The Killing of Sister George (1968) "Not all women are raving bloody lesbians, you know."
"That is a misfortune I am perfectly well aware of!" While The Boys in the Band is a gay movie made by a gay man (not Friedkin, but Crowley) with gay people and for gay people (it used to be a play on Broadway), Sister George is a straight movie played by straight actors for a straight audience, and pretending to portray the life of lesbians as it is but failing miserably.
I wanted to give this film the benefit of the doubt because director Robert Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?) is usually pretty solid. He was attempting something pretty daring for the time, a portrayal of a lesbian love triangle on screen. He actually goes one step further into dangerous waters. Rather than a positive lesbian relationship, this one is full of abuse, hatred and unhealthy dependency. So it skips past progressive and takes these lesbians into the realm of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
I'm very conflicted because portraying the three women in such a negative way by a bunch of straight people and a straight, male director ends up casting an offensive filter on ALL lesbians. There's a scene in a lesbian bar where everyone appears to be having a good time and enjoying each others company, but most of the film is focused on this miserable, mean-spirited trio. I'm not surprised this became an example of the movies getting it wrong, especially with melodramatic, theatrical touches like the clothes and props you see in the image above.
The real reason for my dislike of the film is that it's too boring for me to care about the controversy. Had the dialogue been less dry and the scenes not been so endless, I might be in a position to say it's not as bad as its reputation, just misjudged and a little misguided. The Boys in the Band is also based on a play, but it brims with life and energy. The harsh criticisms are bounced around by flesh and blood people. Maybe that's the real failing here, being lesbian is just another theatrical device.
RATING: * 1/2