The Crying Game: In A Twist
I had never seen The Crying Game, despite knowing the twist most of my adult life — which is why I had never bothered seeing it. The spoiler aspect didn’t bother me, but everything except the “dude looks like a lady” element seemed to have receded into oblivion, which didn’t bode well for the experience of watching the movie for its own sake.
It’s solid, although it hasn’t aged very well — the production design is painfully ’90s, and the big reveal fell somewhat flat, partly because I’d already had it revealed by living in the world, but partly also because we just know more now, as a culture, about drag and the spectrum of gender, and it’s not quite the uncharted territory the film cast it as nearly twenty years ago. When Dil grumbles that she thought he knew, or else why did he come to the club, I thought the same thing; it seemed obvious to me early on, via the performances and the way Dil interacted with Col the bartender (Jim Broadbent, looking much more than 20 years younger). But I can’t say for sure I’d have picked it up if I didn’t know already, and the script doesn’t play it entirely honestly either (the first time Dil and Fergus make out, she slaps his hand away from her crotch, but then later she insists that he must have known if he kept coming to the Metro — so why the coyness?).
The direction the script decides to go with the information, and their relationship, once it’s out there is the best possible one, and Stephen Rea as Fergus/Jimmy is the best possible casting. Rea’s rueful reluctance to give you much can get repetitive — he gave more or less the same hangdog performance in Guinevere, for instance — but it’s indicated here. Fergus wants to think his feelings for Dil haven’t resolved themselves, but of course they have, and the “don’t call me that” callback becomes an inside joke between lovers. Once the film moves into Dil’s world, it’s very good.
Before that, and towards the end, it’s a bit stagey and weak. The IRA kidnapping scheme that gets the whole plot rolling pays off well in the third act from a story standpoint, but it’s played almost comedically, which is weird, and Miranda Richardson is so Cruella and annoying that it’s a long-awaited relief when Dil finally shoots her. Forest Whitaker has a few good moments, but just as many stagey, shouty moments, and the show-offy veering between high and low volume confirmed my pre-existing opinion that Whitaker is overrated. I haven’t seen The Last King of Scotland; I wouldn’t say Whitaker is bad; I do think alternating between whispers and shouts is an actorly exercise that we shouldn’t mistake for a believable reproduction of emotion.
On balance, though, I’d say it’s a worthwhile watch, if only to see how well the rest of a movie holds up when it’s primarily remembered for an unexpected penis. (I’d completely forgotten that it got a Best Original Screenplay Oscar, as well as a fistful of noms — including for Jaye Davidson, whose birthday it happens to be today.)
Tags: Forest Whitaker Jaye Davidson Jim Broadbent Miranda Richardson movies Stephen Rea The Crying Game this scarf-based interior design brought to you by: the 90s
I just remember this movie as the moment when I realized that my freshman-year college roommate was an idiot. She and her boyfriend had gone to see this film, and came back just “shocked” at the twist, which was the only thing they took away from the film. They not only couldn’t stop laughing at the “ridiculousness” of it all, but they also managed to spoil the film for an entire section of my dorm, due to their need to run and tell anyone and everyone just how “stupid” the film was.
Needless to say, my best friend and I went to see it the following weekend, and thought it was great. The only thing we were both highly amused at was the roommate’s utter inability to understand context when describing the “scene”, because the movie was so much more than, well, a sum of its parts.
I haven’t seen it since though, so it would definitely seem a bit more dated today.
I saw this movie when it came out and I was SHOCKED. Of course, I was 17 at the time, so it was all very OMG NO WAY. I watched it again a few years ago and came to many of the same feelings that you’ve expressed above, but I really appreciate Stephen Rea’s performance at lot more now. He does ‘bewildered’ very well.
I’ve only seen the movie once, back in the day, pre-spoiler. I remember thinking on first impression that Dil was a dude, but JD’s performance as the movie went on made me think not. So, at the reveal, the gasps in the auditorium, well, weren’t all by the other movie-goers.
But I totally agree, it’s the relationship post-outing that makes the movie work.
Whitaker has effective screen presence, so I approved of his career ascendance in the 90s, but his diet has too long consisted of masticated set.
I remember seeing this in the theatre and being mercifully unspoiled. So the big reveal was, indeed, a surprise for me. But I agree, looking back and knowing what I know now, not to mention the not-so-few drag queens I call friends, it is a little hard to believe that I was surprised. But I remember being so. And I saw this in a movie theatre in Chelsea (NYC) and judging from the gasps that echoed out at the pivotal moment, I was not alone in my surprise. And, trust me, this was an audience that should have known better!
Someone attached to the film (I can’t remember if it was the director, writer, producer, or who) gave a magazine interview around the time the movie came out that gave away the twist, but only to those paying attention. He said something along the lines of, “Initially, the answer is not obvious…” and then the first letters of each of the next sentences spelled out “SHE IS A HE.”
Ace Ventura spoiled this movie for me.
I was on a study abroad program in my junior year of college when Crying Game came out in England, and I went because it sounded good (and because I had a big Irish fetish at the time). The reviews said nothing about any kind of reveal, and while I recall thinking that during Dil’s dancing scene that her wrists were a little, well, wide for a woman — honestly, I didn’t “catch” that there was some gender twist coming up.
When it happened in the English theater, I remember being pleasantly surprised — but not shocked or horrified or whatever else people seem to have felt. It was a good film; I liked all aspects of it and really liked Stephen Rea for a while (though he failed to live up to the promise of that film) and it made me a Neil Jordan fan, too.
