Original Broadway Cast – Getty / Theo Wargo

The Broadway show and its original cast collected a cult following in the theatre world, and is very beloved by queer fans. We were lucky enough to see the show on our last trip to NYC, and to say we loved it would be an understatement. I cried through nearly the entire thing, and Steph still can’t stop playing the cast album! It really was a very special show and we’re so fortunate that we were able to experience it. The Broadway production closed in the summer of 2019, and there was a lot of anticipation for the Netflix movie. It’s such a fun and heartwarming story, but can film adaptations ever be as good as the original work? We’re going to get into all of it here. Keep reading for a very lesbian review of The Prom.

Netflix

Warning! The rest of this review includes spoilers for the film!

The Prom follows the story of four washed-up NYC actors, who head to small-town Indiana to show support for a local teen who isn’t allowed to take her girlfriend to prom. Dee Dee (Meryl Streep) and Barry (James Corden) are two self-absorbed stars who just received a terrible review that closed their Broadway show. After being accused of being narcissistic and irrelevant, they’re looking for a cause to rally behind to save their reputations. Joined by Broadway chorus dancer Angie (Nicole Kidman) and struggling actor/Julliard grad Trent (Andrew Rannells), they make their way to Indiana with mostly selfish intentions. In Indiana we meet lesbian teen Emma (Jo Ellen Pellman), as she battles the PTA and their move to cancel the high school prom rather than allowing it to be LGBTQ+ inclusive. Emma’s girlfriend Alyssa (Ariana DeBose), is the daughter of the PTA mom leading the charge, and nobody knows they’re dating.

Because of our love for the Broadway show we knew exactly what we wanted to see from this movie, even knowing it was going to be very Hollywood-ized. When the star-studded cast was announced we completely got behind the choices to include heavy hitters like Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman, along with musical-theatre fave Andrew Rannells. However we immediately had reservations about the casting of James Corden as Barry. The role, originated by (and ultimately written for) Broadway powerhouse Brooks Ashmanskas, is very much a caricature of a flamboyantly gay man. Brooks (who is gay himself) played the role on stage with true comedic genius, as well as the much needed delicate nuance that a character like that requires. His performance even earned him a Tony nom! We definitely felt like a performance by a non-queer actor could easily become highly insensitive and a stereotypical gay trope. Was casting James Corden a big mistake? Well, as a straight cis man who ultimately knows nothing of the queer experience, you can probably guess how we (and most gay people) felt about it. We were, however, very happy at the news of queer Broadway favourite Ariana DeBose being slated to take on the role of Alyssa, along with newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman (another queer performer), in the role of Emma. The lesbian love story between the two teens is more or less the central plot, and it was amazing to see these characters both represented by queer performers. In the stage production the roles of Emma and Alyssa were also both played by queer actors, which is so incredible to see! It means a lot to the LGBTQ+ community to see queer stories being told on stage and on screen by queer people. 

Beth Leavel and Brooks Ashmanskas – Photo by Deen van Meer

In the film version of The Prom, there really weren’t too many deviations from the stage show at first glance. All of the original songs were kept, though several were shortened. The main way in which the film differs from the original work is the plot, in that it included a lot of additional scenes and storylines, all of which felt entirely unnecessary. The movie spends a lot more time on Dee Dee, Barry, Angie, and Trent, in what seems like an effort to humanize their characters. It throws off the balance of the story in that they have far more screen time than the teens, and it feels like we don’t see enough of Emma and Alyssa when they are supposed to be the dominant plot. The original stage show establishes a very distinct difference between the over-the-top comedy driven shenanigans of the Broadway celebs, and the unembellished, emotional, delicate love story of the two girls. Emma’s life in Indiana feels very real, and the contrast of the four campy adults was obviously very intentional. That juxtaposition was achieved both through the plot and the character arcs, but also through the costuming and music. For example, Emma sings heartfelt ballads against a mundane backdrop of conservative small-town America, while the Broadway stars perform extravagant, show-stopping numbers that are meant to be funny and ridiculous. In the film, the addition of several emotional scenes for the Broadway stars disrupts this balance, and we couldn’t help but feel that we just wanted to see more of Emma and Alyssa! 

