Becoming Highsmith

Mark me down as intrigued, again, but in a gayer way. So Shailene Woodley, Cara Delevigne and Noémie Merlant will co-star in a biopic of queer novelist extraordinaire Patricia Highsmith of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “The Price of Salt” (you know, “Carol”) fame. Now, I love Noémie from “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and “Tar,” of course. And I have varying degrees of affection for Cara and Shailene (like, not to get all in my 2016 feelings, but she was pretty anti-Hillary and dated Aaron “immunized” Rodgers forever so…).

Shailene will play Highsmith, and Cara and Noémie will play women she has relationships with. According to Deadline, the film will be fashioned like a horror movie which, what? Per Deadline:

“Titled The Murderous Miss Highsmith, the film will reimagine the author’s life as a horror movie, focusing on the formative period just before she wrote her most celebrated work, The Talented Mr. Ripley, which was partly inspired by her doomed relationships with two women.”

OK, well, I’m always here for more and better representation of LGBTQ+ people and queer women in particular (look, you have to root for the home team). The film is being produced by indie standouts Killer Films and be co-produced by queer indie producer extraordinaire Christine Vachon (of “Go Fish,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Carol” and many other great and very queer films fame). So I will definitely be watching. I’m still not sure about the horror angle, but as long as it’s super gay I will allow it. True of movies and, honestly, much of life. If it’s super gay, I’ll allow it.

A Real Tár & Lesbianing

Cate Blanchett as a tuxedo-wearing lesbian EGOT conductor going through a possibly career-defining mental breakdown? Yes, please — GIVE IT TO THE GAYS, YES. I really don’t know what to say other than, perhaps it’s time to find a new spot on the mantel for another shiny naked gold man, Cate. As if her status as a queer women’s icon isn’t cemented already, I expect “Tár” to add Special Preferred Platinum-Plus Lesbian Crush Object level status to her legacy. I can’t wait for this movie, to see Cate (and Portrait of a Lady on Fire’s Noémie Merlant!). But also this movie scares me a little because it seems intense and complicated and a little unnerving. Still, truly, who can’t get excited for INTENSE, COMPLICATED, UNNERVING LESBIAN FEELINGS STARRING CATE BLANCHETT IN A TUXEDO? That’s what I thought.

Queering Cate

Oh my Lesbian Jesus, it is gay! Yes, we willed Cate Blanchett in another queer role into existence, ladies. Take a bow and give yourself a hand. Because Lesbian Hands are very much enter stage – or should I say orchestra pit – when Cate takes the screen in her new, what appears to be very interesting and incredibly arty and totally fruity new film.

Cate plays the fictional first female conductor the German orchestra in Berlin. You get a lot of avant-garde very Berlin-y imagery which is confusing and stark. And then there’s Cate kissing German actress Nina Hoss. And Cate possibly making eyes at “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” actress Noémie Merlant on the cello. And lots and lots and lots of ruminations on time. Also, there’s Cate in a tuxedo. Something tells me this might all end with Cate holding a naked golden man named Oscar, too.

Following the terrible Cancel Your Gays trends we’ve experienced this year, we deserve this queer women. We deserve this.

Gender Fuck Thursday: Tar-ing Cate

When I first heard Cate Blanchett was going to play a pioneering female conductor, I was intrigued. When I then realized Cate Blanchett playing a pioneering female conductor meant lots of scenes of Cate Blanchett wearing a tuxedo I made a sound imperceptible to humans. Cate in tuxedos. CATE IN TUXEDOS. This is not a drill. Do we have time to deploy the Lesbian Bat Signal?

The new film from writer-director Todd Field follows Cate as fictional female composer/conductor Lydia Tár, the first female chief conductor of the German orchestra in Berlin during the lead-up to the recording of her latest symphony. It’s called, appropriately, “Tár.” And maybe also covers the pandemic? And smoking? Also, there are tuxedos. I don’t know much more about the plot because there isn’t much more out there. But I do know “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” star Noémie Merlant co-stars (she played the painter, in case you forgot).

So, you know, two actresses who have been lauded for playing lesbians in other films should maybe play lesbians here as well. Conductors are famous for their dexterous hands. Lesbians are famous for their dexterous hands. Just a suggestion.

