MovieChat Forums > Little Ashes (2009) Discussion > You people are asking the wrong question...

You people are asking the wrong questions:

posted 13 years ago by Waldimore
1 reply | jump to latest

.... the question is not whether Dali was gay? The question is whether or not he was crazy? Gay or straight, is was patently obvious even in this romanticized film, that Dali had some sort of severe personality disorder.

Dali's own words:

"my continual and ferocious need to feel myself 'different' made me weep with rage if some coincidence should bring me ... into the same category as others. Before all and whatever cost; myself alone! Myself alone! Myself alone!"

Clearly, these are the words of a self-obsessed egoist with serious narcissitic tendencies. And that's putting it mildly.

Here are a couple of links:

http://westengland.academia.edu/NicolaHolt/Blog/460/Salvador-Dal-crazy

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1045746/Is-woman-Salvador-Dalis-secret-daughter.html

Sraight or gay, the artist was indeed strange. I don't believe he was sexual in the same way most people are. If anything, he seems repressed and incapable of strong sexual inclinations as well as emotional attachments.

The real question is why Federico Garcia Lorca, a poet with such profound emotion, sensitivity, intelligence and intellect was attracted to this oddball painter? Sure Dali was a genius and maybe that was it. But he didn't seem to be at all a nice, approachable person. And I find it difficult to believe that such idyllic and romantic moments transpired between him and Lorca on that trip to Cadeques. Dali seems to be the type incapable of any sustained intimacy without strange and erratic outbursts.

Perhaps, being self-obsessed, he was taken by Lorca's passionate interest/desire for him and maybe that kept him entertained by the poet for a time. But according to information, Dali was primarily a voyeur and an autoerotic. He was also allegedly, not well-endowed. He is supposed to have had sex with his wife of 48 years only a couple of times. I think his sexual behavior toward Lorca and his wife demonstrate an inability for sexual intimacy with a partner. As a voyeur, he could remain detached and self-involved.

This movie attempted to deal with a relationship that was largely deduced by sources, including Dali. I don't think we'll ever know what truly happened between these 2.

What I take from it is a profound sadness for Lorca, who I believe was more of a whole human being than Dali could ever be. Dali's artistic genius does not excuse or forgive his shortcomings.

[–] onepotato2 12 years ago

The movie does a really good job of showing that Dali was attractive, and vulnerable in his early years at school. At best he was nervous and sympathetic. As you say, Dali was eventually to become completely unrelatable. He and his craven wife were masters of manipulation, and they certainly turned him into a phenom, but the two of them were a piece of work.

I am with you, with your feelings for Lorca. Poor guy. When the love of your life appears, we don't choose it (or whom). Lorca knew Dali when he was still sort of human. We only know Dai as the outrageous irrritant/upstart.

As messed up as the trio becomes, I still watch enviously as 3 striking indivduals - with each others prodding - turn themselves into 3 very important virtuosos. That has to be better than settling on the unpromising wastrels that drop into our lives in 2012, who have little or no potential.

I appreciate your writing about the movie and the relationships.