| Claire of the Moon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Nicole Conn |
| Written by | Nicole Conn |
| Produced by | Pamela S. Kuri Nicole Conn |
| Starring | Trisha Todd Karen Trumbo |
| Cinematography | Randolph Sellars |
| Edited by | Michael Solinger |
| Music by | Michael Allen Harrison |
| Distributed by | Demi-Monde Productions |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Claire of the Moon is a 1992 lesbian-themed erotic drama film directed by Nicole Conn and starring Trisha Todd and Karen Trumbo.
Claire of the Moon is set in the 1990s in the Pacific Northwest. Claire Jabrowski (Todd), a famous heterosexual author, decides to attend a retreat for all-female writers. Claire's roommate at the retreat is Dr. Noel Benedict, author of a book called The Naked Truth. The movie culminates in a sexual encounter between the two authors. [1]
Claire Jabrowski (Trisha Todd) is a famous writer who has just broken up with her boyfriend and is stricken with a mild case of writer's block. She drives from her home in Los Angeles to coastal Oregon where she has signed herself up to attend the all-women's Arcadia Writers Retreat. After arriving, Claire is assigned to share a cabin with psychiatrist Dr. Noel Benedict (Karen Trumbo), the author of a sex therapy book titled, The Naked Truth, and who is attending the retreat to find inspiration for her next book. Claire and Noel do not get along with each other for Noel is uptight and annoyed by Claire's disorderly habits involving writing and fashion sense.
Claire, Noel and the other writers attend weekly group meetings to discuss their work and gender politics, moderated by Maggie (Faith McDevitt). At one meeting, Noel comes out to the group by admitting that she is a lesbian which disturbs the group's brash, Southern-accented romance novelist Tara O'Hara (Caren Graham). Noel later complains to Maggie about Claire and her habits, but Maggie insists that Claire will help Noel loosen up.
Bored with the retreat, Claire drives to nearby Portland one evening where she meets and seduces a man named Brian (Damon Craig) that she meets at a local bar. The next morning, Noel proposes they establish a set of house rules, but Claire's messiness continues to irritate her.
One night at the bar, Noel feels alienated as Tara and the other heterosexual women discuss penis size. When Brian approaches their table to say hello to Claire, Noel abruptly leaves. Sometime later, Claire is disturbed by a dream about kissing Noel, and she resumes her relationship with Brian. Another evening or two later at the bar, Noel and Claire get into a debate about intimacy between men and women. Noel buys Claire a drink to apologize for their disagreements. Claire questions Noel about the logistics of lesbian sexual intercourse, claiming she has an "academic" interest in the subject.
One evening at the cabin, Claire claims she is bored and suggests she and Noel play backgammon and drink tequila. When she loses the game, Claire agrees to impart the details of a sexual fantasy. Noel counters with her personal story, but begins to imagine Claire as her sexual partner. Claire's bond with Noel continues to deepen, despite that Claire continuing to maintain that she is straight and becomes very confused to why she is attracted to Noel.
One night, the writers group all get drunk and have a dance party, and Claire pulls Noel into a close embrace. Just as they are about to kiss, one of the other women bursts into tears over her recent fallout with her husband. Claire and Noel return to their cabin intoxicated, and Claire suggests they have sex. Noel refuses to get involved with a straight woman, thinking that Claire's attraction to her stems from curiosity. Claire backs down and insists she is simply afraid to act on impulse.
The next day, Noel reads Claire's latest novel and Claire goes for a jog on the beach, falling to her knees in distress. Later, the women meet while walking through the sand. They kiss, then return to their cabin where they finally make love for the first time.
The film received solid reviews from the Los Angeles Reader and was successful in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Portland and the entire Bay Area with the exception of San Francisco. However, lesbian critics gave the film poor reviews. Conn described Claire "...as a social phenomenon in the sense that it divided and explored the vast differences between the political dyke and Jane Q. Lesbo." [2]
The film would be lead actress Trisha Todd's only acting credit. Since the film's release she's worked as a drama teacher at Grant High School in Portland, OR.
A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexuality or same-sex attraction. The concept of "lesbian" to differentiate women with a shared sexual orientation evolved in the 20th century. Throughout history, women have not had the same freedom or independence as men to pursue homosexual relationships, but neither have they met the same harsh punishment as gay men in some societies. Instead, lesbian relationships have often been regarded as harmless, unless a participant attempts to assert privileges traditionally enjoyed by men. As a result, little in history was documented to give an accurate description of how female homosexuality was expressed. When early sexologists in the late 19th century began to categorize and describe homosexual behavior, hampered by a lack of knowledge about homosexuality or women's sexuality, they distinguished lesbians as women who did not adhere to female gender roles. They classified them as mentally ill—a designation which has been reversed since the late 20th century in the global scientific community.
Tara Maclay is a fictional character created for the action-horror/fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003). She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed by Amber Benson. Tara is a shy young woman with magical talents who falls in love with Willow Rosenberg, one of the core characters. Together, they help Buffy Summers, who has been given superhuman powers, to defeat evil forces in the fictional town of Sunnydale.
Tribadism or tribbing, commonly known by its scissoring position, is a sexual practice involving vulva-to-vulva contact or rubbing the vulva against the partner's thigh, stomach, buttocks, arm, or other body parts, especially for stimulation of the clitoris. A variety of sex positions are practiced, including the missionary position.