Immediate Portrait

Why not make it two-for-two this week on good things? If you had not heard already, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” started streaming suddenly on Hulu Friday. The news was one of the few pleasant surprises we’ve been given lately. And despite my COVID-19-inspired social distancing anxieties about certain scenes, the movie is truly a perfect watch for these times. Quiet, thoughtful, romantic, isolated. The isolation – in a world truly only of women – is glorious. Plus, you really can't go wrong with chanting along the fireside. This movie will make you yearn for wind-swept glances and kisses on cliff tops. Also, the whole team behind the movie is basically awesome, particularly Adèle Haenel. Right, so, seems like time for another rewatch. Maybe then we can end this infernal March on a good note.

Bravo La Jeune Fille en Feu

Adèle forever. pic.twitter.com/Fhe9xSLxCK

— Portrait of a Lady on Fire (@Portrait_Movie) February 28, 2020

When they called Adèle Haenel a lady on fire, damn, did they ever mean it. This weekend the star of last year’s beyond gorgeous French film “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” stormed out of the César awards (France’s Oscars) when Roman Polanski won best director for his film “An Officer and A Spy.” She shouted “"Bravo la pédophilie!" (which, uh, needs no translation) as she left the ceremony and was joined by the film’s director Céline Sciamma and co-star Noemie Merlant.

fuck it "bravo la pédophilie" on loop pic.twitter.com/gbn6hydiJY

— morgan (@aIucarda) February 29, 2020

Haenel has been a vocal advocate of the #MeToo movement in France, where #MeToo has been stubbornly slow to catch on and often openly derided. She has been incredibly vocal about her own past sexual harassment at the hands of French director Christophe Ruggia. He started sexually harassing her at age 12. Let me repeat that, AT AGE 12.

Roman Polanski – who I have been railing about for well over a decade here at Surrenders – may be a great director, but he is a bad man. He is a bad man who is a convicted child rapist. As in when he was 43 years old, Roman Polanski raped a 13-year-old girl. He brought this 13-year-old girl to Jack Nicholson’s house with the promise of a photoshoot and instead gave her Quaaludes, got her drunk and then raped this 13-year-old girl repeatedly. Let me repeat that, A 13 YEAR OLD GIRL.

So, yeah, fuck the Césars for essentially saying, this man’s work is more important than a 13-year-old girl’s body. And while we’re at it, fuck the Oscars for rewarding him in 2002 with Best Director for “The Pianist.” A man’s so-called genius is not more important than a woman’s well-being. I mean, I guess “Rosemary’s Baby” was a good movie, but not more important than protecting a 13-year-old girl from rape.

And that, and every other time powerful men paid no consequences for sexually abusing woman, is the reason Adèle and her “Portrait” crew walked out. Adele’s vocal advocacy for a #MeToo movement in France has made her a folk hero of sorts, as it should be. And sparked protests against the Césars in the streets, as it it should be.

How tiresome it is that here we are in 2020 and it’s still considered pretty revolutionary to NOT WANT MEN TO RAPE AND SEXUALLY ASSAULT WOMEN AND FOR THOSE WHO DO TO FACE REAL CONSEQUENCES?

Brûler! Brûler! Brûler!

My Weekend Crush

Is it just me, or does each photo of “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” director Céline Sciamma and actresses Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant together get progressively gayer? After shamefully leaving the trio out of this week’s SGALGG post (or, more accurately, the GGALGG part of SGALGG), consider this my mea culpa. Here are the three women looking So Very Gay at various public events throughout the year, culminating with their appearance at last weekend’s Golden Globes.



Whew. It’s enough to make a gay gal want to watch this gorgeous movie again. And again. And again. And, well, you know. Happy weekend, all.

Review: Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Look, if there’s one thing lesbian cinema knows how to do, it’s to impart volumes of unspoken meaning behind the simple look. Or, you know, The Look. And, if you’re looking for a movie that knows exactly what it means to be observed, and to observe, in the best way possible then “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is the movie you should see to both celebrate the ridiculous year/decade we just ended and welcome what I hope will be a new decade of discovery. Well, you know, if we can all live through 2020.

