Note: I can tell you straight up that Christopher and His Kind is not for everyone. If you are squeamish about seeing naked men (there is a brief glimpse of a penis twice in one scene), men making out and having sex, or if you don’t approve of non-hetro relationships in general this film is not for you.
Christopher and His Kind is a strange film and, to be honest, it wasn’t what I expected. I was expecting a romantic film and a tragedy with high drama and plenty of tear jerking moments, but the film only got me to tear up a couple of times. Instead, it’s a rather calm affair with tension that slowly builds and then sort of dissipates towards the end. While the subject matter is truly dark and tragic, the film tends to imply rather than show the events surrounding the Nazis rise to power and how it affected gay men. Furthermore, I found the character of Christopher Isherwood to be quite dislikable! While capable of true kindness and sensitivity, Christopher is also rather callous, self-centered, and dismissive. In short, it was an accurate portrayal of a real and flawed human being rather than an ideal.
The film starts with Christopher Isherwood (Matt Smith) an old man writing his autobiography, ‘Christopher and His Kind’ that the movie is based off of. We then travel back in time to 1931 as Christopher is on the train to Berlin with side flashes back to London as Christopher’s mother attempts to guilt trip Christopher into staying in England. Kathleen Isherwood (Lindsay Duncan), wants her son to stay for various reasons including the fact that she wants him to study to be a Doctor (lol) and that during WWI Christopher’s father was killed by Germans. However, Christopher is adamant that he has to go to meet his friend, W.H. Auden (Pip Carter), and so leaves.
This brings me to one of the things that REALLY surprised me. Berlin of 1931 is actually pretty gay friendly! After being hit on in the train to Berlin, Christopher is met by his friend who brings him to the 1931 version of a gay bar.
It’s dark, it’s dirty, it’s very obviously in a basement somewhere, and the look on Christopher’s face tells you he’s never been someplace like this before.
Christopher moves into a boarding house and makes friends with Gerald Hamilton (Toby Jones, the Dreamlord) who lives on the same floor. To pay the bills while he writes his novels, Christopher starts giving English lessons. (Note: The dolphin clock in this scene and the following scenes is an actual clock lent to the production by Christopher’s still living partner!) He also starts to befriend his neighbor, the actress Jean Ross (Imogen Poots), and bringing lovers home to his apartment.
Then the shit starts to hit the fan. As Germany moves closer to the decisive election that will bring Hitler and the Nazi party to power, everyone who surrounds Christopher talks about how people need to stand up to the Nazis to stop them. Yet, Christopher doesn’t seem to worry about the future even as Jewish store fronts are being defaced with Star of David graffiti and men are beaten up on the street by Brown Shirts.
Instead, Christopher is more focused on his new relationship with street sweeper Heinz Neddermayer (Douglas Booth). This leads to a major failing of the film for me. While Christopher and Heinz are supposed to be desperately in love with each other, this relationship is mostly told to us rather than shown. While there are several tender scenes between Christopher and Heinz I was always waiting for more to show why these two were willing to risk their very lives to stay together.
All in all, Christopher and His Kind is a beautiful film with absolutely gorgeous sets and drool worthy costumes. The acting is superb and while I didn’t like the character of Christopher Isherwood as a person Matt Smith does a brilliant job of acting as him. I do wish that they had changed Matt Smith’s hair a bit more for the role though. Matt looks almost exactly like he does as the Doctor so it is a little hard to separate the two characters at first.
If you love period films, films about the gay moment, films about Nazi Germany, or if you just want to see Matt Smith have very hot sex with another man, I would recommend giving Christopher and His Kind a shot! 3 out of 4 stars!
After witnessing a book burning in which works by prominent gay writers are being burned, Christopher seems to realize that he needs to get going while the going is still good. Convincing Heinz to come with him he returns to London, but is unable to help Heinz get a permit to stay in England permanently. In order to protect Heinz from the Nazis, Christopher and Heinz travel Europe together (these scenes are not seen, only referred to), but Heinz is caught by the Gestapo. Sentenced to a year of hard labor and two years in the army, Heinz and Christopher are separated and my dislike of Christopher really grows.
After running into Jean again at a restaurant she crashes, Christopher expresses relief over being separated from Heinz. RELIEF!!!! Sure, in a way Heinz really lucked out since he was sent to do labor instead of actually being sent to a concentration camp. But Christopher, your boyfriend was arrested and is essentially being held prisoner in a country that WILL MURDER HIM if he tries to express his sexuality and you feel RELIEF!? Not cool, Christopher! Not cool at all!
