bnorthup
05-21-2002, 12:43 AM
Kissing Jessica Stein (R)
At the Myrna Loy through Thursday, May 23.
3 stars
Women seeking women
By Brent Northup
So how will a lesbian romantic comedy play in Helena? Well, I was the one and only moviegoer at the Myrna Loy showing I attended. The projectionist even delayed the start to see if another person would come. Nope. At least the crowd wasn’t rowdy.
Too bad. This is a very likable and insightful movie which manages to handle a nervous topic in a direct, honest yet inoffensive way. When I was in Seattle and able to see almost all independent films, I reviewed many movies on gay themes – two thirds were intentionally raw and aimed at the gay audience. The other third were intentionally stereotypically outrageous or silly, tiptoeing away from the real issues involved. There were a few exceptions, but only a few.
“Kissing Jessica Stein” finds the right balance between being honest and accessible. If anything, I’d classify it as too safe – it shies away from the depth the topic invites.
We’ve seen the story before – except it’s always boy meets girl, not girl meets girl.
One uninhibited art gallery owner, Helen (Heather Juergensen) tires of her wild male friends. Helen places an ad in the “women seeking women” personals asking for “friendship or more.” The ad attracts the interest of a Jessica (Jennifer Westfeldt), a neurotic newspaper copy editor who is lonely and has tired of the shallow dating game.
Jessica dares to accept a date with Helen, but upon meeting her immediately loses her courage and tries to escape. The entire film is the tale of Helen’s growing courage to accept this new relationship, which meets all her inner needs – but still embarrasses her around her family and friends, who constitute classic slice of New York Jewish life.
The film, co-written by the actresses who play the leads, seems at first to be an overly optimistic tale of “true love” until it takes a sudden veer, and ends with a climactic thud. Jessica, it seems, is as hard for a lesbian to love for an extended time as she was for a straight man to love for an extended time. Helen finally can stand Jessica’s neuroses no longer, and she leaves.
The movie makes mention of poet Rainer Maria Rilke, and the reference is insightful. Rilke (1875-1926) once wrote “a good relationship is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude.” Rilke went on to say that true love doesn’t mean removing the distance between people, rather love means “loving the distance between each other that makes it possible for each to see the other whole against a wide sky.”
Trying to bridge distances is the essence of the tale of Jessica and Helen. Except that, ultimately, when they become aware of the unbridgeable distance between them, they aren’t able to embrace that void, as Rilke suggests they should.
Instead, Helen and Jessica start the search anew, each hoping to find a relationship where no distance lies between the lovers. Rilke would wish them well, I’m sure, but he would also likely sadly suggest they won’t find fulfillment until they can accept and embrace the “infinite distances” that lie between even the closest of friends, between even the most intimate of lovers.
END
At the Myrna Loy through Thursday, May 23.
3 stars
Women seeking women
By Brent Northup
So how will a lesbian romantic comedy play in Helena? Well, I was the one and only moviegoer at the Myrna Loy showing I attended. The projectionist even delayed the start to see if another person would come. Nope. At least the crowd wasn’t rowdy.
Too bad. This is a very likable and insightful movie which manages to handle a nervous topic in a direct, honest yet inoffensive way. When I was in Seattle and able to see almost all independent films, I reviewed many movies on gay themes – two thirds were intentionally raw and aimed at the gay audience. The other third were intentionally stereotypically outrageous or silly, tiptoeing away from the real issues involved. There were a few exceptions, but only a few.
“Kissing Jessica Stein” finds the right balance between being honest and accessible. If anything, I’d classify it as too safe – it shies away from the depth the topic invites.
We’ve seen the story before – except it’s always boy meets girl, not girl meets girl.
One uninhibited art gallery owner, Helen (Heather Juergensen) tires of her wild male friends. Helen places an ad in the “women seeking women” personals asking for “friendship or more.” The ad attracts the interest of a Jessica (Jennifer Westfeldt), a neurotic newspaper copy editor who is lonely and has tired of the shallow dating game.
Jessica dares to accept a date with Helen, but upon meeting her immediately loses her courage and tries to escape. The entire film is the tale of Helen’s growing courage to accept this new relationship, which meets all her inner needs – but still embarrasses her around her family and friends, who constitute classic slice of New York Jewish life.
The film, co-written by the actresses who play the leads, seems at first to be an overly optimistic tale of “true love” until it takes a sudden veer, and ends with a climactic thud. Jessica, it seems, is as hard for a lesbian to love for an extended time as she was for a straight man to love for an extended time. Helen finally can stand Jessica’s neuroses no longer, and she leaves.
The movie makes mention of poet Rainer Maria Rilke, and the reference is insightful. Rilke (1875-1926) once wrote “a good relationship is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude.” Rilke went on to say that true love doesn’t mean removing the distance between people, rather love means “loving the distance between each other that makes it possible for each to see the other whole against a wide sky.”
Trying to bridge distances is the essence of the tale of Jessica and Helen. Except that, ultimately, when they become aware of the unbridgeable distance between them, they aren’t able to embrace that void, as Rilke suggests they should.
Instead, Helen and Jessica start the search anew, each hoping to find a relationship where no distance lies between the lovers. Rilke would wish them well, I’m sure, but he would also likely sadly suggest they won’t find fulfillment until they can accept and embrace the “infinite distances” that lie between even the closest of friends, between even the most intimate of lovers.
END