Drake in the film of the same name, was great as the over-protective, grieving mother. Branagh gives himself a juicy little role as the self-loathing fellow in the group of old friends who meet to celebrate New Year's 1992. The collage which opens the film is *wonderful*, if the story is a bit predictable. A quiet delight anyway. Yes, I did notice similarities to The Big Chill. However, there is room for more than one reunion movie on Earth. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105130

Genius! Oscar Wilde, Samuel R. Delany, and Stephen Fry

Two great films about geniuses, who were gay! Wilde (1997) is an eloquent re-telling of the life of Oscar Wilde, who died at the turn of the century, after falling from perhaps the most celebrated person in all of England, to becoming the most scorned and accursed. Stephen Fry is perfect as Wilde, while Jude Law seems to personify the spoiled, selfish but beautiful Bosie. A small delight is seeing Orlando Bloom's face for a minute or two as part of a gang of rent boys who catches Wilde's eye and seems to set some unsettling knowledge free inside of Wilde. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120514/

Lou picked out The Polymath, or the Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman (2007) to see at the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival this year, and it was DELIGHTFUL. And the film-maker Fred Barney Taylor was there for comments and questions at the end. Now I need to read more of Sam Delany's books!

The contrast between his life as a gay man could not be in greater contrast to that of Oscar Wilde, who seemed to focus on intellect and the ideal, while Delany definitely focused on the body, and having lots of sexual encounters—100 per week for many years, he says. They were both married to women, too. Sylistically, the films were worlds apart, also. Wilde is a BBC biopic, rather stately and beautiful. Polymath is about an science-fiction author from New York, and it features very abstract images and gritty New York. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014771/