Worse, in 1952 Christopher returns to Berlin and meets up with Heinz once more. Since they were separated Heinz has married a woman ‘who doesn’t ask questions’ and has had a son who he named Christopher. While this scene is played as a touching reunion, and Christopher seems genuinely moved that Heinz named his son after him, I can’t help but feel sorry for Heinz’s poor wife. It’s just terrible that people of this time period were under so much pressure to pass as ‘normal’ that they would marry just to keep up the charade. That just sucks no matter who you are.
Heinz, obviously still in love with Christopher, offers to follow him back to America (where Christopher is currently living) and Christopher totally blows him off. Which I marked down in my notes as ‘Christopher is a horrible person, he should have broken things off with Heinz more gently WTF the man WENT TO A LABOR CAMP FOR BEING GAY AND WAS PRESSURED INTO MARRIAGE TO APPEAR NORMAL YOU HAVE TO BREAK UP WITH HIM GENTLY YOU ASSWIPE!’ Christopher then returns to his old boarding house one last time to see his old landlady in West Germany who gives Christopher the dolphin clock that features throughout the film. (And, like I said before, it’s the actual clock that Christopher Isherwood actually owned!)
Ah, and then comes the traditional black screen with the title cards telling you the end of the story that didn’t get filmed. Christopher moved to America, met Don Bachardy (his lifelong partner), and was embraced by gay culture and became quite famous. After Christopher and His Kind was published, Heinz was horrified by how frank it was and never spoke to Christopher again. (NOT COOL DUDE! Outing your fellow gays when they are married and do not want to be outed is not a good move. Especially since this is only 1976 and the world is NOT THAT FRIENDLY towards gay people yet. Hell, I wouldn’t out someone today if they weren’t comfortable with it! People are assholes!)
And then it happened. The title card that appeared and RUINED EVERYTHING because it is my weak point and makes my mind run screaming whenever it happens IRL. (And often in fiction too.) Christopher’s younger brother Richard apparently started up an incestuous relationship with their mother towards the end of her life. **Mind screams and dies.** It is worse because it actually happened! Ahh! How fucked up is that!? No wonder Christopher didn’t go to her funeral! It seems silly that a title card would ruin a film for me, but I don’t know if I can watch this movie again without that tidbit running through my mind the entire time. Oh incest, how you squick me out more than anything else in the world….
All in all, I still really liked the film, but I REALLY could have done without that last piece of information.
Logging you in...
Minish · 743 weeks ago
Overall, I thought the film was rather good. Not my favorite film, but still pretty good. They seemed to handwave things a bit, which irritated me. Like Heinz. I don't like being told what happened, I would have liked to see it instead. There's a whole gap of character development that we just have to assume happened, when it seemed like a rather important event. (Even though it's based on a true story. Can there be character development when it's real? I think so.) Though, in a way, I guess it adequately represents how little it meant to him or something.
But I do like that Christopher wasn't depicted as a hero, and somewhat as a bastard. And I can't get Matt Smith's Isherwood out of my head now. His voice narrates my internal monologue. His accent was very distracting for a while into the film.
mkjcaylor 87p · 743 weeks ago
That's why it says 'based on a true story'. There are definitely reasons to make up bits, especially dramatic bits, to create a cohesive story that is enjoyable for the audience. So yes, even if they have to make it up.
Albion19 84p · 743 weeks ago
Random: ever since I saw this cool gif with Imogen Poots as a young River Song I want her to be in Who.
__Jen__ 99p · 743 weeks ago
mkjcaylor 87p · 743 weeks ago
doesntsparkle 93p · 743 weeks ago
I liked how the movie showed Isherwood as kind of a bastard. I'm used to seeing people who are dealing with the Nazis, or persecution portrayed as complete heroes, but that's not realistic.
It's startling how fast the tolerance of the Weimar republic transformed into the complete intolerance of Third Reich, it's really important to remember that. Another movie that deals with this is Bent; warning, that film is brutal.
I wish they would have told us what happened to the Jewish store owner Isherwood gave English lessons to.
The end card that implied there was something weird was going on between the mother and brother at the end: LA LA LA I didn't see it. LA LA LA.
leighzzz31 89p · 743 weeks ago
I think his relationships with his landlady, with Jean, even with Mr Hamilton were all a lot more meaningful to him than any romantic bond he had. As for Heinz, I'm sure Christopher did fall in love with him, but in his own way and up to a point-once Heinz became one more symbol of the Cause (forced into labour camp because of his sexuality) Christopher left him.
