DIE BLAUE STUNDE
(THE BLUE HOUR)
A film review by Olaf Seibert
Copyright 1993 Olaf Seibert
The Swiss film DIE BLAUE STUNDE (Marcel Gisler, 1992) was shown on the Dutch television last Sunday. You may think that this article is a bit late then, but you would have needed to understand either the languages it was spoken in (German and French) or the subtitles (Dutch). Nevertheless, should you come across it, I can recommend it.
The following is taken from the VPRO TV guide.
VPRO Cinema Primeur--DIE BLAUE STUNDE
For a long time the film industry evaded gay life styles. Only in the last few years Hollywood dares to give leading parts to homosexuals, even though it only happens scantly. Alongside of that there has been existing a cinema, in which homosexuals are not considered as controversial people, who foremost cause fear or excitement. Such films originate mostly outside of the Hollywood-studios and European commercial cinema. Sunday night the VPRO will show in the series "Cinema Primeur" an example of such a film, in which for a change homosexuality isn't depicted as something dirty and dark. DIE BLAUE STUNDE, recorded in only thirty days on super 16 and later blown up to theatre size, is for that matter about a shady subject, that of male prostitution.
Main character Theo earns his income as a whore boy and has his working terrain mostly in chic Berlin hotels such as the Steigenberger. Theo's life is dictated by phone calls through a special line from businessmen from out of town, whether married or not.
Director Marcel Gisler (1960) originally wanted to make a documentary about male prostitutes in Berlin. In his research Gisler was mostly touched by the loneliness of the whores, the taboo that rests on their work, stronger than with female prostitutes. Together with actor Andreas Herder and Rudolf Nadler, Gisler processed his experiences to a clear tale in which he places two personalities opposite each other. Separated by the staircase lives in the one apartment the prostitute Theo, a good-looking boy in his twenties who has a on-off relationship with an older, rich composer. Committing too much is what Theo does not want, a night with a boy picked up in a bar is enough for him. His mother he sees only very seldom. "You don't know what you want, do you" says the cashier at the cinema, when he wants to return the ticket he just bought. It characterises Theo's searching existence. In the apartment opposite lives the Frangaise [Fran,caise (for people without Latin-1 characters)] Marie with a shy writer whose novel never gets finished. Theo is exploited with payment by his clients, sales woman Marie feels used by her lazy friend. One day she throws him out the door, after which an impossible love flowers between Theo and Marie.
Both have fears about showing their feelings and take a vulnerable position. Marie knows about Theo's work but doesn't judge it.
Gisler's portrait of a male prostitute in a big city--and the word AIDS is not even mentioned once--is filmed in an impressionistic style. The restrained, sober acting by Andreas Herder as Theo (for which he was awarded the Max Oph|ls [Oph"uls] prize for budding talent) and Dina Leipzig as the slightly older Marie, greatly contribute to the authenticity and almost documentary character of DIE BLAUE STUNDE. (Harry Hosman) Nederland 3, 22.28-23.55.
-- ___ Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert D787B44DFC896063 4CBB95A5BD1DAA96 \X/ I can bicycle on both sides of the road - rhialto@mbfys.kun.nl
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