Belle de Lesbian

There aren’t a lot of good lesbian movies. There just aren’t. There are some good ones. A few very good ones. But there are so many more bad ones. And way too many very bad ones. Still, we’ve pretty much seen them all. Because that’s what we do, we watch lesbian movies. Especially if we’re in the newbie phase and trying to consume every last scrap of lesbian culture in an effort to fit in and find community even if only though moving pictures on a screen. We’ve all sat through a “Bar Girls” or a “Claire of the Moon” or [insert name of terrible lesbian movie here]. Oh to get back those precious wasted minutes. But no.

So when a movie comes along that seems like it might be not bad and could even be quite good, we pay attention. And that movie this time is “Concussion.” It’s an intriguing story. A rich, middle-aged married lesbian suffers a concussion and then decides to become a prostitute for women. It’s not that the concussion changed her personality or gave her amnesia or turned her into a sexpot. It’s that it jarred her out of her sexless ennui. Sort of like “Belle de Jour,” minus Catherine Deneuve and with lesbians.

It’s the feature debut from writer-director Stacie Passon and produced by out former Jenny Schecterer-director Rose Troche (you know – D.E.B.S., Go Fish, The L Word, etc. etc.) It stars Robin Weigert (eagle-eyed viewers will recognize as a cleaned-up Calamity Jane from “Deadwood”) and Maggie Siff (from “Sons of Anarchy,” minus the Harleys). And it looks, well, quite good. Rich, complex, sexy and contemplative. Also sexy. Sorry, did I already mention that? Now, some folks might balk at the idea of having our lesbian stories told by someone who becomes a prostitute. And others might grumble about the underlying premise of the dreaded Lesbian Bed Death. Rose even acknowledges as much in a smart, thoughtful interview she did last month with AfterEllen.com.

“The lesbian audience is a very difficult one. We have so few images that we tend to hang on so much to one piece. It's tough to hold up under that pressure. I imagine there will be much said. I just hope some of it is positive.”

Me as well. But even more than that, I just hope the movie is good. Because in the end what we want most from our art is it to be entertained. Tell me a good story. Make me think. Make me laugh. Take me outside of myself honestly. And we want the same from lesbian movies. Because, really, is it too much to ask for a good lesbian movie? I certainly hope not.