Netflix

Another main issue we had with Ryan Murphy’s vision for The Prom, is that the whole thing is a little hard to buy. (And yes we know this is a campy movie musical, but these details are important!).  Even though Edgewater, Indiana is meant to be a “hick town” with only a K-Mart and an Applebees, that is not what Murphy creates for the film. The sets include big beautiful boulevards, a huge mall, and a gorgeous high school that has its own pool. The teenagers are all cool and fashionable, and even Emma is in no need of a makeover (her wardrobe is a hipster’s dream!). It’s hardly the “spam eating” small town the script keeps referring to, and the very Glee-like depiction really takes away from the theme of the story. We’re supposed to see a huge difference in the politics and beliefs of the Indiana residents and the progressive NYers, but he doesn’t make Edgewater feel very small town-y. It’s a bit hard to believe that there would be such rampant homophobia running through this place, as the film is set in 2020, (unlike the real-life happenings that the story is based on which happened back in 2010). Maybe if Ryan Murphy’s depiction of Edgewater resembled something like the town of Bomont from Footloose, it may have been more believable that the townsfolk needed some preaching to! 

The Prom takes you through a story of love, acceptance, redemption, and growth, although it certainly does miss the mark more than once. A lot of the over-simplified messages about tolerance that worked hilariously on stage, don’t work quite as well on screen. The Broadway actors take Emma under their wing and work to change the minds of her fellow classmates and the PTA, but the film also spends a lot of time on secondary plots. For instance, Dee Dee and Barry’s friendship, the romance between Dee Dee and the school principal, and a reconciliation with Barry and his mom who kicked him out of the house when he was a teen for being gay. It’s a bit scattered and loses a lot of the magic that was present in the original. Everything we enjoyed about the film seems to be because we are such big fans of the Broadway show, and all the parts we loved were the parts that were kept the same. It didn’t feel like the adaptation really added anything, and all of the changes that were made meant that a lot of the key messages were lost. 

That being said, the performances by Jo Ellen Pellmen and Ariana DeBose were incredible, even if they were both under-utilized. We would have loved for their storylines to have been beefed up for the film, because I’m sure everyone would have loved more scenes of them! Alyssa’s coming out story felt glossed over, including her mother’s journey to accept her. Mrs. Greene (Kerry Washington) spends the entire film trying to shut down an inclusive prom, but then joins into a celebratory dance number after her daughter comes out to her. To be honest, while it’s amazing that this film offers so much LGBTQ+ representation, it really doesn’t handle the queer storylines very well at all. Their impact feels watered down, and that, coupled with the casting of James Corden just doesn’t sit well. His depiction of Barry definitely did come across as insensitive and offensive, and it begs the question of WHY cast him in the first place. Why not Sean Hayes, Nathan Lane, Billy Porter or one of the many other incredible, out, gay superstars? The casting choice honestly seems bizarre when it was obviously very intentional to cast queer women in the other gay lead roles. It also seems that Ryan Murphy was completely aware of the potential for disaster in how Corden was directed, and the changes that were made for the film. His Barry (while still over-the-top) is far more subdued, suggesting they were careful not to make the performance problematic. They also removed the word “dyke” from one of his lines, likely knowing it would be offensive. Rather than tip toeing and making every effort to not have the casting be controversial, maybe just cast someone else?

Netflix

Ultimately, although it’s great that The Prom has been opened up to a broader audience and more people get to experience some version of the story, we have so many mixed feelings. It feels a bit like Hollywood stomped all over something that was really special. The movie is flashy, but with little cleverness and no real heart. While the original work seemed to have a deep understanding of queerness, the film only skims the surface in a way that is palatable to a mainstream audience. In an effort to give everyone a happy ending, it takes out a lot of the conflict that felt necessary to the message. We never really got to see Emma’s real pain as the only out kid at her conservative school, being bullied by her classmates and having to sneak around with her closeted girlfriend. We missed out on a lot of the gay quirk and ridiculousness that the Broadway show was full of, ideas that worked beautifully on stage and made it the heartwarming masterpiece that it was. The addition of Mrs. Greene to the finale number completely undoes everything we learned about her character throughout the plot. Wrapping up her storyline with Alyssa in a neat little bow completely undercuts the real turmoil and fear that a gay teen would feel about coming out to their conservative family. The oversimplification of The Prom’s queer storylines is a real disservice to the LGBTQ+ community. Giving Barry a reconciliation with his mother felt very after-school-special, and lacked the nuance of real-life complicated family dynamics. Giving all the queer leads simple happy endings that included positive relationships with biological family members felt superficial. It doesn’t speak to the real queer community that so often has to create their own families with other queer people who suffer the same trauma of not being accepted by their families of origin. The happy endings felt similar to the way LGBTQ+ people were represented on Glee, and felt outdated rather than going deeper to represent the real world today. 