I read a bit more about Isherwood's life after watching and I felt they could have expolred more of character by depicting a bit more of his life. Especially his relationship with Auden; their travels together, their arrival in America, their work as novelists. All in all though, I enjoyed this drama for what it was; an honest account of a man who never played a great part in the events of Nazi Germany but lived his life by the sidelines. Matt Smith was really good; I was watching the Doctor wearing period clothes and speaking in a strange accent only for the first five minutes; he became Isherwood almost instantly after that.
As for the title card at the end...I could have done without the incest info; it made me think way too long about something that wasn't otherwise really relevant to this particular story.
shyfully 97p · 743 weeks ago
It is so sad that people feel forced into marrying people they don't love and that it is so prominent still, even today... I mean, even I went through a time when I was dating guys and trying really hard to become attracted to them and it was such a bad time for me. I was in a conservative area at the time and thankfully my parents got me out of there as quickly as the could, but if they hadn't, I could very well see myself continuing down that path.
And ugh UGH at outing people against their will. One of the more horrible things you can do to someone, in my opinion. I'm very lucky in that it never happened to me but many of my friends had it happen to them. It's so horrible and dangerous. Telling other people that someone is gay isn't just a bit of gossipy fun! At best you are going to horrify them because even if everyone reacts well, a person should only come out when they are ready. At worst you could be responsible for their death. So, serious YUCK to Isherwood for doing that. He could have easily changed the details/names to protect people's privacy.
Also, yay on all the actors/writers/etc involved in this project. I know the UK is better about gay in a lot of ways than where I live but it still warms my heart to see that many people not shying away from working on a project because it involves The Gay.
psycicflower 114p · 743 weeks ago
It also left me wanting to know more about everyone in the story. Like what ever happened to Jean or even Heinz after he and Christopher lost touch but I guess we probably don't know that either way. I also would've loved more Auden.
I actually mentally paused a moment after the last title card and thougt 'wait, shared a bed with his mother as in shared a bed shared a bed with his mother?'
mkjcaylor 87p · 743 weeks ago
As of now we know that Matt Smith is straight, right? He's dating a pretty lady who is not Karen, but he is not gay.
My question concerns how the gay community views this. Would it be better if a gay person played a gay character? Admittedly a good actor can act well regardless of his sexual orientation, but is it considered better to hire someone with that sexual persuasion? Is it like hiring a white person to play an asian character (and/or Firefly, where the cast is all white but a big asian influence on culture is implied)? We see John Barrowman, an outspoken gay advocate, play the omnisexual Captain Jack. I'm not as familiar with Glee, but I do think at least one of the gay characters is played by a gay person.
Minish · 743 weeks ago
shyfully 97p · 743 weeks ago
Well, I can't speak for everyone but I personally don't mind it, if the auditions are open to everyone. I know a lot of gay actors worry about being pigeon holed into only being able to play gay characters if they take on a big gay role, so that might be part of it. I'm more interested in seeing gay actors play a variety of roles across the board than seeing them play a few specific gay ones. That said, any actor that can't fake chemistry with someone regardless of attraction shouldn't be playing romantic scenes, in my mind. It's awkward.
Since you brought up Glee, though, I have a similar note to make about disability and acting - more specifically physical disability since I don't know stats on other kinds currently. I am actually bothered by non-disabled actors getting disabled parts. Not always, of course, but the vast, vast majority of disabled characters are played by non-disabled actors. Since disabled actors are almost never get hired for roles playing non-disabled characters, it's really really annoying that able bodied people are taking all the disabled roles as well. Like I said, this isn't across the board, it's not like I want to say no able bodied actors playing disabled characters ever, but they shouldn't be the only ones considered and they should put extra work into researching their role. On Glee, there is a non-disabled actor playing a guy in a wheelchair and it is so, so painfully obvious that he has no idea how to properly use the chair and so is mostly pushed around by other characters instead of rolling himself. I could go on and on about Glee and disability, but I won't. I'll just say that for a non disabled actor to play a disabled role, they really need to research what they need to do.
agrinningfool 84p · 743 weeks ago
Yes, having a disabled person play a disabled character will always be the best ( I would have liked an actual stutterer playing Tina.. but then the stutterer was hand waved away.), so maybe I just try to believe that no one is trying to intentionally be offensive or even really trying not to be offensive and it just comes off as offensive?
