What Mak De Palma’s Drsed to Kill a Gay Movie Landmark

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This unrepentant male gazer is perhaps an odd ndidate for queer study, yet there are multiple avenu worth explorg that uld help expla how De Palma has managed to perate the nscns of many a gay viewer, this one clud.

I n name at least 10 gay-intifyg crics off the top of my head who are entrenched fans, and I would argue that the tense appeal his films hold for go beyond visual voluptuons or mp—though such matters are not cintal—and to a eper, subnsc realm that rejects fixed inti, embrac margalizatn, and acknowledg the tegry, even the necsy of social performance. This uld partly expla why Femme Fatale is one of the few movi that has, my experience, nsistently appealed equally to the libidos of tongue-waggg straight guys and tickled the pleasure centers of gay men and women. Yet Lre’s not the only one play-actg; orr to ga her nfince, Nilas, thkg that he’s the one settg the l of the game, ially pos as a gay man, which he tri to make legible via an unmistakable, effemate swishs.

Rellg Banras’s early-reer rol for Almodóvar, actor and director are here havg a ltle tertextual fun, though there’s somethg even more lightful and plited about this brief passage, llg to qutn our perceptn of Lre’s own relatnship to her sexualy; was she also posg as gay to get what she wanted? It is also a superb dramatizatn of urban sexualy -- pecially, by-proxy gay Palma picts an urban hab -- cisg -- that once fed gay life New York Cy of sexual alertns and reads.