Un chant d'amour
Template:About Template:Infobox film
Template:Lang (Template:IPA; English: A Song of Love) is French writer Jean Genet's only film, which he directed in 1950.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Because of its explicit (though artistically presented) homosexual content, the 26-minute movie was long banned. The film first screened publicly in 1954 with the sexually explicit scenes expurgated.<ref name="Giles">Template:Cite web</ref>
Plot
The film begins with a hand extended from prison bars, swinging a bouquet of flowers towards, but never reaching another hand extended from adjacent prison bars. The plot is set in a French prison, where a prison guard takes voyeuristic pleasure in observing the prisoners perform masturbatory sexual acts. In two adjacent cells, there is an older Algerian-looking man and a tattooed convict in his twenties. The older man is in love with the younger one, rubbing himself against the wall and sharing his cigarette smoke with his beloved through a straw.
The prison guard, apparently jealous of the prisoners' relationship, enters the older convict's cell and beats him. Following this, the inmate drifts off into a fantasy where he and his object of desire roam the countryside. In the final scene, it becomes clear that the guard's power is no match for the intensity of attraction between the prisoners, even though their relationship is not consummated. The prison guard makes the older prisoner suck on his gun in a sexual fashion. The guard therefore becomes a distorted reflection of the prisoners' love for each other. The film ends with the other hand grasping the flowers and taking the flowers behind his own bars.
Genet does not use dialogue in his film, but focuses instead on close-ups of bodies, on faces, armpits and penises. The film is also rich in symbolism, and the entire narrative may be read as symbolic of the desire for consummation of love between two persons, realised in part through the voyeuristic and sadistic intervention of a third.
Cast
- Bravo as older prisoner (uncredited)
- Lucien Sénémaud as younger prisoner (uncredited)
- Java as nude prisoner (uncredited)
- André Reybaz as Guard (uncredited)
- Coco Le Martiniquais as second dancing prisoner (uncredited)
Production
Template:Lang was French writer Jean Genet's only film, which he directed. Jean Cocteau was believed to be the film's cinematographer.<ref name="Rich">Template:Cite web</ref>
Controversy and ban
Critical reception
Template:Lang was described in The Queer Encyclopedia of Film & Television as "one of the earliest and most remarkable attempts to portray homosexual passion on-screen".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Fernando F. Croce of Slant wrote "A revolutionary vision of emancipation through sensuality, Template:Lang is a song of love both universal and eternal."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jamie Rich of DVD Talk called it "an effective film, albeit a tad clumsy and pretentious" that is "still a progressive and interesting experiment worth the time one is willing to put into it."<ref name="Rich"/> Phil Hall of Film Threat was more critical, writing "working in a silent film medium robs Genet of the lyrical language that dominated his artistic genius, and instead he presents a skein of imagery that becomes sillier and sillier as the film progresses. [...] Strictly of curio value, "Template:Lang" can offer contemporary viewers little more than some unintentional gay giggles."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 100% based on reviews from 8 critics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Legacy
The film has been cited as an influence for many gay filmmakers, including Derek Jarman, Andy Warhol, and Paul Morrissey.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>