Unknown · 743 weeks ago
The Doctor · 742 weeks ago
E.L.S.O.S. 83p · 742 weeks ago
Throughout history homosexuality has gone in and out of acceptance depending on the era and location. However, incest has never been considered acceptable. Even the royal families of Europe, famous for their incestuous tendencies, would not marry father to daughter, mother to son, or brother to sister. They did marry 1st cousins together, but that sort of marriage is still 'safer' genetically then blood relations until you keep breeding them together over and over. The Greek Pharaohs did marry blood siblings together, but for the most part these marriages were never consummated as the siblings tended to be too busy murdering each other for power.
The reason why? Well there are lots of reasons really. Besides the genetic problems, it simply isn't healthy for parents to take a sexual interest in their children. Incestuous relationships that occur between parents and their children are typically forced upon their children by the parent and royally fucks the kid up for the rest of their life. As for blood siblings, while the forceful aspect may not be a part of the relationship, I'd still say that's damn creepy.
So yeah. I don't care if your straight, gay, bi, asex, or are polygamous. I don't care if you're transgendered. I don't care if you're into bondage, pain, or dressing up in furry costumes to get it on. And I don't care if someone identifies as something that I didn't mention.
However, I still find incest, bestiality, pedophilia, and necrophilia damn creepy. I can handle being called prejudiced for that.
The Doctor · 742 weeks ago
E.L.S.O.S. 83p · 742 weeks ago
Look, in nature you find homosexual animals. People who are gay have gone on record that even when they tried very hard to be straight they weren't sexually attracted to what they 'should' be. Studies on the brains of gay and straight people have proven that they're wired differently.
You can't be an abomination for something that you're born with. It would be like saying that someone who's partly blind is an abomination for not trying to see harder. It would be like saying that someone who is born with Asberger's is an abomination because they can't keep their mouth shut. I refuse to believe that any God would damn a person to hell for something that they were created with.
If you could easily change who you are sexually attracted to, homosexual people probably would! If you can pick, why choose a sexuality that will bring scorn, hate, and cruelness into your life? Why would you pick a sexuality that could get you murdered?
E.L.S.O.S. 83p · 742 weeks ago
And yet I still find incest damn creepy. Why? Well, first of all I would consider incest way way WAY different then homosexuality and I'm not perfect.
E.L.S.O.S. 83p · 742 weeks ago
As I mentioned above, I do not want this blog to become a place where someone who is homosexual would feel uncomfortable being themselves. While I do not want to dissuade you from continuing to post, I must warn you that I can and will ban your IP address if this conversation continues in a way that I deem to be hurtful, harmful, or threatening towards anyone based on their sexuality, religion, ethnic background, or physical or mental handicaps. If I recieve a complaint from anyone that shall also be grounds for a banning. No arguements. No second chances.
Emma · 533 weeks ago
I also found it disturbing that Christopher met his lifetime partner at 48.. and his partner Don Bachardy was only 18 at the time ... they were together until Christopher died at 81. I find it a bit incestuous when there are such age gap between people.
I know when I was 18 and then 22 in college I had a couple of teachers ask me out; they were in their 40s.. I found that I did not have a DADDY COMPLEX. I thought they were OLD and not nice to make passes at me. I did not report them.. but it was not nice of them. I had a terrible childhood and sometimes older men will pick up on that and take advantage; (the Daddy Complex). I'm glad I knew that an older man going after me ... especially someone in a position of authority in a way (professors with doctor degrees)... was not something that would be good for me.
Just my two cents.
Matt Smith is an excellent actor.. and I agreed everyone can not be HERO... he depicted the younger Christopher as someone a bit Out for HIMSELF; but in a harmless manner.... he realy did not harm anyone... (more like Ayn Rand ).. .and he was kind to some around him.. ~
I liked the film very much.
@anna_theraja · 528 weeks ago
I'm actually writing a thesis on Isherwood, mostly based on the book 'Christopher and His Kind'. You should definitely read it. 1974 Isherwood looks back at the 1930s Christopher and acknowledges that he was an arsehole. He was a poser and had so many issues it's no wonder it ended the way it did. Also Heinz doesn't end up in a camp, he's forced to join the army. Isherwood is pretty frank about they way things were back then and that certainly helps to get some perspective regarding the way he treats his partners. His mourning after Heinz's arrest gets to you even though he kind of admits it's a bit of an act. Aside from that you also get to see the struggle inside Isherwood on his political views and how he wants to stand up for the cause but is too afraid to do so (understandable considering people were being arrested...). The older Isherwood is very much aware of the fact that his younger self was much less than perfect.
tl;dr - anyone who liked the film or simly found it interesting should read the book