AN ENGLISHMAN IN NEW YORK
UK, 2009, 75 minutes, Colour.
John Hurt, Denis O’ Hare, Swoosie Kurtz, Cynthia Nixon, Jonathan Tucker.
Directed by Richard Laxton.
Well worth seeing for John Hurt's performance alone.
In 1975, Hurt appeared as Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant, broadcast on UK television and on American cable. Crisp (actual name, Denis Charles Pratt) became something of an overnight celebrity in his mid-60s, an Englishman who was not ordinary, had publicly worn make-up in the streets in the 1930s and had been bashed for it but had supreme self-confidence in his person, his gender orientation and sexual identity. He also had an aphoristic wit in the tradition of Oscar Wilde (and hat and clothes and affectations) and Noel Coward.
The US success of The Naked Civil Servant led to American invitations for Crisp to speak. He acquired an agent (Swoosie Kurtz at her sharpest), an editor friend for decades (Denis O' Hare), radio interviews, theatre and television appearances in one man Q and A sessions (which enable Hurt to deliver answers with relish). He also wrote film reviews and finally is accepted by bemused authorities as a 'resident alien' (which was the title of a 1990 documentary about him in which Hurt also appeared). His justification for residency was that, in accordance with the US Constitution, he was contributing something unique to the nation – himself!
He felt at home in Manhattan and in multicultural New York. However, a comment he made about AIDS during a show, that it be treated as a 'fad disease', lost him many of his gay following.
This brief film shows him befriending and supporting a young artist (Jonathan Tucker) and, in the 1990s, some performance art with Penny Arcade (Cynthia Nixon, offering opinions on Clinton and Bush. He accepted the role of Queen Elizabeth in Sally Potter's Orlando (Hurt re-enacting a scene).
Quentin Crisp died in England at almost 91 in 1999, a full life, meeting people, going to socials, self-assured, kind and truthful with a malicious twinkle. If he really was anything like John Hurt's portrayal, he would have been fascinating, if offbeat, to meet and to listen to.
1.Quentin Crisp, the film of The Naked Civil Servant, the documentary Resident Alien? Crisp as a 20th century character, eccentric, an icon in the tradition of Oscar Wilde?
2.The screenplay, his American story? His wit, one-man show, aphorisms, opinions, his facing the truth, his influence?
3.The screening of The Naked Civil Servant as the starting-off point, the broadcast and comments in London? The effect? Crisp becoming a personality, television, interviews? The invitation to the United States? His talks, radio answers and his pithy comments on listeners’ opinions?
4.John Hurt in the role, playing Crisp in 1975, 1990, 2008? The impersonation, the appearance, the voice, British precision, costumes, hair, hat, scarves, makeup? His ageing?
5.Crisp and the 1930s, not using his real name, the makeup, going down the street, the beatings? His droll observations about freedoms and not knowing anything in the 1930s? Work as a civil servant, the passing decades, reaching his sixties and becoming famous, his self-sufficiency, discovery, his philosophy of unpacking the uniqueness within one’s own personality?
6.Going to New York, his appreciation of Manhattan, the skyline, feeling at home? The performance, meeting his agent and her work for him, her demands? The introduction to Philip Steele, Steele as a friend, editor, the film reviews and the discussions about Tootsie and ET, the audiences, his comment about AIDS and people’s reaction? Being accosted in the street? The impossibility of recanting, doubts about his opinions, the challenges? His opinions about the gay clubs as ghettos?
7.Patrick Angus coming to see him, the discussion in the diner, quoting him, his art, the visuals in his art, gay art? Crisp sitting for a portrait? Patrick’s self-doubts, going to the backrooms of clubs, the search for the ‘dark man’? Crisp and his support, their discussions for an exhibition, the gallery owners mocking him, the exhibition, David Hockney buying some of the paintings, Philip Steele printing some of them? Patrick’s death and AIDS-related?
8.Philip Steele, a good friend, the critique for Crisp, his explanations, his partner leaving, Crisp on happiness? Village Voice, Christopher Street? AIDS and television, the issue of screening and the response? President Reagan’s aides and their television comments? Helping people, the domestic aspects of Steele’s helping Crisp in his apartment, with his health? Steele telling Quentin his Kentucky story and the influence of The Naked Civil Servant?
9.Crisp and his age, more illness, concealing his illness, the dirty apartment? Penny Arcade and her knowing the truth?
10.Penny Arcade, in herself, her explanations, performance, the comments on Clinton, on Bush and his being elected? Her persuading Quentin to perform with her?
11.Sally Potter using Crisp in Orlando, going to the UK, the glimpse of the performance as Queen Elizabeth? His being invited to the UK to talk, his decision to go, dying there, aged ninety-one?
12.The life in New York, the feel, at home, exhilaration, accepted with his eccentricities?
13.Issues of homosexuality, the UK, the 30s, the law, changes, freedoms? Yet homosexuals still ghettoising themselves, especially in clubs? Change in confidence, camp people and the alienation, Crisp’s theory of everyone searching for the ideal dark man? His comments on giving love rather than receiving love, being able to live without love, his death, dignity, his comments on the afterlife?
14.Crisp as a celebrity, enjoying it, the role of celebrities in a media age? His contribution? The final speech in the club in Tampa and his applause? His achievement?