The film really tried to hammer home the message that parents should accept their queer children, but it offers no subtlety. We didn’t need to see Alyssa’s mom standing by in support while she kisses her girlfriend in front of everyone for the first time. The audience just needed to know that at some point, things were going to get better for Alyssa, and for Emma. We also didn’t need to see Barry reconnect with his mom while she begs for forgiveness all these years later. She only comes to find him because Dee Dee calls her, and springing a reunion like that on someone really isn’t okay. The queer message of the movie doesn’t have to be – it gets better because your family will eventually come around. How about – it gets better because you get to live life as your authentic self, you will find people who will love you unconditionally, and you will be a part of a community that will be your family. 

So, is the film worth seeing? If you enjoy movie musicals and can take most of the story with a grain of salt, it can certainly be a fun watch. But we highly recommend seeking out some of the source material if you can, even if it’s just a couple of songs by the original cast. They deserve immense credit for bringing this story to life, and making it so incredibly special. 

Have any of you watched The Prom? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!

The post Lesbian Film Review of The Prom appeared first on Lez See the World.

To us, Ammonite is a very important film for the LGBTQ+ community. Written and directed by a queer man named Francis Lee, it tells the very raw story of a romance between two women in the 19th century. A truly layered and beautiful depiction of a queer relationship, it’s one of our favourite LGBTQ+ films that we’ve seen in a long time. We’ve been raving about it ever since we watched it and we have so much to say! Keep reading for a very lesbian review of Ammonite.

Warning! The rest of this review includes spoilers for the film!

Ammonite centres loosely around the story of a real-life palaeontologist from Britain in the 1840s. Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) leads a quiet life in Lyme Regis. She’s a notable fossil collector who lives without a husband, and cares for her elderly mother. Strong, independent, and seemingly quite reserved, Mary appears to be pretty isolated from others. The early scenes of the film are very quiet and slow-moving, with little dialogue. You are transported to seaside England to follow Mary through her daily life. Soon we meet Charlotte Murchison (Saoirse Ronan), a young woman whose husband hires Mary to care for her while he is away on his travels. It is his hope that Charlotte can learn about Mary’s work, and have some companionship while she heals from the personal tragedy of losing a child. The two women initially clash, but soon grow into friends and eventually lovers.

Elevation Pictures

The story of the film is quite minute in scope, and is more about the visceral connection between the two women who lead very different lives. At a time when a woman’s role was predominantly limited to bearing children and keeping the home, Ammonite is a fascinating look at gender, relationships, and social classes in the 1800’s. Like queer period pieces that have come before, we examine a time when the struggles of queer people were very different from the struggles our community faces today. We follow the two characters as they navigate a romance and an affair, and watch the raw attraction and physical connection grow between them. While their relationship mostly lives in secrecy because of the taboo around queerness at the time, their chemistry is completely captivating and beautifully captured. There isn’t massive fear around others finding out about them being together, and it’s refreshing that their story isn’t too tumultuous or traumatic. Mary and Charlotte find companionship in one another, when both of them are heavy with loneliness. Charlotte’s husband seems to offer her little affection or support, and we watch her character transform in the company of Mary while she appears to rediscover herself. On the other hand Mary opens herself up and softens in Charlotte’s presence, breaking down her own walls to finally be vulnerable. 

Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan both bring incredible life to these characters. The explicit attention to detail and meticulous nature of every decision made by both them and director Francis Lee, really set this film apart. It’s also a really important example of how non-queer actors can play queer characters on screen and make it work. A big debate in film and television right now centres around this very question, should straight performers be cast in queer roles. In our opinion, this topic is so complicated and nuanced, that there really is no simple answer. Is a straight actor playing a queer role that is a flamboyant caricature of a gay person, full of harmful stereotypes? In that case, no, we don’t think it’s really possible for a straight actor to play that role in a way that isn’t offensive and damaging to the LGBTQ+ community. But in Ammonite, both leads are written by a queer person, and done so with such care. The two powerhouse actors bring incredible performing experience to the roles, and they really bring the women to life in a beautiful way. They are both complicated, layered, humanized characters. Their queerness is played delicately, and in a way that (in our opinion) offers some really wonderful representation for our community on screen.

