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Blue Jean
Films like Philadelphia, The Children's Hour, and Carrie flashed through my head as I watched an edgy and compelling 2022 drama called Blue Jean, a story about how homophobia can destroy lives.
It's 1988 England and apparently Margaret Thatcher was backing a lot of legislation that clearly discriminated against homosexuals and this provides the canvas for this story of a young lesbian gym teacher named Jean, who has been living a quietly closeted life for quite awhile but she fears her life could crumble when one of her 15 year old students spots her in a gay bar.
The AIDS crisis was at its zenith in 1988 and people everywhere were terrified and were convinced that the only solution was to wipe homosexuality from the planet. This seems to be the basis of writer and director Georgia Oakley's story that eventually winds down to how Jean's life is affecting others rather than herself. We see her relationship with girlfriend Viv fall apart because Viv is tired of living in the closet as well as Jean's sister's sudden discomfort with Jean babysitting for her nephew, who innocently tells his mother there was a woman at Aunt Jean's house.
More than anything, this film is about the danger of lies and secrets regarding these matters that can completely devastate people on all sides of the issue. The film broaches the subject of whether or not homosexuality is a choice by informing us halfway through the film that Jean is divorced from a man. The damage of someone being bullied about their sexuality can cause damage as well as we watch the young student, Lois, bullied by her classmates, scenes that reminded me of the opening locker room scenes in Carrie, which eventually lead to an accusation of sexual assault where Jean makes her first truly incorrect in this story and finds there's no turning back.
Oakley has crafted a story that is slightly manipulative, making the viewer really empathize with what Jean is going through, but said empathy is challenged during the final third of the film, but eventually it does come to light that Jean really doesn't deserve what she goes through here. Oakley pulls luminous performances from Rosey McEwen as Jean, Kerry Hayes as Viv, and Lucy Halliday as the troubled Lois. Chris Roe's lush music score perfectly frames this sensitive and disturbing story.
Films like Philadelphia, The Children's Hour, and Carrie flashed through my head as I watched an edgy and compelling 2022 drama called Blue Jean, a story about how homophobia can destroy lives.
It's 1988 England and apparently Margaret Thatcher was backing a lot of legislation that clearly discriminated against homosexuals and this provides the canvas for this story of a young lesbian gym teacher named Jean, who has been living a quietly closeted life for quite awhile but she fears her life could crumble when one of her 15 year old students spots her in a gay bar.
The AIDS crisis was at its zenith in 1988 and people everywhere were terrified and were convinced that the only solution was to wipe homosexuality from the planet. This seems to be the basis of writer and director Georgia Oakley's story that eventually winds down to how Jean's life is affecting others rather than herself. We see her relationship with girlfriend Viv fall apart because Viv is tired of living in the closet as well as Jean's sister's sudden discomfort with Jean babysitting for her nephew, who innocently tells his mother there was a woman at Aunt Jean's house.
More than anything, this film is about the danger of lies and secrets regarding these matters that can completely devastate people on all sides of the issue. The film broaches the subject of whether or not homosexuality is a choice by informing us halfway through the film that Jean is divorced from a man. The damage of someone being bullied about their sexuality can cause damage as well as we watch the young student, Lois, bullied by her classmates, scenes that reminded me of the opening locker room scenes in Carrie, which eventually lead to an accusation of sexual assault where Jean makes her first truly incorrect in this story and finds there's no turning back.
Oakley has crafted a story that is slightly manipulative, making the viewer really empathize with what Jean is going through, but said empathy is challenged during the final third of the film, but eventually it does come to light that Jean really doesn't deserve what she goes through here. Oakley pulls luminous performances from Rosey McEwen as Jean, Kerry Hayes as Viv, and Lucy Halliday as the troubled Lois. Chris Roe's lush music score perfectly frames this sensitive and disturbing story.