Torch Song Trilogy - Personne n'est parfait!

This film is very deep and superbly acted. It requires a viewer with a heart, but once you got that working you will surely fall into this touching drama. What is most appealing about this film is its realism and the fact that scenes of heartfelt drama are followed by light hearted humour, leading one easily through this well designed

Torch Song Trilogy is so called because its acts were originally presented one-by-one, months apart, at the off-Broadway La Mama Theater. It is done with a sparse set and few props, letting the incredibly funny, amazingly touching script fuel the play.

The movie version is done much more realistically, and it works! Things that are merely discussed in the play are shown to viewers. The cast is wonderfully realistic (Brian Kerwin is a bit stiff, but it works for the character of Ed.) and the script is just as good as the stage play. So many books and plays are adapted into something that is barely recognizable, but Fierstein makes his own script into something even more special.

The story benefits from the larger scope allowed by the movie.

We get to SEE the drag club, the bars, Arnold's (bunny-motif) apartment, Ed's country house and other locations merely hinted at in the play. The scenes that take place during and after the visit to the country house are somewhat confusing on stage, performed in a huge bed, but are beautifully edited in the movie. Best of all is Arnold's best friend, Murray, only talked about in the stage production. But in the movie, he's brought to magnificent life by Ken Page, filling the screen with his usual warmth and wit.

Harvey Fierstein has said that he hopes TST is like an Indian dress, made beautiful by all the little mirrors that decorate it. And truly, it is seeing and hearing *ourselves* that makes this script sparkle. You don't have to be a female impersonator to understand love and loss and laughter. This is NOT just a movie for gay men.

This film is, undoubtedly, *the* quintessential gay film.

If you even claim to know gay people you should see this film. I used to help run a youth group for under 25s dealing with their sexuality and we screened this film four times in two years.

I have seen this film more times than almost any other film and it still never fails to move me. Take your Kleenex, this'll make you cry! :o)

WATCH IT -- IT'S EXCELLENT!

TST is like Harvey Fierstein himself: you love it or you loathe it; I love it. Preachy and heavy-handed as "Torch" is at times, it's also a brilliant, hilarious, and truly heartfelt look at how gay men love each other and their families. Arnold Beckoff, like Harvey, apologizes to no one for who and what he his, and his pride is infectious. And Matthew Broderick, as Arnold's model lover, has never been more appealing.

Award winning writer actor Harvey Fierstein portrays a shy and loveless cabaret artist who comes to terms with his bisexual lover, with the man of his dreams, and finally (in a heartbreaking confrontation sure to leave a lump in even the most stoic of throats) with his homophobic, harpy mother. The strengths of the film are those of any adapted stage play, but this isn't just another theater piece arbitrarily transferred to the screen. The original three acts have been married into one sustained narrative, with the cosmetic benefits of skillful editing and camera-work to help smooth the rougher transitions. Of course it's Fierstein himself who holds the film together, showing a wonderful, subtle blend of confidence and insecurity, with eloquent body language and expressive facial tics reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin, and with a voice best described as unique.