Elena Undone (2010) was written and directed by Nicole Conn. I consider it a pretty standard wife-meets-lesbian love story. In fact, I'm surprised that the IMDb rating is as high as it is.
Elena (the lovely Necar Zadegan) has been married to a minister for many years. (They have a teenage son.) Something is missing from her marriage, and she's not very happy.
OK--lets examine the plot to this point. Her husband is pretty hypocritical, and succumbs to his parishioners who demand a strong anti-GLBT message from him. (I don't think he believes it, but he preaches it anyway. That's not OK.) But, he loves his wife, is respectful of her, and tries to be attentive to her needs and understanding of her problems. His worse fault, as his son tells him, is that he's "clueless." That's hardly an asset, but not the hideous defect it's made out to be. (Most of his cluelessness is that he doesn't realize his wife is having an affair, because he trusts her so much.) So, we move on.
His wife is attracted to--and falls in love with--Peyton, a lesbian writer, played by Traci Dinwiddie. There's also a guru named Tyler, played by Sam Harris. This role was so bizarre that I couldn't tell if Tyler was a real guru (i.e. don't laugh at him) or was supposed to be the comic relief.
At this point we have a wife in love with a lesbian woman, but she just can't make up her mind. My husband, my lover, my husband, my lover--What should I do? She decides to stay with her husband, but not let him "touch her," thereby remaining true to her lover. This despite a "romantic" vacation in Hawaii with her husband. (Either she did let him "touch her," or else he's the most understanding husband in the U.S.)
I think that what earned the movie its high ratings wasn't the plot, but the exotic beauty of Necar Zadegan. She's more Bollywood beautiful than Hollywood beautiful, but, in any case, you can't take your eyes off her. So, she may be an unfaithful wife and a less-than-perfect mother, but that's OK. If she had bad hair, a bad face, and a bad body, no one would care about her as she agonizes about what to do next. So, as they say, "Being beautiful doesn't hurt." However, being about a lesbian romance doesn't automatically make a movie a great movie either. In my mind, this isn't a great movie, beautiful star or not.
We saw this film in the Little Theatre at the exceptional ImageOut: Rochester Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. It will work very well on DVD.
Elena (the lovely Necar Zadegan) has been married to a minister for many years. (They have a teenage son.) Something is missing from her marriage, and she's not very happy.
OK--lets examine the plot to this point. Her husband is pretty hypocritical, and succumbs to his parishioners who demand a strong anti-GLBT message from him. (I don't think he believes it, but he preaches it anyway. That's not OK.) But, he loves his wife, is respectful of her, and tries to be attentive to her needs and understanding of her problems. His worse fault, as his son tells him, is that he's "clueless." That's hardly an asset, but not the hideous defect it's made out to be. (Most of his cluelessness is that he doesn't realize his wife is having an affair, because he trusts her so much.) So, we move on.
His wife is attracted to--and falls in love with--Peyton, a lesbian writer, played by Traci Dinwiddie. There's also a guru named Tyler, played by Sam Harris. This role was so bizarre that I couldn't tell if Tyler was a real guru (i.e. don't laugh at him) or was supposed to be the comic relief.
At this point we have a wife in love with a lesbian woman, but she just can't make up her mind. My husband, my lover, my husband, my lover--What should I do? She decides to stay with her husband, but not let him "touch her," thereby remaining true to her lover. This despite a "romantic" vacation in Hawaii with her husband. (Either she did let him "touch her," or else he's the most understanding husband in the U.S.)
I think that what earned the movie its high ratings wasn't the plot, but the exotic beauty of Necar Zadegan. She's more Bollywood beautiful than Hollywood beautiful, but, in any case, you can't take your eyes off her. So, she may be an unfaithful wife and a less-than-perfect mother, but that's OK. If she had bad hair, a bad face, and a bad body, no one would care about her as she agonizes about what to do next. So, as they say, "Being beautiful doesn't hurt." However, being about a lesbian romance doesn't automatically make a movie a great movie either. In my mind, this isn't a great movie, beautiful star or not.
We saw this film in the Little Theatre at the exceptional ImageOut: Rochester Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. It will work very well on DVD.