Wednesday, 08 December 2021 11:49

Dating Amber

dating amber

DATING AMBER

Ireland, 2020, 91 minutes, Colour.

Fionn O’Shea, Lola Petticrew, Sharon Horgan, Barry Ward.

Directed by David Freyne.

Dating Amber is in very funny. However, it is also a very serious film in its themes. It is an Irish story but certainly has its universal aspects. We are back in a town near Dublin, a lot of the action taking place at the high school, the focus on students in their final year and the prospects of what happens next.

The setting is 1995. And for audiences who don’t know much about the film and expect romantic comedy from the title, the issues are far more serious. This is a dramatic comedy about adolescents, sexual identity, doubts and fears, the pressures of society and expectations, coming out.

So much has happened in world consciousness about sexual identity in the last quarter of a century, issues becoming much more explicit and discussed, legislation for same-sex marriage, many more films and television series dramatising the issues, it is difficult to go back to realise what was said and done at the end of the 20th century. But, throughout the film, there is the lurking question – how similar is it for students at school in the third decade of the 21st-century? How similar are struggles these days? How much help is available? How much acceptance and support?

Lola Pettigrew is quite dynamic as Amber, acknowledging her identity, putting up with but angry at all the slinging off at school. She lives with her mother, her father dead. Teenage prejudice means that, although she is rather extroverted, she is a loner.

Fionn O’Shea is rather different as Eddie, living at home with his parents, loving mother, wise and supportive younger brother, his military father away for six months of the year but intending to do his best with his sons. It has been lurking in his subconscious, Eddie certainly unwilling to allow it to surface, that he is gay. He denies it. And, like many deniers, he is vocally against gays and indulges in verbal faggot-bashing. And he is extremely gawky in his behaviour with girls.

Audiences will now guess the meaning of the title. Amber and Eddie come to an arrangement, that they will be a couple at school, diverting all the criticisms, even getting some admiration from previous critics, especially those boys whose homophobia is both ignorant and aggressive.

On the one hand, the friendship flourishes – and, in fact, the scenes between the two, their talking, their shared interests, family visits, remind us how valuable friendship is irrespective of sexual orientation.

On the other hand, long-term partnership is doomed. Amber, acknowledging herself, is comfortable in encountering a girlfriend. Eddie, on the other hand, will not admit anything even to Amber, is fearful of being discovered, has a crush on his teacher which he then misinterprets and is shamed. In the meantime, is trying to follow in his father’s footsteps, Army training, a lot of the talk about being a real man.

Whether truth will out for Eddie is a difficult matter. However, the ending reminds us, especially with Amber and her most generous gesture, of how valuable true friendship is.

  1. The title? Expectations? Romantic comedy? But different?
  2. The Irish setting? The town, homes, caravans, the school, classrooms…? The real feel for the town? The musical score?
  3. Issues of sexual identity? Acknowledgement? Secrecy? Fears? Attack and persecution, bullying? Coming out?
  4. Adolescents, their limited experience, puberty, facing issues of identity, difficulties in coping, peer pressure, expectations? Homophobia?
  5. The opening, Eddie and his father, military, the voice-over commentary, Ian coming home, his relationship with his wife, with his two sons? Sense of alienation, separation, the effect on the boys> Eddie and his exercise, push-ups, bike riding, military training, the detailed sequences of the training and the demands, physical? His hoping to be enrolled in the college, follow his father’s tradition?
  6. Amber, living with her mother, her mother wary of teenage pregnancy, having Amber when she was 19? Loving, protective? The discussions about her father?
  7. Eddie, shy, introverted, knowing subconsciously that he was gay? Unwilling to face it, the full? Wary of criticism? The homophobic bullies at school? His forcing himself to kiss the girl, awkward? His crush on the teacher?
  8. Amber, criticised, loner, irritated by the attacks? The encounters with Eddie? Coming to the arrangement, the pretence, cuddling in class, the pretend kisses, always together, talking? The boys and girls in the class accepting this, admiring it? Eddie bringing Amber home, the conversation at the meal, awkwardness? In his room, the military posters? (And his mother seeing the sketches and her realising of the sexuality issues?)
  9. Going into Dublin, enjoying each other’s company? Going to the club, Amber and her set up of renting out the caravan to the couples, being paid in drugs, their taking them? Amber and the encounter with the young woman at the club, comfortable? Eddie, dancing, liberated, the approach by the man, the kiss, his response, seeing the man from Army training, the tension, the fight? The aftermath? Returning home, his parents, Amber’s mother?
  10. Eddie, the continued training, meeting the man from the club, secrecy? The test, his father saying he did not have to necessarily pass? The result, his acceptance? His decision to go into the Army? His motivations? Yet unhappy?
  11. The break with Amber, his saying he dumped her? The reaction of the boys and girls? The discussion with teacher, the kiss, his embarrassment of being shamed?
  12. Amber, with the girlfriend, on the beach, bringing her home, the sexual encounter? Accepting her identity? Yet the friendship with Eddie, the photos, her treasuring them? Eddie leaving them at the caravan door?
  13. Eddie leaving for the army, Amber throwing the stone, their talk? Amber offering the cash for Eddie to be free and leave? Eddie’s refusal, Amber insisting, his final acceptance and leaving on the train?
  14. The 1995s, attitudes of the time, changes since then, but issues still current?