BB.5
(out of 5)
Spiritless adaptation of Martin Sherman’s play about two men locked up in a concentration camp during World War II. Clive Owen, ashamed of having been put into the camp for being a homosexual, schemes his way to getting a yellow star on his uniform because he feels it’s less degrading than a pink triangle. When he meets fellow inmate Lothaire Bluteau, a wearer of the triangle himself, he falls in love with him and is forced to face his own self-hatred. Despite an energetic beginning that does a ripping job of recreating the decadent years of pre-Nazi Berlin (including a wonderful drag performance by Mick Jagger), the film soon gives in to its stagebound origins and the material loses much of its original edge.
Channel Four Films, NDF Inc., ASK Kodansha, Arts Council of England
Directed by Sean Mathias
Screenplay by Martin Sherman, based on his play
Cinematography by Giorgos Arvanitis
Produced by Dixie Linder, Michael Solinger
Music by Philip Glass
Production Design by Stephen Brimson Lewis
Costume Design by Stewart Meachem
Film Editing by Isabelle Lorente
