June 15, 2023
FILM: BLUE JEAN
DIRECTOR: GEORGIA OAKLEY
STARRING: Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
It’s the late 1980s and the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is pushing a policy to stop the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools. Sound familiar? The struggle that the main character in Blue Jean experiences sadly might feel right at home today in certain U.S. states.
Blue Jean is a quiet but powerful film about the effects remaining in the closet has on one’s own self-esteem and on the next generation. Jean, played by Rosy McEwen, is a gym teacher by day and a popular bar lesbian by night. The problem is that she can’t seem to bridge both worlds. The first part of the film slowly builds Jean’s world from her relatively soft approach to teaching to her friendship with many other lesbians that are clearly out and proud. They wear their sexuality on their sleeves but Jean doesn’t. She has a “butch” girlfriend but their relationship is strained due to their contrasting levels of self-disclosure and expression. Jean is also closeted at school until a new female student turns up at the lesbian bar that Jean and her friends frequent. At school, the girl, Lois, is teased and treated as an outcast by the others in her class. How should Jean react? The inner conflict Jean experiences reaches a new height when she is forced to make a decision about something she sees which involves Lois in the girl’s locker room.
The film was written and directed by Georgia Oakley who has a keen sense of the atmosphere for LGBTQ youth in the late 1980s when homosexuality wasn’t as accepted as it is today. Yet, the parallel to what is happening at schools and libraries throughout the U.S. today makes this a highly relevant story. Jean has to decide what kind of role model she should be to Lois. Does she keep a boundary between her world and Lois’s? Should such a line exist or is it more helpful for an LGBTQ adult to be an open ally to young people first exploring their own sexuality? We can see how this becomes a bit of a quandary for Jean. What happens if she touches a female student in class that is in need of assistance? Could this be viewed as an unwelcome advance even if there is nothing sexual attached to this touch? What are the long-term effects of being quiet?
Rosy McEwen gives a superb performance as Jean. Her work is subtle yet her face expresses so much of Jean’s inner turmoil. McEwen quietly exhibits Jean’s feelings of shame, guilt, and fear of being exposed for who she is. When she reaches her lowest point, McEwen lets out what Jean’s been dealing with in a manner that is moving and revelatory for the character.
In the end, Blue Jean embraces the importance of a supportive LGBTQ community as well as a prideful one. It’s a significant warning call to anyone who is being told to keep quiet and “don’t say gay” that such an approach can be psychologically damaging to young people and adults alike.
Blue Jean opens this week at the Gene Siskel Center in Chicago.
FILM: BLUE JEAN
DIRECTOR: GEORGIA OAKLEY
STARRING: Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
It’s the late 1980s and the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is pushing a policy to stop the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools. Sound familiar? The struggle that the main character in Blue Jean experiences sadly might feel right at home today in certain U.S. states.
Blue Jean is a quiet but powerful film about the effects remaining in the closet has on one’s own self-esteem and on the next generation. Jean, played by Rosy McEwen, is a gym teacher by day and a popular bar lesbian by night. The problem is that she can’t seem to bridge both worlds. The first part of the film slowly builds Jean’s world from her relatively soft approach to teaching to her friendship with many other lesbians that are clearly out and proud. They wear their sexuality on their sleeves but Jean doesn’t. She has a “butch” girlfriend but their relationship is strained due to their contrasting levels of self-disclosure and expression. Jean is also closeted at school until a new female student turns up at the lesbian bar that Jean and her friends frequent. At school, the girl, Lois, is teased and treated as an outcast by the others in her class. How should Jean react? The inner conflict Jean experiences reaches a new height when she is forced to make a decision about something she sees which involves Lois in the girl’s locker room.
The film was written and directed by Georgia Oakley who has a keen sense of the atmosphere for LGBTQ youth in the late 1980s when homosexuality wasn’t as accepted as it is today. Yet, the parallel to what is happening at schools and libraries throughout the U.S. today makes this a highly relevant story. Jean has to decide what kind of role model she should be to Lois. Does she keep a boundary between her world and Lois’s? Should such a line exist or is it more helpful for an LGBTQ adult to be an open ally to young people first exploring their own sexuality? We can see how this becomes a bit of a quandary for Jean. What happens if she touches a female student in class that is in need of assistance? Could this be viewed as an unwelcome advance even if there is nothing sexual attached to this touch? What are the long-term effects of being quiet?
Rosy McEwen gives a superb performance as Jean. Her work is subtle yet her face expresses so much of Jean’s inner turmoil. McEwen quietly exhibits Jean’s feelings of shame, guilt, and fear of being exposed for who she is. When she reaches her lowest point, McEwen lets out what Jean’s been dealing with in a manner that is moving and revelatory for the character.
In the end, Blue Jean embraces the importance of a supportive LGBTQ community as well as a prideful one. It’s a significant warning call to anyone who is being told to keep quiet and “don’t say gay” that such an approach can be psychologically damaging to young people and adults alike.
Blue Jean opens this week at the Gene Siskel Center in Chicago.