But back to the damn movie. Spare in dialogue but loaded with emotions (hello, French cinema, how I love you despite your clouds of tobacco smoke), the film is a masterclass on the power of attention. Paying attention, giving attention, receiving attention. It’s a sumptuous affair where the desire is translated almost exclusively through the eyes. And in doing so becomes a feast for them on every level possible.

It is also the rarest of films without even so much as the possibility of the male gaze. Yes, its premise if forever framed by the constraints of patriarchal society – a young woman is commissioned to paint the portrait of another young woman so the latter may be married off to a man. But then it removes them from the equation to require happiness, and instead unveils layers that it seems only the most discerning female eye can truly see in another woman.

So on this first day of 2020, may you feel the heat coming from the way Heloise and Marianne look at one another. And may it fire your passion for whatever you love in the coming new year. So, I guess what I’m saying is, yeah – I liked it. This was a portrait of a lesbian movie on fire. Happy New Year, kittens.

Waiting for a Lady on Fire

Good things come to those who wait, like this post and the self-declared “cinema’s greatest love story.” The folks behind “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” are making us wait, and wait some more, to see the film. Instead of opening wide this year, it will take its time and open wide on Valentine’s Day. Now, if you’re lucky enough to live in New York or Los Angeles you can see it for a one-week engagement starting Dec. 6. But the rest of us will have to wait until the heart-shaped candy replaces the Christmas trees and glowing Santa Clauses in the stores. Also, “Cinema’s Greatest Love Story?” Well, now it better really be worth the wait, because that’s a lot to live up to.

Fire Walk With Me

You know how you felt the first time you watched the “Carol” trailer? Well, prepare to feel all of that again, but this time with a French accent. Set some 200 years before Carol Aird every laid eyes on Therese Belivet, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is already being lavished with praise from critics. It debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last week and the “Oh la la” could be felt across the globe.

It’s not just that this is an 18th Century story of a young female artist commissioned to paint a reluctant young woman who doesn’t want to be painted (because it will lead to a marriage proposal, which she does not want). It’s that this thing looks gorgeous and gorgeous some more and also have I mentioned how gorgeous it looks?

It’s filled with deep, meaningful looks, which everyone knows is the native language of all gay women. Like, staring silently while secretly lusting for one another is the international lesbian mating ritual. But here, set in a seaside locale with plenty of dramatic cliffs, windswept frocks and endless wordless longing, well, c’est magnifique.

“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” comes out Dec. 6 in the United States in limited release. So, like “Carol,” it will be an early Christmas gift to queer women. Now, off to watch the trailers again on repeat until then. A bientot, les jeune filles.

Portrait of a Swoony Lesbian Historical Romance

Good Lady Story Year continues, unabated. And it couldn’t have come at a better time what with “Gentleman Jack” finishing its first season last night and our Swoony Lesbian Historical Romance options suddenly lacking. At this year’s Cannes Film Festival the “buzziest” film was queer French female writer-director Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady On Fire.”

The description is as such:

The French-language film stars Noémie Merlant as Marianne, an 18th-century artist commissioned to paint a portrait of eligible bachelorette Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) to be used in pursuit of the perfect suitor. The problem is that Héloïse has no intention of marrying, and therefore refuses to sit for the portrait, forcing Marianne to pose as her lady’s maid to gain her trust.

And, according to reports, she gains more than just her trust as this is being described as a “queer love story.” So it’s kind of like, “Won’t you come up to see my etchings?” But make it gay.



Now, I wasn’t sure I was familiar with Sciamma’s work until I looked her up on IMDB and, lo and behold, she wrote and directed both the 2007 teen lesbian drama “Water Lilies” and 2011 trans/non-binary drama “Tomboy.” In short, she’s the real deal.

“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” took home the Queer Palm (the first time a female director had won the feature honor) and Best Screenplay overall.



The clips are light on the lady-loving-lady stuff. But in tone, and style the film certainly piques my interest. I mean, is this new weak-in-the-knees feeling I’m feeling what all those straight ladies who won’t stop going on about “Outlander” get to feel like all the time? Because, damn.