I should call this review "Confessions of a TV movie addict", because I will admit to an almost perverse liking for these dramatic weepies that tend to keep me awake to the early hours of the morning. Despite their weepie and over-acted reputation, TV movies have the capacity to reach such a huge audience, so positive approaches to lesbian sexuality in TV movies can only be considered a good thing. With some solid performances by some reasonably well-known faces, this is a better-than-average example of the medium and far superior to many cinematic efforts I've seen dealing with the same subject. Kate (Leslie Hope - Keifer Sutherland's long-suffering wife on 24), a housewife and mother of two, has this sense that she needs something more from life than her rapidly cooling marriage. Before the opening credits have finished rolling she has asked for a separation from her husband Jack. They have two children, both of whom seem completely well adjusted and representative of middle-America, despite the fact that teenaged daughter Sam (Allison Pill) has purple streaks and sports a nose ring. Feeling useless and floundering for direction, Kate stumbles into Hays realty and, perhaps out of pity, perhaps out of latent attraction, is offered a job as a receptionist by owner McNally "Mac" Hays (Wendy Crewson - Better than Chocolate). On her first day on the job she discovers that Mac is an out lesbian and is surprised but not thrown by the fact. Over the months that follow, the two begin to form a friendship that gradually forms into a deeper attachment. With the love affair established (albeit on rocky foundations), thus begins Kate's saga of coming out. Reaction to the news from family and friends is mixed, but the balance tilts firmly towards the negative. "Don't let the purple hair and nose ring fool you mom, I'm upset!" gets my vote as the film's worst clanger. So that's what the nose ring was for, to remind us that people aren't what they appear. How subtle. Little by little the negativity compounds and Kate once again finds herself lost and afraid, with Mac able to do little to help in terms of easing her transition to gay life. Mac has her own issues. Despite being outwardly confident and successful, she's emotionally fractured due to the death of her lover of ten years. She's done the whole painful coming out thing once with the woman she thought she would be with forever, so doesn't have the patience or fortitude at first to support Kate's angst-filled process. Mac is also now supporting her ex's grieving brother Brad who is hopeless at selling real estate - an interesting turn by Brent Spiner who, despite having less than ten lines in the entire movie, gets to deliver arguably the best moments in the film, ala Silent Bob. It is he who ultimately opens up long enough to convince Mac that she needs to move on and take some chances. All's well that ends well though; Sam and Jack come around, they persuade Kate's mother to have some tolerance, and Mac gets over her issues and jumps in head first to this new opportunity for romance. It's all very heartwarming, and blessedly so because frankly I'm a bit strung out on lesbian film and TV romances that end tragically and I needed a bit of hope, even the overwrought, faux kind. We've come a long way in just the seven or so years since Serving in Silence, a TV movie that highlighted important issues but presented just one small kiss as sufficient proof that the leads were in fact lesbians. Not to knock it though, in the context of those understated characters too much outward sexuality would have interfered with the story. However, it is refreshing to see that nowadays lesbians in TV movie-land are indeed sexual beings. Lots of kisses, physicality of the non-fingertip variety, and even a low key (strictly above the shoulders) sex scene are offered up here for our enjoyment. Most importantly, Unexpected Love lives up to its title in at least one significant way - unexpectedly, I believed these women were in love. Wendy Crewson in particular gives Mac's character a sexual edge so often lacking, and while I think Kate gets through her own inner turmoil just a tad too quickly, she does genuinely appear attracted enough to Mac to go through this torture of coming out that she puts herself through. What puzzled me was why Kate was automatically branded a lesbian after one sexual attraction to one woman, after years of supposedly fulfilling heterosexual sex. Once again, this movie proves that while film and television has come leaps and bounds in terms of lesbian sexuality, bisexuality remains the one unconquered taboo. Why couldn't Kate be attracted to both men and women? I guess there is enough to deal with in the story as it is, adding more confronting politics to the mix may have pushed the film beyond where its message could be successful. Big steps in some areas, small steps in others. Lesbian writer/director Lee Rose is fast becoming the TV auteur of the socially-acceptable lesbian, having already explored teenage lesbianism in the excellent The Truth About Jane and gotten Elle McPherson and Kate Capshaw into bed in A Girl Thing. Her efforts here are more successful I think than in that latter film, mainly due to a cast who are unselfconscious about their roles and the romantic scenes that go with them. Got a comment? Write to me at nancyamazon@gmail.com
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