Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)'s comments

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aussieflickfan

Pretty disturbing by the time it is all over. You will never think of Katherine Hepburn in the same way.

13 years 7 months ago

I'm seeing a lot of commentary about whether or not Joseph Mankiewicz' 1959 adaptation of Suddenly, Last Summer tried to hide Tennessee Williams' gay subtext, but I rather think he leaned into it going by the prominent painting of naked black man in the "garçonnière". The absent boy who died "last summer", sending his mother (Katharine Hepburn) and cousin (Elizabeth Taylor) each into their own mental tailspins (where madness meets high camp, natch), is definitely coded to be gay, and his tragic fate (as investigated by Montgomery Clift's brain surgeon - casting that also adds to the subtext) is a manifestation of LGBTQ+ anxiety. As is the fate that might await Taylor's character if she doesn't pass the doctor's litmus test, her "erotomania" and "meaningless diagnosis" are surely stand-ins for homosexuality as described in the 1950s. As a film, it plays like a Southern Gothic, but we're never far from the theatrical. There are a lot of long speeches and Mankiewicz at least finds a way to bring the final confession to life in a filmic way. Liz Taylor is powerful in this, as is Hepburn, and they blow everyone else away.

5 months 1 week ago