So when I came back home to America and a few months later Miramax was doing the whole “don’t reveal the secret” all over the place — that was far more shocking to me than any other part of it. We really do have a different angle on gender in this country than elsewhere, and the Puritanical comes out in ways you don’t always expect.
ct – I love you.
@ Randee
While I agree that Americans often have a Puritanical outlook when it comes to gender, the whole “don’t reveal the secret” thing was just to build up buzz for the film. Hilariously, reviewers were encouraged to do the same secret-keeping about The Advocate re: Colin Firth’s client. But a) The Advocate is no Crying Game, and b) The Advocate’s “secret” is just kinda silly.
I was spoiled before I saw it, though I tried hard not to be…. I loved the film when it came out in the US, but haven’t seen it since. I remember seeing it once in the theater (saw it about four times in the theater) and when we hit the scene of the big surprise, a man in the theater just laughed out loud and kept laughing for the rest of the movie. Guess he wasn’t spoiled. ;)
I was mildly spoiled as to the big secret in that I had seen the film in between the Oscar nominations and the ceremony itself. Davidson’s nomination for supporting actor,coupled with his listing in the opening credits, “and Jaye Davidson as Dil” finally clicked right before the big reveal. I probably wouldn’t have figured it out had it not been for listing the character’s name in the credits.
What people always forget about The Crying Game, is the “hello!” moment isn’t the end of the film – there’s still about 1/3 the film left at that point. I had to watch this film twice, once for the initial impression, and a second time, just to soak in Stephen Rea’s reactions – and it’s how he reacts to everything that carries the film for me. I don’t agree that Fergus’ feelings for Dil are resolved – I got the feeling they would never be resolved – he would always feel some discomfort – but he was willing to try, and would continue to do so. Part love, and part that Dil was all he had left.
I saw this as an innocent college freshman but knowing the big plot twist because the pop culture of America refused to shut the hell up about it, and thought it was good. I remember being more surprised that the IRA part of the plot turned out to be so important, because everything I read or heard was focused on “SUPRISE! PENIS!” that it came across in the ether as only a Relationship With A Twist movie with some bobbins and bangles dangling (hee) here and there.
Nowadays, of course, Rea’s character comes across as an unbelievable naif, because it’s been twenty years and Kinky Boots has come out and the world in general has processed this level of information, but keeping it framed in context, and considering his character has been running around and avoiding arrest for the better portion of his life, well, I can buy it. And Jaye Davidson really brings it, physically and, well, in a daily life sense. I never got the impression he was performing a female role, either as an actor or a character. Dill is a woman who happens to have something most other women don’t have and she deals with it, but she is 100% female.
CT, lol. To this day I still make “your gun is digging into my hip” jokes to my boyfriend when we make out. I am glad he is as childish as I am. :)
I was also spoiled before I saw Crying Game, but I remember liking it, just as I did The Sixth Sense. (If all a film has going for it is the Big Reveal, well, I’m not going to care for it much.)
I don’t remember Forest Whitaker in this at all, and I haven’t seen Last King of Scotland, but I will always love him for his performance in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, where he is a huge, quiet, gentle presence.
I mostly remember the horror of Miranda Richardson’s peplum. That’s what made her death necessary. And perhaps, by her as well as me, even welcomed.
@Jane: WITH THE ANGLED POCKETS. Dreadful.
I saw the movie shortly after it came out, even before the “don’t reveal the secret” campaign, just because I was on an Irish/British/indie movie kick. I really enjoyed Stephen Rea, was shocked at Dil’s reveal, and thought that Forest Whitaker’s attempt at a British accent suuuuuuucked. There was so much good about those early scenes between Rea and Whitaker that I kept thinking that the whole thing would have been brilliant with an actor who was more restrained than Whitaker.
The first time Dil and Fergus make out, she slaps his hand away from her crotch, but then later she insists that he must have known if he kept coming to the Metro — so why the coyness?
I think it’s fairly common for first makeouts to not move below the waist. It doesn’t seem that coy to me to redirect a hand at that stage in the relationship.
Or I have a “secret” penis.
It’s more the way that scene is shot. She WHAPS her hand down on his hand and clenches it there, and the camera kind of drops down to focus on their hands. Maybe it just was more noticeable to me because I was expecting The Reveal, but the direction wants us to notice it, is the thing, not that Dil doing it is out of the ordinary.
I saw the movie knowing the secret as well, and had the weird experience of being unable to see Dil as female for the first third of the movie (to the reveal) and then unable to see her as male during the bits when she was in cricket gear. I really need to rewatch that movie and see if it does the same thing to my head again, not least because it was very distracting!
But I remember loving Stephen Rea in it, and wondering when Miranda Richardson was going to stop gnawing the scenery. That’s probably the worst performance of hers I’d seen to that point.
I don’t even remember whether I was pre-spoiled or not — I probably was — but I do remember seeing Tony Slattery (sic?) in a bit part and being glad he was getting non-Whose Line Is It Anyway work.
I remember seeing this film when I was 17 with my boyfriend who was the same age. He figured out Dil’s secret before The Reveal and whispered it to me so I wouldn’t claim later that he was lying when he said he figured it out. Knowing the twist didn’t ruin the film for me at all, but I also didn’t fully appreciate it until the drive home when my boyfriend thoughtfully wondered if it would change his feelings for me if he were to discover I was a man. He decided it would not. I appreciated my boyfriend a little more after that as well.
It’s been years since I’ve seen it and I didn’t see it right away (probably in the first year it was out) but I was surprised that THAT was the big reveal. I’m sure I was spoiled but I always knew the gender piece of it and kept expecting more secrets to come out.
@Jane: Yeah, that peplum was actually more aback-taking than the penis, in a “What? I thought you KNEW”/”Erm..No” sort of way.