Elevation Pictures

Some of our favourite scenes in Ammonite, have to be the love scenes between the two women. I don’t think we have ever seen such authentic, honest, realistic, and relatable depictions of queer sex in film. They are truly breathtaking. They are passionate in a very real way, and so incredibly vulnerable. Queer women are so used to seeing “lesbian sex” displayed as graphic, gratuitous, and objectifying. This isn’t. We were really blown away by the film’s stunning inclusion of intimacy, pleasure, and sex in a way that we just never get to see. So impressive!

It also feels important to note that while queer love stories in period pieces are always complicated and never seem to have happy endings, nothing about Ammonite feels incredibly tragic. What comes of Mary and Charlotte’s relationship feels honest and realistic for that time, and the story doesn’t feel riddled with sadness the way we so often see. We felt satisfied with where the film went, including its ending. It feels true to both characters and their innate differences as women. Francis Lee’s style is undoubtedly fitting for the story. Full of quiet, intimate moments, the film comes to life through its characters rather than its plot. We fell in love with his raw, visual style of storytelling; every moment of the film was full of intention. 

Overall, Ammonite is just remarkable. Driven by powerful characters, the film is an examination of the human condition that explores love, loss, femininity, and queerness. We loved it so much, and it makes us really excited for the future of LGBTQ+ representation in film. It’s a great example of why it’s so important that there are opportunities for queer people behind the camera, and it gives us a lot of hope for more positive representation to come. We highly recommend seeing it!

Have any of you watched Ammonite? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!

The post Lesbian Film Review of Ammonite appeared first on Lez See the World.

While it absolutely is a positive sign that this movie got made, the film really disappointed a lot of people (including us). A lot of the LGBTQ+ community appreciated the queer representation but had a lot of issues with how it was presented. It’s definitely marketed as a light-hearted romantic comedy with happy, feel good vibes and gay characters. But in reality, the premise is an emotional coming out story about going back in the closet, and the plot is stuffed full of drama and lies. Yes it’s amazing to have some mainstream lesbian representation on screen, but is it enough to overlook the film’s many faults? And if the queer representation is not positive representation, what about all the non-queer people who will watch this movie? They might take it at face value without learning anything about the nuance of the queer experience or about why positive LGBTQ+ representation matters in the first place. In fact, the reason why we decided to write this review is because of a family friend who reached out to ask our opinion of the film as queer women. As a straight, middle-aged, cis white man who really enjoyed Happiest Season, he wanted to make sure he wasn’t seeing it through a “hetero lens” (his words not ours, cool right!?). And so here we offer you a very lesbian review of Hulu’s Happiest Season.

Happiest Season (2020)
Burl Moseley, Alison Brie, Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Mary Holland, Victor Garber and Mary Steenburgen
Credit: Hulu

Warning! The rest of this review includes spoilers for the film!

Happiest Season follows lesbian couple Abby (Kristen Stewart), and Harper (Mackenzie Davis) and their holiday shenanigans. The film opens with arguably the only sweet scene between the two of them, giving us just a small taste of their relationship. Harper invites Abby home to meet her family for the holidays, and we learn that Abby plans to propose to her on Christmas Day. The early scenes of the couple really aren’t quite enough to show us the foundation of their relationship, and even the opening credits of the film feel like an afterthought meant to establish that foundation. Almost immediately the two are headed home for the holidays and Harper drops a major bomb on Abby. She tells her she lied about coming out to her family a year ago, and they don’t know she’s gay or in a relationship. In our first glimpse at what will become Harper’s ongoing toxic behaviour, she asks Abby to closet herself and be her “straight roommate” for the holiday season. (Any queer person knows how cringy this is and many can even relate!). Of course they are already on their way to Harper’s family home, giving Abby no way out of the impending uncomfortable situation.

What follows is even more disappointing. Harper constantly fails to defend Abby while her family is horrible to her, and spends all of her time trying to impress her dad, old friends and even an ex-boyfriend. She begs for her family’s approval at every turn, while being incredibly inconsiderate toward her partner. She doesn’t spend any time with Abby and takes out all of her stress and frustrations on her. She abandons her at family functions and allows her to be uninvited from a holiday event. She introduces Abby as her roommate at every opportunity, and doesn’t let on to anyone (not even her flirty ex-boyfriend) that she’s in a serious long-term relationship. It’s truly uncomfortable to watch as their relationship slowly falls apart before your eyes. We also meet Riley (Aubrey Plaza) who was Harper’s ex from high school, and learn that Harper outed her in a horribly traumatic way when they were teens. Harper quickly becomes so unlikeable that you can’t help but root for her and Abby to break up! Not exactly a great premise for a light-hearted rom-com.

