Being an admirer of both Monty Clift and Tennessee Williams, I went to see this film with great anticipation. I was eighteen at the time and topics such as homosexuality were taboo in the cinema back then. But with the by Tennessee Williams attached to it, I expected to be confronted with material, characters and situations that challenged my sheltered mind. But with "Suddenly, Last Summer," I was amazed to learn that Williams surpassed even himself! From the very beginning, I beheld a Katharine Hepburn playing a character so bizarre and cryptic, that it bordered on the comical. Even Monty Clift, his youth and tender looks despoiled by accident, pills & booze, looked tired. But Liz Taylor seemed perfectly okay, her beauty never more radiant. The only thing wrong with her character was her sanity. Apparently she witnessed something so awful the summer in question happening to her cousin Sebastian, that it drove her over the edge of sanity into madness. But the eccentric aunt and the deranged cousin aren't the focal point of this grim tale. Sebastian is the one who motivates all the others. The one we are tantalized with and shocked by and made so mysterious, that we don't even get to see his face, hear his voice or learn what made him the way he was. He's always shot from behind, as if to see his face might just make the audience care about him, know his humanity and, possibly, even sympathize with him. Sebastian was made to be abstract, and censorship being what it was, that made the producers breathe easier. Although he meets a horrible death at the hands of some Third World beach boys, he's not meant to be the victim of the film. Instead, his pretty cousin is the one who must be sacrificed to protect the memory and reputation of her cousin. Mama wants it that way and what Hepburn wants, she gets, even going so far as to blackmail two doctors to silence her niece! Mama Hepburn, to me, is the real monster of the film and Taylor her helpless victim. Made helpless by the need for secrecy at all costs. If anything, this tale can be about how an obsession with secrecy leads to madness.
As for Sebastian, we are supposed to think he got what he deserved. As for me, the movie left me emotionally drained. The predatory beasts unleashed, the primeval garden(replete with insect-devouring plants), the attempted suicide and gang rape by loony inmates of Taylor.... the long speech at the beginning about swooping blackbirds preying on baby turtles that Hepburn delivers, all made me limp at the end. Hepburn and Taylor both received worthy Oscar nominations for their work. The set designer as well for the foreboding lunatic asylum and simmering garden; the primitive operating room where lobotomies are performed - - all excellent. Rent the video if you can. But remember, this is set in 1937 when homosexuals weren't getting elected to Congress. Remember, also, that Sebastian is a martyr if only because he was before his time. Just like the saint he's named after.
I was made to realize above all else from this film that there is a beast that lurks in our unconscious mind; a remnant from our prehistoric past; and of which we are reminded by the frequent animal imagery used in this film. Something to think about whenever we see the strong preying upon the weak. To quote a line from the film: "Nature is not made in the image of man's compassion."
As for Sebastian, we are supposed to think he got what he deserved. As for me, the movie left me emotionally drained. The predatory beasts unleashed, the primeval garden(replete with insect-devouring plants), the attempted suicide and gang rape by loony inmates of Taylor.... the long speech at the beginning about swooping blackbirds preying on baby turtles that Hepburn delivers, all made me limp at the end. Hepburn and Taylor both received worthy Oscar nominations for their work. The set designer as well for the foreboding lunatic asylum and simmering garden; the primitive operating room where lobotomies are performed - - all excellent. Rent the video if you can. But remember, this is set in 1937 when homosexuals weren't getting elected to Congress. Remember, also, that Sebastian is a martyr if only because he was before his time. Just like the saint he's named after.
I was made to realize above all else from this film that there is a beast that lurks in our unconscious mind; a remnant from our prehistoric past; and of which we are reminded by the frequent animal imagery used in this film. Something to think about whenever we see the strong preying upon the weak. To quote a line from the film: "Nature is not made in the image of man's compassion."
- - Sound Track