Intriqued about Christopher Isherwood from my recent thinking about Cabaret, I went to see the film documentary Chris and Don: A Love Story about the 30+ year relationship between Isherwood and Don Bachardy.
The focus of the film is really on Bachardy as he reminisces about the life that Isherwood opened up to him. It deals very little with Isherwood as a literary figure, although does mention most of his significant works. Excerpts from Isherwood's diaries are read by Michael York, continuing his doppleganger position from Cabaret.
The film is enjoyable. While referring to the 30 year age difference between the two men, the film doesn't dwell on it. Nor does it make a big deal about the sexual intimacy of the relationship. But it serves up a big dose of the emotional intimacy between Isherwood and Bachardy, which included a father-and-son-like fostering of Bachardy in the early stages of the relationship, and a parent-child-like care-taking of Isherwood in the late stage of his life.
I had never heard of Bachardy prior to seeing this film, and knew nothing of Isherwood's personal life beyond his early days with W. H. Auden and Stephen Spender in England and Germany. Perhaps I'll now read some of Isherwood's later diaries (if they are published) or his seminal Christopher and His Kind.
Chris and Don: A Love Story
Documentary Film by Tina Mascara and Guido Santi
In limited release currently
Cast: Christopher Isherwood, Don Bachardy, Michael York, Leslie Caron, Liza Minnelli
The focus of the film is really on Bachardy as he reminisces about the life that Isherwood opened up to him. It deals very little with Isherwood as a literary figure, although does mention most of his significant works. Excerpts from Isherwood's diaries are read by Michael York, continuing his doppleganger position from Cabaret.
The film is enjoyable. While referring to the 30 year age difference between the two men, the film doesn't dwell on it. Nor does it make a big deal about the sexual intimacy of the relationship. But it serves up a big dose of the emotional intimacy between Isherwood and Bachardy, which included a father-and-son-like fostering of Bachardy in the early stages of the relationship, and a parent-child-like care-taking of Isherwood in the late stage of his life.
I had never heard of Bachardy prior to seeing this film, and knew nothing of Isherwood's personal life beyond his early days with W. H. Auden and Stephen Spender in England and Germany. Perhaps I'll now read some of Isherwood's later diaries (if they are published) or his seminal Christopher and His Kind.
Chris and Don: A Love Story
Documentary Film by Tina Mascara and Guido Santi
In limited release currently
Cast: Christopher Isherwood, Don Bachardy, Michael York, Leslie Caron, Liza Minnelli
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