Plot
Set in London in the early 1990s, the film portrays the bittersweet lifestyles of a young gay couple in a fiery open relationship. Mark is an acerbic drag queen with a sharp tongue, who finds it difficult to accept his much better-looking partner's highly promiscuous lifestyle of non-stop clubbing and cruising. Worse still, Mark is HIV positive and his partner is negative.
Both of them are struggling to come to terms with Mark's deteriorating condition. Nowadays, Mark prefers to stay at home when not performing – working on his own panel of embroidery for an AIDS quilt memorial project. Simon, however, prefers to turn a blind eye to the situation and continues to cruise London's gay bars at night looking for action.
Mark dies early on in the story and Simon becomes the focus of the story as he buries his feelings and continues his torrid sex life. At first, he seems completely unaffected by his lover's death. However, when Mark returns to haunt him, his life suddenly becomes a lot more complex, especially as he is the only one who can see Mark.
It turns out that Mark has actually returned to help his partner to accept his true feelings and to encourage him to reassess his reckless lifestyle – a lifestyle that he is sure will never bring him the happiness he seeks. Eventually, Mark gets through to him and Simon breaks down and weeps for the very first time.
Mark's work is done and he can leave his one-time lover to move on with his life.
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era. His most famous directorial achievements include M*A*S*H (1970), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), The Long Goodbye (1973), Nashville (1975), 3 Women (1977), The Player (1992), Short Cuts (1993), and Gosford Park (2001).
The Paradine Case is a 1947 courtroom drama with elements of film noir set in England, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David O. Selznick. Selznick and an uncredited Ben Hecht wrote the screenplay from an adaptation by Alma Reville and James Bridie of the 1933 novel by Robert Smythe Hichens. The film stars Gregory Peck, Ann Todd, Alida Valli, Charles Laughton, Charles Coburn, Ethel Barrymore, and Louis Jourdan. It tells of an English barrister who falls in love with a woman who is accused of murder, and how it affects his relationship with his wife.
Torch Song Trilogy is a collection of three plays by Harvey Fierstein rendered in three acts: International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First! The story centers on Arnold Beckoff, a Jewish homosexual, drag queen, and torch singer who lives in New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The four-hour play begins with a soliloquy in which he explains his cynical disillusionment with love.
David Leavitt is an American novelist, short story writer, and biographer.
Merritt R. Butrick was an American actor, known for his roles on the teen sitcom Square Pegs (1982), in two Star Trek feature films, and a variety of other acting roles in the 1980s.
Come Blow Your Horn is Neil Simon's first play, which premiered on Broadway in 1961 and had a London production in 1962 at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Simon rewrote the script more than two dozen times over several years, resulting in a hit premiere that allowed Simon to leave his full-time television writing career to write stage and film scripts.
Cruising is a 1980 crime thriller film written and directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, and Karen Allen. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by New York Times reporter Gerald Walker about a serial killer targeting gay men, particularly those men associated with the leather scene in the late 1970s. The title is a double entendre, because "cruising" can describe both police officers on patrol and men who are cruising for sex.
Slaughter High is a 1986 slasher film written and directed by George Dugdale, Mark Ezra and Peter Litten, and starring Caroline Munro, Simon Scuddamore, Carmine Iannaconne, Donna Yeager, and Sally Cross. An international co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom, the film follows a group of adults responsible for a prank gone wrong on April Fool's Day who are invited to a reunion at their defunct high school where a masked killer awaits inside.
Nicholas Charles "Nick" Cotton is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders played by John Altman on a semi-regular basis from the soap's debut episode on 19 February 1985. Altman has stated that his initial exit was due to producer Julia Smith demanding he was written out after he opposed a decision to make his character gay. After Smith's departure, the character made numerous brief or more protracted stints until his onscreen death in February 2015, which was written to coincide with the 30th anniversary of EastEnders.
Crustacés & Coquillages is a 2005 French comedy-drama film written and directed by Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau. It is released in Northern America as Côte d'Azur and in the United Kingdom and Ireland as Cockles & Muscles.
Making Love is a 1982 American drama film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Kate Jackson, Harry Hamlin and Michael Ontkean. The film tells the story of a married man coming to terms with his homosexuality and the love triangle that develops between him, his wife and another man.
Simon Raymond is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Andrew Lynford. Simon is introduced in 1996 as the homosexual brother of Tiffany Mitchell. His relationship with the bisexual character Tony Hills featured a gay kiss that caused controversy in the UK; numerous complaints were made because of its broadcasting. Simon remained in the serial until 1999, at which time it was mutually agreed between Lynford and executive producer Matthew Robinson, that the character had run its course. The character was given a happy ending, reuniting with his former boyfriend Tony to travel Europe.
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt is a 1989 American documentary film that tells the story of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Narrated by Dustin Hoffman with a musical score written and performed by Bobby McFerrin, the film focuses on several people who are represented by panels in the Quilt, combining personal reminiscences with archive footage of the subjects, along with footage of various politicians, health professionals and other people with AIDS. Each section of the film is punctuated with statistics detailing the number of Americans diagnosed with and dead of AIDS through the early years of the epidemic. The film ends with the first display of the complete Quilt at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. during the 1987 Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.
Slattery's Hurricane is a 1949 American drama film directed by Andre de Toth and starring Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell and Veronica Lake. It is based on a story submitted by Herman Wouk, who also coauthored the screenplay and published a novel of the film in 1956.
The Cost of Love is a 2010 gay-themed film by Carl Medland, his debut long feature released by Discovery Films UK. It was shot in Greenwich area in London starring Christopher Kelham as Dale. The film shows diverse characters and the price they pay for falling in love.
Not for Sale is a 1924 British silent comedy film directed by W. P. Kellino and starring Mary Odette, Ian Hunter and Gladys Hamer. It was made at Cricklewood Studios by Stoll Pictures, and based on a novel by Monica Ewer. The film's sets were designed by the art director Walter Murton. It is still extant, unlike many silent films of the era which are now considered lost.
Mr. Holmes is a 2015 mystery film directed by Bill Condon, based on Mitch Cullin's 2005 novel A Slight Trick of the Mind, and featuring the character Sherlock Holmes. The film stars Ian McKellen as Sherlock Holmes, Laura Linney as his housekeeper Mrs. Munro and Milo Parker as her son Roger. Set primarily during his retirement in Sussex, the film follows a 93-year-old Holmes who struggles to recall the details of his final case because his mind is slowly deteriorating.
Mothering Sunday is a 2021 British romantic drama film directed by Eva Husson, from a screenplay by Alice Birch, based on the novel of the same name by Graham Swift. The film stars Odessa Young, Josh O'Connor, Olivia Colman and Colin Firth. The film also marks the first appearance of Academy Award winner Glenda Jackson in a theatrical release in over 30 years, having last appeared in King of the Wind (1990), as well as the penultimate film role of her lifetime.
