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T->.
"Next Generation Filmmakers"
at the High Museum
Pedro Almodovar, the drop dead
outrageous Spanish film director, makes
comedies that are so hot they practically dare
audiences to view them. Almodovar has been
described as a dadaist clown whose movies
have a disreputable sensuality that amounts to
"an outburst of post-Franco hedonist spirit"
Almodovar's 1987 hit Law of Desire,
dubbed the scandal of the foreign film circuit
by People magazine, finally will receive its
Atlanta premiere Friday, October 7 in the
High Museum's Rich Auditorium.
Law of Desire is being shown as part of the
High Museum's "Next Generation" film series
which focuses on works by some of the most
gifted new directors in world cinema,
including the Israeli Renen Schorr {Late
Summer Blues, 1987), The Palestinian Michel
Khleifi (Wedding in Galilee, 1987), the highly
acclaimed Juzo Itami of Japan CThe Funeral,
1984), and the young Cantonese director Peter
Mak (The Loser, The Hero, 1985). Other
films include Cane Toads: An Unnatural
History by Jane Campion and The Strawman
by Wang Tung.
But it's Law of Desire that has stirred up
the most excitement Set among the
nightbloom elegance of contemporary
Madrid, Desire focuses on the fiery actress
Tina, who invites street cleaners to hose her
down after her nightly performance in
Cocteau's electric monologue-play The
Human Voice. Drenched and wriggling
blissfully in her short skin-tight dress, she
walks toward a cafe accompanied by her
brother Pablo (who makes popular gay erotic
films) and daughter Ada (left behind by Tina's
lesbian lover who's hit the road).
Tina began life as Pablo's brother, till she
"eloped" with their father and had a sex-
change operation to please him. When he
finally left her, she shunned men and began a
lesbian relationship with little Ada’s mother,
an extraordinary beauty (played by a low
voiced male transvestite) who also eventually
takes off.
The above only "begins” to describe the
heated goings-on of Almodovar's swirling
fantasist world. Probably no other director in
Unbroken Ties
Lesbian Ex-Lovers
by Carol S. Becker
Alyson Publications, Inc.
A book has finally been written to help us
understand what happens when lesbian lovers
break up, how we recover from the wounds, and
what we learn from these experiences.
Unbroken Ties is Dr. Carol Becker’s summary
and analysis of her interviews with forty lesbians
of different racial and socioeconomic
backgrounds about the breakup of their
partnerships. The book explores the diverse
ways that women coped with the end of these
relationships and the creative ways in which they
rebuilt their lives.
Throughout Unbroken Ties, the women speak
in their own voices about why their lover
relationships ended, how they recovered from
their breakups, and the process of building ex
lover relationships. In the first part of the book, the women tell us about their losses and
disillusionments. I found myself reliving my own losses and was reminded of how hard we try
to make our relationships succeed.
From the patterns that emerged in these interviews, Dr. Becker discerns five situations that
lead to the breakups: polarized differences, traumatizing affairs, passive withdrawal by one
partner, dissatisfaction with a chaotic relationship, and simply growing apart Becker’s
comments on the issue of nonmonogomy are refreshing and insightful. She writes: Affairs
don’t always destroy lover relationships; sometimes they are used to enhance them. The effect
of affairs depends on many factors: the resiliency of the relationship; the intention of each of
the women; how traumatic the actual affair is to the couple's relationship; the extent to which
the affair evokes old wounds. Affairs, then, are not automatically good or bad for relationships.
They can be used to renew or sever the primary relationship. Irreparable trauma to a
relationship is just one possible outcome within this complex matrix of issues and events.
Her description of dysfunctional, crisis-oriented relationships is clear-sighted and
compassionate. Becker states,
By engaging in these dysfunctional relationships women make unconscious attempts to fix
wounded aspects of them-selves by fixing their lovers. Roles and problems polarize, and crises
provide the illusion of movement and change. Current relationship dramas repeat the unseen
and unhealed wounds of each partner's past life.
The second half of the book brings us to the healing process. The women begin the task of
rebuilding their lives by refocusing on their needs and priorities. They discover a new
appreciation of themselves and describe the rebuilding of their social relationships -with
friends, children, family members, new lovers, and ex-lovers. These chapters will be welcome
and helpful reading for any woman in the process of recovering from a breakup.
The strength of Unbroken Ties is its focus on how we acquire greater empathy for our own
needs and strengthen our self-esteem by grieving our losses. Dr. Becker has written an
empowering book about a painful topic. This ground breaking work will be immensely helpful
to therapists with lesbian and gay clients and will be a comfort to women experiencing the
breakup of a lover relationship.
-Marcy Adelman, Ph.D.
Pablo and his transsexual sister from Almodovar's comedy,The Next Generation.
movies today takes such obvious delight in
the spectacle of his own creations,
voluptuously spirited characters who carry
even the day-to-day mundane to romantic
extremes. No one under 18 will be admitted
to Law of Desire.
Late Summer Blues is the sober account of
high school students in Israel during their last
weeks before induction into the army. Set in
1970 during the so-called War of Attrition on
the Suez Canal, the film follows these kids as
they fool and loaf around, observing the
subtle and frank psychic effects on them of
living in a country whose sense of peace
seems always to hang riskily in balance.
And Wedding in Galilee concerns a
Palestinian village elder's controversial
decision to invite Israeli authorities to attend
his son's wedding in order to gain permission
for the ceremony to last the day and night
according to religious tradition. Director
Khleifi's film, set in a riot tom occupied
Palestinian village, has been described as
"intoxicatingly sensual" and is the winner of
the International Critics Award at the 1988
Cannes Film Festival.
The High's "Next Generation" film series
represents perhaps the only opportunity for
Atlantans to view these films. With the
demise locally of repertory cinema and the
growing reluctance of distributors to show
subtitled films, the "Next Generation" series
is one of the most important events in the arts
this year in Atlanta.
-Terry Francis
For complete ticket and screening
information for 'The Next Generation" film
series call 881 -0452.
Phoebe and Rosetta...
Their love story lasts 39 years
■
SECRETS
Rebecca Ranson's new play.
Nexus Theater.
October 6 - October 23
Advance tickets available at Charis Books and More
Call 688-2500for reservations or 584-2104for groups and information.
Southeastern
Arts, Media, arid
Education Project
Page 7