Blue Jean

Set in 1988 Newcastle, Blue Jean follows a closeted PE teacher as she navigates the oppressive climate of Section 28 legislation, which threatens her livelihood if her sexuality is revealed, which Rosy does brilliantly through the film. This was recommended to me. I feel the film conveys 80s Northern England & the struggles that people like me would have gone through pretty well, despite being born a long time after 1988. I felt like the film addresses the impact of Section 28 pretty well, as one of the characters feels the need to hide her sexuality due to the fear of losing her job under the legislation, whilst another shows the tension & secrecy that LGBTQ+ individuals faced as students.

I often cheer for movies like Blue Jean. They are important in a response to the big lavish entertainment films. But I can't quite get the hang of this particular film.

This is a film about LGBT history, with a main character set in 80s Britain with Thatcher's controversial No Clause 28 legislation as a backdrop. As a gym teacher, she experiences challenges in living out who she really is, in the face of society's view of gays and queers. Important topic. But we have seen this before, and in my opinion also seen it portrayed better before.

In this film, a lot is very good, the era is depicted well. The main character in the film is good in the role of a person who has to make important and not least right choices for herself. But on the way there she makes a lot of strange choices. In particular, her handling of her job as a teacher in meeting with the students is not very credible in my opinion. I think the narrative stagnates in the descriptions of her anguish and doubts. The film does not get out of a rut, and the main character becomes somewhat one-dimensional and I think it became less engaging as time went on.

The film is still not bad, and has a fantastic amount of good 80s music as a soundtrack.

"Jean" (Rosy McEwan) is a physical education teacher at a school in Northern Engand. Privately, she is having a relationship with the out and proud "Viv" (Kerrie Hayes) but the emphasis here is very much on the "privately" - something that her confident girlfriend struggles to comprehend. When "Lois" (Lucy Halliday) joins her netball class, then runs into her in a bar later, things become complicated for "Jean" and the remainder of the film illustrates just a short segment of her troubled life as her pupils start to put two and two together and mischief and malevolence rears their very ugly heads. As a gay lad who lived at the time I am actually a little tired of films that make out that "Thatcher" was some alien space invader sent by God to cleanse society. The views of her government represented massive numbers of people in Britain - across the political spectrum - who were terrified about the perceived adverse influences on children of what they saw as "permissive" practices. Rather than acknowledge these concerns as legitimate (at the time) and put some national context into this story, this film really only takes a couple of people whose relationship never comes across as especially strong anyway, and try to make a greater political point. To have been successful there, balance is essential. The underlying plot issues are potent, but they are not developed anywhere near enough to create substantial characters and instead offer us a rather undercooked swipe at a system that was as broadly representative then as it is not (thankfully) now. The production is all a bit basic and though McEwan offers us a considered performance and the film is certainly worth watching, I had really hoped for something just a bit deeper and stronger.

There's a Section that's enacted to create, prejudice, intolerance and hate, treating people in a way, causing division, leaving no say, this is what Britain had come to in those days (although lift a few stones and you find it's not actually progressed that much since) - as Jean, a PE teacher, brilliantly performed by Rosy McEwen, struggles with her sexuality becoming known to her colleagues and her students, and the impact that might have on her career, especially as the teenage Lois has begun her journey of discovery and self-awareness. I thought Kerrie Harris put in a great performance as Jean's partner Viv too. Well worth watching, not only for the performances but as a reminder of a world that's not that long passed.

Jean (Rosy McEwen) is an attractive 20-something frosty haired gym teacher. She's asked by one of her colleagues at the school to go out for drinks with some of their fellow teachers - might even be a guy or two with an eye out for her. Jean, who has a female partner, demurs not by replying directly, but coming up with a a lame excuse. It's just one of the times that Jean is confronted with telling the truth, but "lies" instead.

England. Late 80s. Margaret Thatcher's conservative Britain to be precise. The nation is in full moral panic mode and the very suspicion that a teacher might be gay is grounds for removal. The law was called Section 28. To Writer-Director Georgia Oakley's credit, BLUE JEAN never becomes a polemic. It simply presents the reality of what people like Jean were going through at the time. Oakley's screenplay unfolds at a natural pace and the audience is given the details of Jean's background at an unhurried pace.

Jean's girlfriend is Viv (Kerrie Hayes) who, by contrast, is very much 'out'. She flaunts her sexuality and makes no apologies. Also complicating things for Jean is a new student, Lois (Lucy Halliday), who happens to hang out in the same local gay bar. Jean's family is little help, even her sister Sasha (Aoife Kennan) who outwardly supports her sibling, but is nonetheless concerned about protecting her young son when she is around.

The performances here all very good, with McEwen embodying her character's ambivalence, while also demonstrating fortitude. It's a tricky balance which Oakley's filmmaking ably abets. Oakley also creates a vivid depiction of the era with details of the LGBTQ community at the time. Songs by New Order, Letta Mbulu and Colourbox and others grace the soundtrack and the screenplay is filled with precise and distinctive terminology. There are not great revelations or epiphanies for Jean, but, Oakley imbues her main character with an inner strength that is palpable.

Section 28 was repealed in 2003.