MovieChat Forums > Lianna (1983) Discussion > 'Lianna' vs 'Making Love'

'Lianna' vs 'Making Love'

posted 17 years ago by gentelg
4 replies | jump to latest

I cant help but think of the film "Making Love" which came out around the same time as this flick. Both featured married characters coming to terms with their sexuality.

[–] modean 17 years ago

True, both deal with married characters coming to terms with their sexual identity and having affairs with members of the same sex. However I can't help but feel that "Lianna" is, despite it's budgetary constraints, far superior to "Making Love".

First, the story in "Lianna" is more compelling in that it involves real people, and the ending is less contrived. The main character, Lianna, is sympathetic but not wholly blameless for her situation. Her husband is a cheater but he's not a villain as much as a horny *beep* It also portrays the reality of choosing to live as a homosexual in society (at least in the 70's and 80's), Lianna is lonely as a lesbian. She goes from a relatively happy, comfortable, and stable life as the wife of a Professor to being a lonely woman, working as a cashier and living in a small apartment, seeking comfort in one night stands with other lesbians. Still, her life is her own at the end, and you get the sense that things will get better.

"Making Love", on the other hand, is a typical Hollywood crapfest. The characters are broadly drawn, uninteresting, and pictured as living idyllic lives. There's so little chemistry between Zack and Claire that it's hard to imagine why they got married at all. The "conflict" between them, and Zack's homosexuality, are so manufactured as to be unbelievable. Even when the movie feels like it's hitting the groove (when Zack and Bart are arguing) it's sub-par at best. Then the ending is an idealized Hollywood ending, with Claire re-married and a mother, Zack living in a committed relationship with another man, and the two of them talking over old times like they were friends. What a load of crap.

[–] WarpedRecord 15 years ago

This is very much like the female version of "Making Love." I think both films are very good, but unlike the other poster, "Making Love" struck me as much more than "crap" – it seemed a sincere attempt to explore an extremely touchy subject. Both "Making Love" and "Lianna" are soap operatic, and both touch the heart, but "Making Love" just touched mine a bit deeper.

[–] KMPINTJ 12 years ago

Yes, this is an interesting comparison. I was in college when these two films came out (along with a slew of other vaguely gay-themed movies such as Victor, Victoria, Personal Best, and even Deathtrap, which had a gay couple). I am male, but I think Lianna is a better film and more realistic. Also, it has no "stars" and of course much more of an Indy feel. Of course, Making Love got all the press, and looky-loos came to the theatre to see the two "f*gs" kiss and gasp and boo. Perhaps that added to its more sensationalist legacy, but I also didn't think it was quite as realistic.

However, yes, as one who was a young gay man whose best friend was a young lesbian woman, we saw both of these films twice and I remember that period of cinema well. These are interesting parallels.

[–] WarpedRecord 12 years ago

"Lianna" indeed feels more realistic, and the fact that it was written and directed by a straight male attests to John Sayles' talents and open-mindedness when the subject was still pretty taboo in films.

It's interesting that there was a burst of gay-themed (sort of) films in the early '80s, then a handful of films like "My Beautiful Laundrette," "Desert Hearts" and "Parting Glances" in the mid-'80s, but then not that much for the rest of the decade. I think AIDS made gay subject matter problematic for many filmmakers, and they just chose to avoid it until "Longtime Companion" late in the decade. Kudos to "Parting Glances" for picking up the torch early.