“You know what it’s like when you first sleep with someone you don’t
know”
There’s unfortunately still a paucity of interesting work that explores aspects
of just being gay, rather than centring on coming out, gay-bashing or repressed
love, which makes Andrew Haigh’s 2011 film Weekend all the more refreshing for
its frank normality. Russell and Glen meet on a Friday night and what starts
off seeming like a regular one-night-stand turns into something altogether more
significant, as that special spark ignites between them and they spend a
potentially life-changing weekend together, despite or perhaps because of the knowledge
of they only have this weekend to share.
The film received immense hype from critics and several friends alike on its
limited release last year and since I didn’t get to see it, I naturally found
myself a little wary (after all, how can something be declared good if I haven’t
given it my seal of approval!) and this wasn’t helped by the pedestrian pace of
the opening third of the film and its rather soap-like tone, it wasn’t grabbing
me at all. But slowly, it develops and matures into a really rather affecting
story as the two lovers confront their preconceptions about each other, about
themselves and about what they are looking for from life and love.
It’s moving because it is an insightful look into contemporary relationships of
any colour, shape or sexuality and the fact that opportunities as potentially
golden as these are few and far between for any of us. But it is genuinely affecting
because it is specific as well as universal, it unashamedly delves into the realities
of modern gay life, re the contrasting ways in which one can assert sexuality in
daily life – that feeling of having to decide whether it is a safe enough
environment to hold a lover’s hand or give him a kiss is all too painfully real
– and the incestuous minefield that can emerge in narrow groupings, where
someone always knows someone (although I wasn’t quite convinced as to how these
two hadn’t met before, surely Nottingham can’t have that many gay bars…).
Chris New as the forthright Glen and Tom Cullen’s more reserved Russell equally
grow into their roles, both becoming utterly convincing as their interactions –
which often are just having sex and taking drugs – become increasingly charged
and enthralling as they each bring out different qualities in each other, each
challenging what they hold as true and leaving us really quite in love with them
by the end. Their debate on gay marriage was scintillating and so much of their
chat felt truly authentic, full of the complexity of living in a world which
kind of tolerates us and what effect that ambiguity has on the person.
So from slow beginnings, something beautiful emerges. It’s not quite the Before
Sunrise – surely the best example of this genre – I had been led to believe,
but still something to treasure.
Labels: Andrew Haigh, Chris New, Tom Cullen