Prick Up Your Ears
The highest praise must go to Gary Oldman; as Joe Orton
he exudes warmth and unrepentant sexuality.
B Y
B R A D Y
And can we ever understand what would
cause a man to brutally murder his lover
and kill himself.’ These are the questions
Prick Up Your Ears invite us to ask. I
suspect we will be reflecting on the
answers for a long time.
DRAGONFLY
GARDENS
J E N S E N
partners during this time.
The film actually has two narrative
Director: Stephen Frears
threads. The first is the story of Joe Orton.
Starring: Gary Oldman, Alfred
The second, that of John Lahr and his
Molina, Vanessa Redgrave
research into Orton’s life. The film weaves
Playing at: The Movie House
from one thread to the other, using the
If you read his diary all will be explained.
present-day
story to amplify, analyze, and
K.H.
interpret the past. It is a very effective
P.S. Especially the latter part ”
technique, vaguely reminiscent of The
French
Lieutenant's Woman. Screenwriter
ith these words, and nine cracks
with a hammer, Kenneth Halliwell Alan Bennet captures Joe Orton — his
anger and rage with society and his burn
made himself equal to his lover,
ing humor which was his revenge. Bennett
British playwright Joe Orton. On August
9, 1967, Halliwell bludgeoned his lover of draws heavily on Orton’s diary, written
over the last two years of his life, and the
sixteen years and took his own life with
dialogue always rings true. The wholly
sleeping pills. Orton was 34 and, after just
fictionalized is kept to a minimum, and
even where necessary, as in Halli well's
and Orton’s final scene. Bennett is true to
Orton’s spirit.
Stephen Frears, director of My Beautiful
two full-length plays, his outrageous and
Laundrette, does a masterful job with tone
irreverent humor had conquered London
and atmospheie. The period details cap
theater. Lost, as his lover achieved the
ture the sense of claustrophobic confine
fame he had always sought, Halliwell be
ment in Orton’s and Halliwell’s room and
came a bitter, depressed and lonely man
the dark squalid world of anonymous sex.
paralyzed with the fear that Orton would
Frears balances this in neat counterpoint
leave him.
with the scenes in present day, which are
Prick Up Your Ears, based on the
nearly always shot in well-lit, open rooms.
biography of Orton by John Lahr, is the
Visually, the film stresses the outlaw in
story of Orton and Halliwell, their life
Orton that popular and critical success
together and their tragic deaths. Like any
could not erase.
film biography, it walks a thin line
Prick Up Your Ears succeeds principal
between faithfully portraying a life and
ly, however, on the strength of its three
sensitively depicting a dramatic story. It
main characters — Gary Oldman as Orton,
succeeds wonderfully at both. At another
Alfred Molina as Halliwell, and Vanessa
level, it is a giant step forward in the depic Redgrave as Orton’s powerful theatrical
tion of homosexuality through film. Orton agent, Peggy Ramsay, Wallace Shawn, of
and Halliwell were lovers for sixteen
My Dinner With Andre as Lahr, and Julie
years, coupled at a time when homosexu
Walters (Educating Rita) as Orton’s
ality was still illegal in Britain and mostly
mother, Elise, lend firm support to the
carried out in public bathrooms (“ Tea
principals.
Rooms” ) and abandoned buildings. Prick
The highest praise must go to Oldman,
Up Your Ears does not disguise this rela
whose only other film credit is as Sid
Vicious in Sid and Nancy. Oldman exudes
tionship, nor make apologies for it. There
warmth and unrepentant sexuality. Even in
is no implication that the fact Orton and
Halliwell were gay is in any way respon - photographs, Orton is magnetic — plain
sexy. Critics of Orton’s work believe the
sible for the grisly outcome.
rage explicit in his work was the focused
At its heart. Prick Up Your Ears is an
examination of a relationship put under the product of the rage he felt towards a soci
ety which harshly oppressed any overt sex
stress of success, more accurately, the
uality, and homosexuality in particular. It
popular and artistic success of one of the
is impossible, therefore, to separate Or
partners. In this sense, it almost seems like
ton’s
sexuality from his work. Oldman
one of those old Ladies’ Home Journal
captures this rage and the pleasure of sex
pieces, “ Can this marriage be saved?” It
well — better than could be described in
is an all-too-read story of one partner’s
words.
having “ made it” and leaving the other
Prick Up Your Ears is a must-see film.
behind. It is not too different from the wife
Already it has become a major event. The
who puts her husband through medical
movie was released simultaneously with
school only to be deserted because her
the
publishing of The Orton Diaries in
interests are no longer his. The Orton-
England and the United States. A lengthy
Halliwell relationship was founded on
excerpt appears in the May Vanity Fair.
failure; as long as they were both failures -
Loot, Orton’s award-winning second play,
on stage or in writing — they were equals.
Success of the one drove home all the more was revived successfully on Broadway last
year, and Joseph Papp just optioned the
strongly the failure of the other.
Beatles movie screenplay, which was un
There is another sub-text to Prick Up
finished at Orton’s death, for a new
Your Ears, one unique to the gay experi
musical.
ence. Orton and Halliwell were complete
Twenty years after his death, interest in
outcasts. They had no gay ghetto to pro
Orton
has never been more keen. Ironi
vide support, no friends or peers. Prick Up
cally, despite Halliwell’s reference to the
Your Ears is, then, an examination of the
gay relationship. Notwithstanding its brutal diaries, Orton’s death remains very much
a tragic mystery. Prick Up Your Ears pro
ending (due more to the issue of success
vides much in the way of explanation, but
than sexuality), this relationship worked
for a very long time. There is no record of in the end, how much can ever be known
the first ten years, but it is clear in the film about the life of two men who live and
work for fifteen years in a single room?
that this relationship met needs of both
A GREAT N EW
G A RD EN CEN TER
A N D N U R SER Y
OFFERING QUALITY
AND SERVICE
W
.¿¿»te*“*—
I
FEATURING CUT FLOWERS,
ORCHIDS AND BONSAI
INDOOR AND OUTDOOR PLANTS,
TOOLS AND ORGANIC SUPPLIES
• QUEERSVILLE
SUNDAY 10:00 PM
STOCKING A COMPLETE LINE OF
ANNUALS, PERENNIALS AND
VFGETABLE PLANTS.
• WOMANSOUL
FRIDAY 10:00 PM
COME IN AND SEE OUR COLLECTION
OF COLORFUL CONTAINERS
2230 S.E. HAWTHORNE BLVD.
PORTLAND, OREGON 97214
235-9150
i
MON.-SAT 10-6 SUNDAY 10-5
KBOO
90.7 FM
MOVIE HOUSE
TAYLOR 4595
% %
^ Jm-J*
swum
• SEVEN GABLES THEATRES«