Todd Haynes is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films span four decades with themes examining the personalities of well-known musicians, dysfunctional and dystopian societies, and blurred gender roles.
Kissing Jessica Stein is a 2001 American independent romantic comedy film, written and co-produced by the film's stars, Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen. The film also stars Tovah Feldshuh and is directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld. It is one of the earlier film appearances of actors Jon Hamm and Michael Showalter. The film is based on a scene from the 1997 off-Broadway play by Westfeldt and Juergensen called Lipschtick.
The Price of Salt is a 1952 romance novel by Patricia Highsmith, first published under the pseudonym "Claire Morgan." Highsmith—known as a suspense writer based on her psychological thriller Strangers on a Train—used an alias as she did not want to be tagged as "a lesbian-book writer", and she also used her own life references for characters and occurrences in the story.
Bisexual chic is a phrase used to describe the public acknowledgment of bisexuality or increased public interest or acceptance of bisexuality. Another usage describes a faddish attention towards bisexuality. Bisexual chic is often accompanied by celebrities publicly revealing their bisexuality.
Edge of Seventeen is a 1998 coming of age romantic comedy-drama film directed by David Moreton, written by Moreton and Todd Stephens, starring Chris Stafford, and co-starring Tina Holmes and Andersen Gabrych.
Gypsy 83 is an American 2001 drama film, written and directed by Todd Stephens. The film is about two young goths, Gypsy and Clive, who travel to New York for an annual festival celebrating their idol, Stevie Nicks.
Nicole Conn is an American film director, novelist, producer, and screenwriter most famous for her debut feature, the lesbian love story Claire of the Moon (1992). Her screenplay for Claire of the Moon was also released as a novel the following year.
Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American daytime drama All My Children. Bianca was portrayed by Eden Riegel, and Maggie was portrayed by Elizabeth Hendrickson.
Sexual activities involving women who have sex with women (WSW), regardless of their sexual orientation or sexual identity, can include oral sex, manual sex, or tribadism.
Lesbian portrayal in media is generally in relation to feminism, love and sexual relationships, marriage and parenting. Some writers have stated that lesbians have often been depicted as exploitative and unjustified plot devices. Common representations of lesbians in the media include butch or femme lesbians and lesbian parents. "Butch" lesbian comes from the idea of a lesbian expressing themselves as masculine by dressing masculine, behaving masculinely, or liking things that are deemed masculine, while "femme" lesbian comes from the idea of a lesbian expressing themselves as feminine by dressing feminine, behaving femininely, or liking things that are deemed feminine.
Lena Kundera and Bianca Montgomery are fictional characters from the American daytime drama All My Children. Commonly referred to by the portmanteau "Lianca", they were the first lesbian couple on an American soap opera. Lena was portrayed by Olga Sosnovska, and Bianca was portrayed by Eden Riegel. Lena and Bianca's romance "quickly became a hit with viewers" and regularly surpassed older more established heterosexual couples for the number 1 spot on Internet and soap opera magazine readers' polls. The characters are the first to share a same-sex kiss in American soap opera history.
Below Her Mouth is a 2016 Canadian erotic romantic drama film directed by April Mullen and written by Stephanie Fabrizi. The film stars Natalie Krill as Jasmine and Erika Linder as Dallas, two women in Toronto who meet and begin a passionate love affair. The cast also includes Tommie-Amber Pirie, Mayko Nguyen, Elise Bauman, Melanie Leishman, and Sebastian Pigott.
Town Bloody Hall is a 1979 documentary film of a panel debate between feminist advocates and activist Norman Mailer. Filmed on April 30, 1971, in The Town Hall in New York City. Town Bloody Hall features a panel of feminist advocates for the women's liberation movement and Norman Mailer, author of The Prisoner of Sex (1971). Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker produced the film, which stars Jacqueline Ceballos, Germaine Greer, Jill Johnston, Diana Trilling, and Norman Mailer. The footage of the panel was recorded and released as a documentary in 1979. Produced by Shirley Broughton, the event was originally filmed by Pennebaker. The footage was then filed and rendered unusable. Hegedus met Pennebaker a few years later, and the two edited the final version of the film for its release in 1979. Pennebaker described his filming style as one that exists without labels, in order to let the viewer come to a conclusion about the material, which inspired the nature of the Town Bloody Hall documentary. The recording of the debate was intended to ensure the unbiased documentation, allowing it to become a concrete moment in feminist history.
Yes, God, Yes is a 2019 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Karen Maine and starring Natalia Dyer. It is Maine's directorial debut, based on her 2017 short film of the same name also starring Dyer. The film premiered at the SXSW Film Festival on March 8, 2019, and was selected as a "Best of SXSW" film by The Hollywood Reporter. It was released in select drive-in theaters and virtual cinemas in the United States on July 24, 2020, by Vertical Entertainment, before launching digitally and on video on demand on July 28, 2020. The film was made available on Netflix on October 22, 2020.
Joan Drury was an American novelist, book publisher, book seller, and philanthropist. She owned Spinsters, Ink, a publishing company that focused on books by women, especially those identifying as lesbian. She was the author of a series of mystery novels featuring a lesbian protagonist, Tyler Jones, and owned and operated a bookshop, Drury Lane Books, in Grand Marais, Minnesota. Drury won several awards for her services to publishing as well as for her own writing, including a Lambda Literary Award. She was also a philanthropist who sponsored writers' retreats, and created the National Lesbian Writer’s Award.
