Holding the Man

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

14K

YOUR RATING

Ryan Corr and Craig Stott in Holding the Man (2015)

Play trailer2:19

1 Video

51 Photos

Biography Drama History Romance

Tim and John fell in love at their all-boys high school. Their romance endured for 15 years to laugh in the face of everything life threw at it - the separations, the discrimination, the tem... Read allTim and John fell in love at their all-boys high school. Their romance endured for 15 years to laugh in the face of everything life threw at it - the separations, the discrimination, the temptations, the jealousies and the losses.Tim and John fell in love at their all-boys high school. Their romance endured for 15 years to laugh in the face of everything life threw at it - the separations, the discrimination, the temptations, the jealousies and the losses.

Director
- Neil Armfield
Writers
- Tommy Murphy
- Timothy Conigrave
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

14K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Neil Armfield
Writers
- Tommy Murphy
- Timothy Conigrave
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 6 wins & 19 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 2:19

Holding the Man

Photos50

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La Contrée des orages

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Esteros

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
When the adolescent Tim first asks John if he'll "go round with him," the telephone used by Ryan Corr is the actual telephone Timothy Conigrave would have used to make the call in real life. It was Conigrave's personal bedroom telephone from his youth, provided to the production by his sister Anna Davison.

Goofs
When Tim is interviewing AIDS patient Richard, Richard asks when Tim was born. Tim replies October 1959. Tim's actual birthday is November 19, 1959.

Quotes
Timothy Conigrave: What happens to my soul if I go mad? Does it stay trapped inside or is it floating free?

Crazy credits
There is a snippet of a recording with writer Tim Conigrave, and a photo of Tim and John together, after the last film credit.

Connections
Referenced in Invisible Boys: Apps (2025)

Soundtracks
20th Century Boy
Written by Marc Bolan
Performed by T. Rex

User reviews73

Featured review

6/10

Book's better but still touching

As with most films adapted from the book, you'll only get half the story in a movie. The acting is superb and the story relatively faithful to the original novel but it has some flaws. Namely, I found the mixing up of dates confusing. They didn't really need to jump back and forwards, I'm not sure why they did that. There is a lot of sex with spunky guys which will get on the wrong side of any homophobes or the conservatives but it is a neccessary part of the story as it depicts a lot of how the gay male community interacts (I'm gay, I can vouch for this). Ultimately it ends in tragedy and is quite a moving film but having been one of my favourite books, I will always prefer that to this.