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''The Lost Language of Cranes'' is a 1991 British
made-for-television
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Nigel Finch
Nigel Lucius Graeme Finch (1 August 1949 – 14 February 1995) was an English film director and filmmaker whose career influenced the growth of British gay cinema.
Biography
Nigel Finch was born in Tenterden, Kent, the son of Graham and Tibby Fi ...
. It was adapted for television by
Sean Mathias
Sean Gerard Mathias (born 14 March 1956) is a Welsh actor, director, and writer. He is known for directing the film '' Bent'' and for directing highly acclaimed theatre productions in London, New York City, Cape Town, Los Angeles and Sydney.
...
, based on the 1986
novel of the same name by
David Leavitt
David Leavitt (; born June 23, 1961) is an American novelist, short story writer, and biographer.
Biography
Leavitt was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Harold and Gloria Leavitt. Harold was a professor who taught at Stanford University and G ...
. The film was produced by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
for their ''
Screen Two
''Screen Two'' was a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1985 to 1998 (not to be confused with a run of films shown on BBC2 under the billing ''Screen 2'' between April 1977 and March 197 ...
'' series, and aired on 9 February 1992. It stars
Brian Cox,
Eileen Atkins
Dame Eileen June Atkins, (born 16 June 1934), is an English actress and occasional screenwriter. She has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953. In 2008, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Emmy Aw ...
,
Angus Macfadyen
Angus Macfadyen (born 21 September 1963) is a Scottish actor. His roles include Robert the Bruce, both in ''Braveheart'' and ''Robert the Bruce'', Komodo in ''Warriors of Virtue'', Vice-Counsel Dupont in '' Equilibrium'', Jeff Denlon in the '' ...
,
Corey Parker,
Cathy Tyson
Catherine Tyson (born 12 June 1965) is an English actress. She won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), which also earned her Best Supporting Actress no ...
,
John Schlesinger
John Richard Schlesinger (; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Midnight Cowboy'', and was nominated for the same award for two other films ('' Darling'' an ...
,
René Auberjonois
René Murat Auberjonois (; June 1, 1940 – December 8, 2019) was an American actor and director. He was best known for portraying Odo on ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1993–1999). He first achieved fame as a stage actor, winning the Tony A ...
,
Ben Daniels and
Nigel Whitmey
Nigel Whitmey (born 23 February 1963) is a British-Canadian actor who has appeared in TV series and films. He is also the husband of the actress Abigail Thaw, whom he met while training at RADA.
Early life
Whitmey was born in Peace River, Alb ...
. Cox was nominated for a
British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
This is a list of the British Academy Television Awards for Best Actor. The Best Actor award was initially given as an "individual honour", without credit to a particular performance, until 1962, when Rupert Davies won for his performance in ''Maig ...
.
Synopsis
Philip Benjamin is a 20-something middle-class Londoner who works in publishing. Unbeknownst to his parents, Philip is gay and he decides to "
come out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
" to them. His parents are taken aback by the news and his mother, Rose, says that she will need time to come to terms with it. However, the revelation has a far greater impact on his father, Owen, who at first seems accepting of his son's revelation but later begins to cry. Although he has been married to Rose for years, Owen is also secretly gay, and makes clandestine visits to gay bars and gay adult cinemas.
Meanwhile, Philip's boyfriend, an American named Elliot, receives a visit from his adoptive parents Derek and Geoffrey, the gay couple who raised him. Soon after their visit, Elliot decides he no longer wants a relationship with Philip and moves to Paris. Philip remains friends with Elliot's female flatmate, Jerene, a PhD student who is writing her
thesis
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
on languages and behaviour. Her research includes the secret language that a pair of young twins created between themselves and also the case of a neglected young child who began emulating the movements of
construction cranes as this was the only thing he could see out of his bedroom window and therefore his only interaction with the outside world at a developmental age.
Owen and Philip go out for a meal and Owen asks Philip questions about his sexuality and how people know that they are gay. He says that he is asking because he has a colleague at the university where he works, an attractive man named Winston, and wondered if he was gay. Owen says he will invite Winston round for dinner because Philip might like him. However, on the evening of the dinner party, it becomes clear to Rose that Owen is the one who is actually attracted to Winston. She later confronts him which leads to Owen admitting his sexuality to her. Owen goes to stay with Philip and finally tells his son about himself.
Cast
*
Brian Cox as Owen
*
Angus Macfadyen
Angus Macfadyen (born 21 September 1963) is a Scottish actor. His roles include Robert the Bruce, both in ''Braveheart'' and ''Robert the Bruce'', Komodo in ''Warriors of Virtue'', Vice-Counsel Dupont in '' Equilibrium'', Jeff Denlon in the '' ...
as Philip
*
Eileen Atkins
Dame Eileen June Atkins, (born 16 June 1934), is an English actress and occasional screenwriter. She has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953. In 2008, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Emmy Aw ...
as Rose
*
Corey Parker as Elliot
*
Richard Warwick
Richard Warwick (29 April 1945 – 16 December 1997) was an English actor.
