Queer & Now & Then

Mise en abyme: the exhilaration of Femme Fatale comes from its constant, absolute awareness of sex and identity as performances

Red alert: the discomforts of George Cukor’s Sylvia Scarlett are precisely what have given the film its longevity as an object of curiosity and affection

Up close and personal: Frank Simon’s The Queen portrays unashamed gay men inhabiting their own bodies—and clothes—with pride

Beyond a non-kiss: Six Degrees of Separation is a fascinating and multifaceted inquiry into class, race, and sexuality with an excellent Will Smith

A queer duck: masculinity, social progress, and comeuppance in The Magnificent Ambersons

Ring of truth: Dee Rees‘s Pariah shows how the act of looking is as essential to sexual identity as the act of being

Obscure object: the explicit imagery of Jean Genet's Un chant d’amour has perhaps overwhelmed discussion of its supple construction

Two of a kind: if looked at through the right queer lens, Bergman's Persona could be among the most penetrating break-up movies ever made

Dignified options: Dorothy Arzner's Dance, Girl, Dance is a case study for how Hollywood comedy could convey vivid queerness beneath a seemingly formula exterior

Growing up: Terence Davies's Children's simplicity of form belies a complex network of narrative crosshatches