BEHIND THE RED DOOR
US, 2002, 105 minutes, Colour.
Kyra Sedgwick, Kiefer Sutherland, Stockard Channing, Chuck Shamata.
Directed by Matia Karrell.
Behind the Red Door is a very personal film from television director, Matia Karrell. The film is dedicated to her brother, called Roy as is the central character in the film, a gay man who worked at Bloomingdale’s in design and died of AIDS.
Kiefer Sutherland portrays Roy, a gay man with a high profile and very wealthy, autocratic in his studio work with photographers, meeting his sister, Natalie, played by Kyra Sedgwick, after 10 years of alienation, she being persuaded by her agent Julia, Stockard Channing, to work for her brother.
There is a complication, seen in black-and-white flashbacks, about the harsh treatment of the two children by their father and the mysterious murder of their mother.
Pressured to stay to visit Roy, Natalie is resentful, wanting to go back to New York and her photography work. Roy reveals that he is terminally ill, that he has AIDS and that he wants Natalie to stay with him. Initially reluctant, she does stay, helping Roy through his illness, his tender moments of reconciliation with her, his autocratic outbursts. But she herself is helped to come out of the hold that the past has over her, asking a detective to see the file about her mother’s death, eventually going to see her rather brutal father.
There is a great deal of pathos about the film, about Roy and his life, his regrets, the death of his partner, his terminal illness and how he faces it. And there is pathos in Natalie’s experience, overcoming her past and facing a better future.
1. A film about AIDS? Illness, care for the sick? Death? Comparisons with other films about AIDS? The memoirs of the 1980s? This film at the beginning of the 21st century? In the light of the AIDS experience and development in treatments?
2. The work of the director, a memoir of her brother, his name of Roy, working in Bloomingdales? The film as a tribute to him?
3. The New York settings? The Boston settings? The city, the views, offices, homes, hospitals? The beach? An American atmosphere? The musical score?
4. The title, its tone? The explanation of the red door keeping out difficulties, keeping people safe inside?
5. The introduction to Natalie, highly strung, photographer, her working with Julia as her agent, her reclusiveness, Julia getting her the contract, going to Boston, discovering that it was work for her brother, Roy? Her wanting to leave, antagonism?
6. The flashbacks throughout the film, black-and-white, Natalie as a child, with her mother, the brutality of her father, her mother’s death and her being absent?
7. The introduction to Roy, his manner, autocratic, the setup of the scenes, the photography, his demands? Relationship with Julia? With his assistant? The photographers? Getting Natalie to take the photos?
8. His demands on Natalie, the memories of the past, his disdain for his father, memories of their mother? Insisting on Natalie coming to his apartment, to come to his birthday party, criticising her for being late, no gift? Insisting that she stay? His preparing the breakfast? Her anger at her following her brother’s insistence?
9. His revealing that he was sick? His past, 10 years in not seeing his sister, his relationship with his partner, the partner’s death, the cremation of the ashes, his not telling anyone? His attitude to his own being gay?
10. Roy and his work, getting back after the hospitalisation, his demands about the photos? His deterioration in health, his demands, in hospital, the medical staff? His growing reliance on Natalie and her staying? The range of his moods, the tenderness, the manifestations of the autocratic? Confined to bed, the temperatures, the nurses and the interventions?
11. The effect on Natalie, getting to know her brother, compassion being elicited, care for him, cooking, watching for him, coping with the illness, the doctors?
12. Her curiosity about her mother’s murder, going to the police, getting the file? Eventually going to see her father, his work in the shop, his disdain for her, a brutal man, his disowning his son?
13. Julia and her visits? The assistant, her haughtiness, the glimpse of Roy telling her the truth? The Paris plan?
14. Roy, his deterioration, Natalie trying to encourage him, the possibility of going to Paris?
15. Roy’s dying, his last weeks in the comfort of Natalie’s presence? The funeral, his ashes, Natalie scattering them?
16. The impact of the AIDS epidemic, especially in the United States, those ill, the dying, the fears (and the blood on Natalie), later perspective on the AIDS epidemic?