He was born Richard Carey Winter, the third of four sons, at Meopham, Kent, and made his film debut in Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in the r ...
as Frank
*
Cathy Tyson
Catherine Tyson (born 12 June 1965) is an English actress. She won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), which also earned her Best Supporting Actress no ...
as Jerene
*
René Auberjonois
René Murat Auberjonois (; June 1, 1940 – December 8, 2019) was an American actor and director. He was best known for portraying Odo on ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1993–1999). He first achieved fame as a stage actor, winning the Tony A ...
as Geoffrey
*
John Schlesinger
John Richard Schlesinger (; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Midnight Cowboy'', and was nominated for the same award for two other films ('' Darling'' an ...
as Derek
*
Ben Daniels as Robin
*
Nigel Whitmey
Nigel Whitmey (born 23 February 1963) is a British-Canadian actor who has appeared in TV series and films. He is also the husband of the actress Abigail Thaw, whom he met while training at RADA.
Early life
Whitmey was born in Peace River, Alb ...
as Winston
Release and censorship
The film premiered at the 1991
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...
. It was broadcast on BBC 2 on 9 February 1992. It was shown in the United States on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
on 24 June 1992 as part of ''
Great Performances
''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is pr ...
'', but was selectively edited using alternative takes for its television airing. According to producer Ruth Caleb, in the American version, there is no frontal nudity, the actors are semi-clothed, and a scene in a pornographic theater also was edited for U.S. broadcast.
PBS was coming under fire by conservative groups in the early 1990s for presenting programming showing homosexuality and nudity. A Public Television (PTV) audience analyst predicted that ''Cranes'' "in some markets could be a problem".
Following an outcry by the Rev.
Donald Wildmon Donald Ellis Wildmon (born January 18, 1938) is an ordained United Methodist minister, author, former radio host, and founder and chairman emeritus of the American Family Association and American Family Radio.
Life and career
Wildmon was born in t ...
and his
American Family Association
The American Family Association (AFA) is a Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States. , a number of PBS stations, such as WFYI in Indianapolis, WMFE in Orlando, KEDT in Corpus Christi, and KMBH in Harlingen, Texas, refused to show the film.
When
Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Indepe ...
chose not to renew its underwriting for ''Great Performances'', right before the premiere of the ''Cranes'', it was criticized by Out in Film, an association of gays and lesbians in the entertainment industry, who said Texaco's decision amounted to "corporate gay-bashing...and blatant homophobia".
However, a spokeswoman for Texaco said the company had fulfilled its funding commitment to ''Great Performances'': "Our obligation was to sponsor 26 programs in the series. We actually sponsored 27".
The uncensored version is available on
Region 1 DVD in the U.S., and on
Region 2 DVD in
The Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. In common with most ''Screen Two'' films, it has not been released on home video in the UK.
Critical reception
In his review for the PBS airing,
John J. O'Connor wrote that the cast, directed by Nigel French, "is quite admirable, from the dominant presences of Angus MacFadyen and Brian Cox to the brief but perfectly attuned appearances of the film director John Schlesinger and Rene Auberjonois as a gay couple visiting from Long Island...some passing sex scenes would be considered fairly standard television arrangements of entwined torsos and heavy kissing except, of course, that these involve same-sex partners. Like most prime-time milestones, this one is sure to trigger applause in some quarters, rage in others. In the long run, one hopes, television will have taken another small step toward growing up".
In a review from the
London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, formerly known as the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (LLGFF), is the biggest LGBTIQ+ film festival in Europe. It takes place every spring in London, England. It began in 1986, as a season of gay and ...
, they point out that David Leavitt's first novel is not the most obvious choice for a film adaptation. But, "it is to their great credit, that Sean Mathias' excellent script and Nigel Finch's adept direction do the novel such great justice". TV critic
Ken Tucker said in his review of the PBS airing that the film is an excellent example of "British '
kitchen sink
Kitchen sink may refer to:
* ''Freaks of Nature'' (film), a 2015 comedy horror film, also known as ''Kitchen Sink''
* ''Kitchen Sink'', a 1989 horror short directed by Alison Maclean
* ''Kitchen Sink'' (TV series), cookery series on Food Network ...
' drama, in which characters trapped in stifling emotional situations discuss, argue, and fight over their problems from every angle". He graded the movie A−, and concluded that the film "unlike many American TV movies, doesn’t idealize its gay characters; they are fully drawn, fallible people...''Cranes'' features first-rate acting by all three of its stars; it goes on a bit too long, and its ending is flat, but it’s a punchy piece of drama nonetheless".
References
External links
*
*
The Lost Language of Cranes' at
BFI
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...
*
The Lost Language of Cranes' at
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lost Language Of Cranes, The
1991 films
British drama films
1991 drama films
British LGBT-related television films
1991 LGBT-related films
1990s English-language films
1990s British films