Devotion (1995)

In her 1995 movie, Devotion, Canadian writer and director Mindy Kaplan takes a standard heterosexual soap opera plot and stands it on his head by turning it into a story of unresolved lesbian love. That way, the story touches on universal relationships and emotions rather than being particular to female homosexuals at the same it is about the world of lesbianism. Kaplan accomplishes her thematic goals with crisply realistic dialogue, self-assured direction and a bravura momentum that many a seasoned male director would envy. She knows how to royally entertain an audience while conveying her themes.

Canadian lesbian stand-up comedian Jan Derbyshire--a woman in her late 30s--plays a Canadian lesbian stand-up comedian named Sheila Caston with a growing following who is on the verge of (arriving( commercially. The opening reel features a six-and-a-half-minute tour de force stand-up routine in which Caston makes jokes about the universal difficulty of emotional intimacy, the stoicism of lesbian bar cruising, and her own charismatic ability as a masculine female (to have any one of you I want.( She disarms the audience with her masculine jocularity, her rapid-fire wit.

Sheila(s stage charisma and renowned wit have gotten her an offer to become the first openly lesbian star of a Canadian television sitcom. She is thrilled to death by the offer until she learns that the person making the offer is Lynn Webster (Cindy Girling), the woman who was her girlfriend 15 years ago. Lynn is n

Related Essays

Carl Jung's theory of Wholeness .... healing" (Douglas, 1995, p. 97). As such, Jung advocated a person-centered psychology, which stresses the human quality in analysis and personal devotion to .... (1725 7 )

Marriage Breakdown Factors .... that two highly imperfect people can come together and, through patience and creativity and ordinary devotion, heal each other deeply" (Prather, 1995, p. 6 .... (2655 11 )

La Traviata .... New statesman Groos, A. (1995). .... ALFREDO:ALFREDO:Da questo palpito s'io t'ami impara, senza te esistere pi non potrei.My heartbeats reveal all my devotion. .... (1918 8 )

Hindu Mythology .... Krisna also reveals the path of devotion - spirituality - as another approach to liberation from the world and the cycle of continual rebirth (McGreal, 1995). .... (1968 8 )

Energy in the 21st Century .... the exponentially rising demand for raw materials" (Heilbronner & Thurow, 1995, p. 19). .... orthodox economists risk becoming slaves to a "blind devotion" to their .... (9611 38 )

on, the white male, for all his vaunted sensitivity, selfishly demands that everyone in his sphere bow to his mystifying behavior without explaining why while self-destructing in an orgy of self-pity. Even when Sheila gets what she wants from Lynn, an admission of requited love and an explosion of hungry kissing and necking on a public street after dark, it(s still not enough. She becomes hypocritically egomaniacal. Sheila wants Lynn to admit that her pain is greater and more important than Lynn(s or anyone else(s. Lynn is married to the enemy while Sheila has a full-time lover, whom she is also hurting with her silence. Everyone must be hurt to appease Sheila(s endless pain. After freezing on stage the night after this confrontational kissing scene, Sheila(s agent, Katie McRae (Eileen Barrett) confronts her in Sheila(s dressing room at the club. (Whatever this fantasy is that you(re playing out,( she tells her recalcitrant client, (it comes with a high price tag and I(m not going to pay it anymore.( In short, get over yourself. The whole world does not revolve around Sheila Caston. The Bill Matthews character fits into all of this as a standard issue successful white male who finds lesbianism repugnant, but who has been convinc

Category: Film - D