An Englishman in New York
QC Cinema
Beyond Home Entertainment
R4 DVD
Health consists of having the same
diseases as one's neighbours.
Quentin Crisp
John
Hurt brought Quentin Crisp to life in The Naked Civil Servant. It seems an
amazing to say but it was a film that changed, indeed saved, so many lives.
Many gay people living in isolation saw their first glance of a strong and
resilient homosexual in Crisp, a man who against all odds fought to be who he
was. It was a powerful film made in 1975, a time when only a very few movies
dared to show homosexuality in a positive light. So many gay people saw this
and decided to be true to who they were and left the country and headed towards
the city, San Francisco in America, London in England and Sydney in Australia.
Crisp gave hope to a generation, even if it was a realistic and sharped edge
hope.
In
2009 John Hurt has returned to portray the latter years of Crisp’s life in An
Englishman in New York. Crisp makes a decision nobody expects, late in life and
infirm, he describes to move to New York to start again. He here meets Philip
Steele, the editor of the Village Voice, with whom he forms a lifelong friendship.
While this film is certainly about the later life of Quentin Crisp, it is just
as much about the significance of friendship and the deep bond he formed with
Philip Steele and which lasted until his death.
You fall out of your mother's womb, you crawl across open country under fire, and drop
into your grave.
Quentin Crisp
Crisp
was an enigma; bitchy, generous, venomous, witty, a lover of adulation and yet
a loner. He spoke his mind and sometimes would make an offhand comment which
would haunt him for years later. His comment that “AIDS was a
Fad” singlehandedly destroyed his career for many years even though it was
meant in jest. Too often people saw Crisp as a driving force for Gay
rights and demanded he be so. They put him on a pedestal and then tried to keep
him nailed there even when he tried to get off.
Crisp simply say himself as a “lover of men” with no political or social
agenda attached. Much like Gore Vidal who said “I am a not gay, I am a homosexualist”, Crisp had an uneasy relationship with the
gay community. In the politically charged world of the New York gay community
this led to many clashes. Crisps was ultimately a
performer, a man who has struggled against all odds to be himself regardless of
the cost. His life itself was inspirational without any need for a politically
correct overlay or interpretation by queer theory.
Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag
them down to your level.
Quentin Crisp
I
always found Crisp’s wit and humour truly inspiring and felt it, on occasion,
even reached the level of Oscar Wilde. He had the ability to cut through the
hypocrisy of life and see things as they really are. He is man who suffered
greatly and yet was able to harness his fury and anger to create a persona of
steel that entertained as well as informed others.
This
is a marvellous film, Hurt is just perfect as Crisp. Since his role in The
Naked Civil Servant and his personal friendship with Crisp, he has developed
the uncanny ability to get inside Crisps psyche and reveal his inner life to
us.
Most highly recommended.
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