Jean Geret


Is this film based on the novels of Mr. Geret or "inspired" by his works?

Just wanted to know...

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It's inspired by his novels, quoting from Our Lady of the Flowers, The Miracle of the Rose, and The Thief's Journal. And some of the visual style (in the 'Homo' section) is based on Genet's film Un Chant D'amour, which is also set in a prison.

Jane Giles, an expert on Genet and film says Poison incorporates 'direct adaptation of scenes from Genet's novels and an overall inspiration by his work in a broader sense', and Haynes himself has said his aim was to make the themes of Genet's works interact with current issues:

"When Genet died in 1986, it made me realise that all this time, somewhere in the world, he'd been kicking around. What was he thinking when he opened up the paper? What would he have said about AIDS or Reagan or Jessie Helms? It was around this time that I first started thinking about creating a film that would enable some of these issues to interact with themes from Genet's work. So I suppose it was inevitable that Poison would be a film about deviance."
(Director's statement, 1991)

Some more brief information on Poison in the context of Genet as well as details of other adaptations of his work can be found in Giles's book:

Jane Giles, Criminal Desires: Jean Genet and Cinema (Creation Books, 2002)


Chris xx

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Poison is a brilliant film. Andf so underrated in queer cinema that it is impossible to get a hold of. Your insight to it is remarkable: Jean Genet was such an interesting writer who led an interesting life, that I hope someone will make a film about him...if they haven't already!

"Well, me whole family's musical, Jeffo... even the sewing machine's a Singer." John Constantine

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wow thanks
that was very detailed

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i'm reading the "miracle of the rose" now and it's reminded me of the prison scenes in "poison" which i was saw some years ago a lot.

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