{"id":32475,"date":"2013-08-22T10:48:45","date_gmt":"2013-08-22T17:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32475"},"modified":"2020-11-29T16:22:55","modified_gmt":"2020-11-29T23:22:55","slug":"different-story-a-1978","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32475","title":{"rendered":"Different Story, A (1978)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Yes I have, several, and not particularly.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Different-Story-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Different-Story-Poster-196x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-32477\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Different-Story-Poster-196x300.jpg 196w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Different-Story-Poster-83x128.jpg 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Different-Story-Poster.jpg 379w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA real estate agent (Meg Foster) allows a homeless illegal immigrant (Perry King) to live with her, and they eventually become friends, then spouses, then lovers, then parents.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Homosexuality<\/li>\n<li>Lesbianism<\/li>\n<li>Romance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nIt&#8217;s unclear why Peary included this controversial indie film in the back of his <em>GFTFF<\/em>: is it because of Meg Foster&#8217;s strong performance in a leading role originally slated for Susan Sarandon, or because he found the subject matter itself intriguing? While I rented this title with an open mind, prepared to engage with what did indeed sound like a &#8220;different [romantic] story&#8221; (apparently based on a real couple), I was disappointed to find that, despite a promising start, it quickly devolves into a scenario that&#8217;s not only implausible and offensive but dull. Screenwriter Henry Olek seems to think that King&#8217;s &#8220;feminine&#8221; interest in clothing design is enough to remind us that he&#8217;s still (supposedly) gay even after marrying Foster; meanwhile, once Foster gives up her lesbian &#8220;lifestyle&#8221;, the only representation of lesbianism we&#8217;re left with is her pathologically clingy and neurotic ex-girlfriend (Valerie Curtin). <\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.glaa.org\/\">Gay [and Lesbian] Activists Alliance<\/a> wrote a letter of concern upon the film&#8217;s release, and it&#8217;s easy to see why: a movie which posits that a gay man and woman can suddenly find not only love but sexual satisfaction with one another feeds directly into the toxic fantasy that homosexuality can be &#8220;cured&#8221;, especially once a kid arrives on the scene. Clearly, this kind of scenario does occasionally happen &#8212; see IMDb user posts for at least one example; but it&#8217;s handled here with such lack of insight and nuance that this story really would have been better off not being told at all. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> King&#8217;s status as a Belgian illegal immigrant (purely a plot device &#8212; it&#8217;s the reason Foster marries him to begin with) is clumsily handled as well: when Foster asks him why he doesn&#8217;t have an accent, he declares it&#8217;s because he &#8220;doesn&#8217;t want one&#8221; (!!!). <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Meg Foster as Stella<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Different-Story-Foster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Different-Story-Foster.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-32478\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Different-Story-Foster.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Different-Story-Foster-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Different-Story-Foster-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; feel free to skip this one, unless you&#8217;re curious. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0077435\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1978\/06\/14\/archives\/film-a-different-storycaught-in-switches.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/london\/film\/a-different-story-1978\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Yes I have, several, and not particularly.&#8221; Synopsis: A real estate agent (Meg Foster) allows a homeless illegal immigrant (Perry King) to live with her, and they eventually become friends, then spouses, then lovers, then parents. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Homosexuality Lesbianism Romance Review: It&#8217;s unclear why Peary included this controversial indie film in the back of his GFTFF: is it because of Meg Foster&#8217;s strong performance in a leading role originally slated for Susan Sarandon, or because he&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32475\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32475"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55717,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32475\/revisions\/55717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}