movies movies
WEEKEND | 03.17.2017 | EXPRESS | 23
Judging by their longing looks, it’s obvious these two horses are in love.
ALSO OPENING
‘Personal Shopper’
DISNEY
R, 105 min.
KRISTEN PAGE-KIRBY | THE REELIST
LeFou in love: A ‘Beauty’ secret? It’s not anymore. As a bookloving teenage girl, I was pretty much required to adore 1991’s animated “Beauty and the Beast.” As a professional cynic, I was pretty much required to be wary of Disney’s live-action remake — and I was. I am here to report, though, that the legacy of the original is in loving, capable hands, and those hands have crafted a piece of art that is part homage, part update and very nearly all wonderful. So let’s talk about the “exclusively gay moment” people are freaking out about! Once upon a time, movies pretended that everyone was straight, the same way they pretended that no one ever had sex before marriage. Enter the
“coded gay,” those characters whose sexuality was given a wink and a nod. My favorites are Martin Landau in “North by Northwest,” Marlene Dietrich in “Morocco” and basically everything Peter Lorre ever did. This code was the cinematic equivalent of pretending those nice older ladies who live next door to you are just roommates; it made it possible to represent a gay character while nearly entirely divorcing him or her from any sort of romantic or sexual life. Some say LeFou (played by Josh Gad in the “Beauty and the Beast” update), sidekick to the brutal, moronic Gaston (Luke Evans), was always coded gay. I disagree — leading one rousing song in praise of your burly best friend does not a homosexual make — but
it’s not a completely unfounded argument. I’m not going to get into the specifics of THE MOMENT, partially because it’s less than two seconds long and partially because it’s not like any trouser snakes run rampant on screen. (I’m also not going to tell you the other two LGBTQ-friendly moments I spotted. It’s like a sexual orientation scavenger hunt!) THE MOMENT simply suggests that LeFou might get his own happily ever after, and that he might spend it with a guy. And that, I think, is why some people — many of whom, I wager, have not SEEN THE MOVIE — are freaking. Disney has presented a gay man as a normal part of the world. Which should not be surprising,
‘Beauty and the Beast’ (PG, 129 min.) DIRECTOR: Bill Condon STARS: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad IN A NUTSHELL: In this live-action retelling, a young woman who is taken prisoner by a beast in his castle discovers his kind heart and soul.
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since gay men are, you know, a normal part of the world. In cracking the code, Disney has made it impossible for people to separate LeFou from his romantic life, and that’s what makes some people uncomfortable. Removing sexual or romantic interests from LGBTQ characters (and people) makes them safer to those who consider them dangerous. That’s how people who are opposed to the “homosexual lifestyle” can still love their daughter’s soccer coach (and her “roommate”) or the church choir director who just never found the right girl. It’s OK to be gay — just don’t have any romantic or sexual interests. All THE MOMENT does is break LeFou out of the coded closet and make his sexuality a part of his life. After all, Belle’s sexuality is a part of hers, in this movie where the main lessons involve looking past differences and celebrating love, even when it’s between two members of different species. Disney hasn’t made LeFou gay. They’ve just made him fully human. Read Kristen’s musings on movies each week in Express.
In French director Olivier Assayas’ “Personal Shopper,” Kristen Stewart plays a woman in Paris working in fashion who also moonlights as a medium. She’s tasked with finding out whether an old house is still haunted by its late resident, who happens to be her twin brother. This film works in two realms: as an engrossing ghost story and a drama that addresses profound matters of life and death. PAT PADUA (THE WASHINGTON POST)
‘Betting on Zero’ Unrated, 99 min.
This documentary, a searing exposé arguing that the nutritional supplement company Herbalife is a Ponzi scheme, follows Bill Ackman, a hedge fund manager who made it his mission to take down the company. The film makes such a strong case that Herbalife does, in fact, engage in shady practices that it’ll likely leave viewers in a state of righteous outrage. MICHAEL O’SULLIVAN (TWP)
Sandi Toksvig, Noel Fielding named new “Great British Bake Off” hosts