"If These Walls Could Talk 2" (2000) Reviewed by Christian Pyle Directed by Jane Anderson, Martha Coolidge, and Anne Heche Written by Jane Anderson, Sylvia Sichel, and Anne Heche Starring Vanessa Redgrave, Michelle Williams, Chloe Sevigny, Sharon Stone, and Ellen DeGeneres Grade: C
HBO's "If These Walls Could Talk 2" is an anthology of three films, each set in the same house in a different year, each concerning a lesbian romance. It's not a sequel in any conventional sense. Its only link to "If These Walls Could Talk" is format; the first film told three stories about abortion that occurred in the same house in different years. (Oh, and Anne Heche acted in "Walls 1" and writes and directs one of the segments in "Walls 2.") I didn't like "Walls 1"; even though I agreed with it politically I found it overly manipulative and one-sided. On the other hand, its three parts fit together into a coherent whole. Although "Walls 2" is more pleasant to watch, its segments seem unrelated to each other.
The first segment is the only one with a Message. It's 1961, a time before terms like "significant other" and "spousal equivalent" were coined. To most people who know them, Edith (Vanessa Redgrave) and Abby (Marian Seldes) are just two elderly friends who live together. We meet them at the movies, where they're watching "The Children's Hour." The movie is about two schoolteachers whose lives are ruined by a rumor that they're lesbians. In the scene we see, Shirley MacLaine confesses to Audrey Hepburn that she is "guilty." The scene reminds us that "coming out of the closet" was not an option for Edith and Abby.
That night Abby has a stroke. She dies alone; because Edith isn't "family" she can't be in Abby's room after visiting hours. After the funeral Abby's nephew Ted (Paul Giamatti) and his wife Alice (Elizabeth Perkins) start making plans to sell the house that Abby and Edith bought together, and they box up Abby's belongings without any regard for Edith's feelings. Vanessa Redgrave gives a magnificent performance as a woman who is silently going through Hell. Although Abby and Edith lived for decades like a married couple, Edith cannot claim any right to her home, and no one understands the extent of her loss.
1972 finds a group of lesbian college students living in the house. They've just been ousted from the feminist collective they helped found because the other women are concerned about being known as a "lesbian group." On a lark Linda (Michelle Williams) and her pals go to a lesbian bar where they receive a cold reception from the middle-aged women dressed as men. There Linda meets Amy (Chloe Sevigny), a tough young woman in a button-down shirt and necktie. Linda's friends mock the "butch" look and question whether Linda can be a real lesbian if she's attracted to someone who looks like a man. The romance between Linda and Amy seems a variation on a familiar formula: the "girl next door" and the "rebel without a cause." Amy even has the requisite t-shirt and motorcycle.
Although on first glance "1972" would seem to have less to say than "1961," I found "1972" the most intriguing segment. The schisms between different groups of lesbians and between lesbians and feminists presents a complex portrait of a subculture in transition. However, these issues only serve as background for the romance, which has its own areas that I wish were explored more fully. Director Martha Coolidge and writer Sylvia Sichel present Amy as self-assured and in touch with her inner self. But what is that self? Any woman who straps down her breasts would seem to have self-acceptance problems. Does she see herself as a man? If so, what are the implications of that for Linda's lesbian identity? Or does Amy see herself as genderless? If so, why masquerade as a male? These are questions Coolidge and Sichel refuse to address.
The final segment takes us to the present day in 2000. The house is now shared by life partners Fran (Sharon Stone) and Kal (Ellen DeGeneres). Fran is trying to get pregnant, so the ladies are in search of a sperm donor. The tone is light-hearted, and the love Fran and Kal share is sweet and endearing. In contrast to the two previous segments, the present seems a utopia of equality and freedom, yet that doesn't seem an accurate reflection of reality. I was hoping that the third segment would take up the issues raised by the first two, but the plights of Edith, with no legal or social recognition of her marriage, and Linda, caught between warring factions, seem only distant memories.
Bottom line: If these walls could talk, would they say anything?
© 2000 Christian L. Pyle
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