Us queers know a plot like this one all too well. Painful coming out stories seem to be the bread and butter of LGBTQ+ representation in film, but don’t we deserve better by now? It’s not that a story like this one is unrealistic. In fact, it’s very realistic and that’s exactly why it’s painful to watch. A lot of queer people have had traumatic coming out experiences or have been forced back into the closet. Steph could relate immediately to Abby’s character having to pretend to be her girlfriend’s roommate, and was forced to reflect on one of her early relationships with a woman when she was asked to do the exact same thing. There’s nothing sweet or romantic about any of it. Abby is constantly being emotionally manipulated and gaslit by her partner, and she’s just expected to accept the crumbs. Of course coming out is hard, but it’s nearly impossible to have any sympathy for Harper’s character when she’s obviously shown no growth since her high school years. In no way does she prove to be capable of a healthy adult relationship, and she clearly isn’t ready to come out. She doesn’t come out to a single person throughout the film. Not a friend, not her ex-boyfriend, not her sisters, and not her parents. When the family does finally find out about her and Abby (in a particularly uncomfortable scene when her sister publicly outs her), she lies, back peddles, and continues to drag her girlfriend through the mud that is her own internalized homophobia. It’s really tough to watch.

While we’re talking about how awful Harper is, we also need to talk about how awful her family is. They are horrible to Abby before they even know she’s gay. They can hardly welcome her as a friend, let alone as their daughter’s partner. Harper’s sister outing her in front of the entire family is cringy at best and potentially triggering at worst, especially for anyone who has endured that same trauma in real life. Outing someone is never okay, and that scene is quite possibly the most uncomfortable part of the entire film. Isn’t this supposed to be a light-hearted movie!? I don’t see how we’re meant to believe that the family could heal so quickly and easily from all this. They go through some serious shit. And while you may think that Harper’s awful family could explain her abusive behaviour, it simply doesn’t justify it. Yes coming out can be very difficult, especially to a conservative family, but she is truly awful and this is meant to be a comedy!

In our opinion, the biggest issue with the film is how, in honour of its namesake, they try to turn the whole mess into a happy ending. We are to believe that after everything that happens, the family is all of a sudden accepting of Harper being gay and of Abby being her partner. In a flash forward to next Christmas, all is forgiven and the couple is happily engaged and spending time with the family. NOPE! Harper clearly had work to do, and what makes us think she actually did it? She was so incredibly ashamed of her sexuality that she was willing to sabotage her relationship over it and honestly, Abby deserved much better. (We were secretly hoping for a surprise twist that had Abby end up with Riley, because damn, Aubrey Plaza plays a good lesbian). Alas, the ending was all too predictable and entirely underwhelming, and it worries me to think of what it’s teaching young queer people. Abby put up with way too much abuse and we shouldn’t be romanticizing toxic relationships like this on screen. Director Clea Duvall maintains that it was important for the film to have a happy ending because so many LGBTQ+ films are “riddled with bittersweet endings”. Though this ending felt entirely bittersweet because you stop rooting for the couple pretty early on in the story. Harper fails to be a redeemable character and the flash forward conclusion feels forced.

Happiest Season (2020)
Aubrey Plaza, Kristen Stewart
Credit: Hulu

Queer representation in film has come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. It’s 2020 and the LGBTQ+ community wants more. We want to see queer people living lives that don’t revolve around their traumatic coming out experiences! We want to see happy, functional, healthy relationships between queer people, because they do in fact exist! Why couldn’t Abby and Harper have been a lesbian couple heading home for the holidays with a different obstacle to overcome, one that wasn’t about being closeted? Why couldn’t this film have been fun and light-hearted without being weighed down by all of Harper’s internalized homophobia and toxic behaviour? The central storyline sucked all the life out of this movie, and its secondary characters and sense of humour fell completely flat. Which is too bad because it really did have so much potential! 

While we’re so glad to see big budget films featuring queer stories, we can’t help but feel like they can do better. We need MORE QUEER FILMS. Of course this movie is easy to criticize because there was so much pressure on it to be the perfect lesbian holiday film, something we’ve never really had before. So many people are longing for the representation that the LGBTQ+ community so desperately needs but doesn’t ever get. Happiest Season is far from perfect but we do at least need to see it as a step in the right direction. A step toward more LGBTQ+ movies being made, more queer people in front of and behind the camera, and more representation for our community. 

Have any of you watched Happiest Season? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!

The post Lesbian Film Review of Happiest Season appeared first on Lez See the World.