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| A Very Natural Thing | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Christopher Larkin |
| Written by | Joseph Coencas Christopher Larkin |
| Produced by | Christopher Larkin |
| Starring | Robert Joel Curt Gareth Bo White Anthony McKay Marilyn Meyers |
| Cinematography | C.H. Douglass |
| Edited by | Terry Manning |
| Music by | Gordon Gottlieb Bert Lucarelli Samuel Barber |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
Release date |
|
Running time | 80 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
A Very Natural Thing is a 1974 American film directed byChristopher Larkin and starringRobert Joel,Curt Gareth,Bo White, Anthony McKay, and Marilyn Meyers. The plot concerns agay man named David who leaves amonastery to become apublic school teacher by day, while looking for true love in agay bar by night.[1]
One of the first films about gay relationships intended for mainstream, commercial distribution, its original title wasFor as Long as Possible. It was released to lukewarm reviews in 1973 and given anR rating by theMotion Picture Association of America.
The film begins as a mini-documentary ofNew York City's 1973Gay Pride parade and rally, with a young lesbianunabashedly declaring, "being gay is a very natural thing." The action cuts to the protagonist, David (Robert Joel), going through the ritual of being released from his vocation as amonk in amonastery. He then is seen as a public school teacher ofEnglish Literature in theNew York City area, who spends his time off driving into the city to be with his "oldest friend fromSchenectady," Alan (Jay Pierce) at agay bar. One evening at the bar, David is singled out to dance by Mark (Curt Gareth), who portrays a businessman. They end up spending the night together, which at first seems like a one-night stand until David says he'd like to see Mark again, and Mark agrees. Not long after, the pair begin amonogamous relationship, and David moves in with Mark. But when Mark wants to have sex with other men, the relationship starts to break down. He rejects the idea of modeling a gay relationship onheterosexualmarriage, and he is irritated that David wants to "keep pushing this romantic thing." Mark would rather have an understanding that either of them can have sex with other men when they feel like it, but this ends up alienating them from each other. Mark refuses to say, "I love you" until David playfully wrestles with him and tells him, "Say it...again...once more for good measure." After a year, though, David realizes that the two of them are just marking time. The two go toFire Island for a weekend in an attempt to spice up their relationship, and although David tries to please Mark by entering an orgy, he can't go through with it. After a fight, David temporarily moves in with his friend Alan, who gives David an objective perspective on what happened. In a later encounter with Mark atConey Island, David finally realizes that there can't be a reconciliation, as Mark is more interested in sex than a romantic relationship.
After a season of loneliness, David meets adivorced photographer named Jason (Bo White) at the 1973 Gay Pride rally which began the film. David and Jason go to Jason's apartment and talk. In Jason, a divorced dad, we meet another member of the gay community, one who was living a heterosexual life prior tocoming out. He still socializes with his ex-wife, who goes with him onphoto shoots. On a parental visit with their toddler son (P.J.) Jason tells his ex-wife that he is now seeing someone with whom he would be spending the upcomingLabor Day holiday. It appears that in Jason, David has found someone willing to pursue a romantic, committed relationship with him. Jason takes pictures of David while telling him things to say other than "cheese', and the film ends by showing the two men together splashing naked in the surf onCape Cod.
A Very Natural Thing was seen as thegay response toLove Story (1970), the film famous for the phrase, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Similarly, Mark tells David, "Love means never having to say you're in love," and a montage of the two men rolling down a leaf-covered hill, quietly lying together at home, and being in love mimics a montage of the heterosexual couple inLove Story. Both films argued for an unconventional alternative to traditional marriage, despite a commitment. David tells Jason that he is committed to him, but that this commitment is based on wanting to be together, nothaving to be together. The ending is very optimistic, which was out of the ordinary for gayrelationship films until then. Earlier films were dominated by tales of gays and lesbians being outcasts of society, mentally disturbed or committing suicide; later films were sadly dominated by the emergence ofAIDS. A Very Natural Thing thus represents a short period in time where gay liberation flourished, and filmmakers could explore relationships in much the same way that films with heterosexual characters did.
The film was one of the first mainstream films to show homosexuality as a valid and normal act of love, i.e. "a very natural thing," as it attempted to explore the options for gay couples in 1973, including footage of an actualGay Pride celebration. Manyheterosexualfilm critics felt that the film's depiction of love between two men as romantic made the film automatically "an argument rather than an entertainment" (The New York Post). The film showed a young gay couple going through many of the same rituals and facing many of the same challenges as a straight couple.
Some gay film critics felt that film was not political enough: that the characters were too apolitical, toomiddle class and that, by rejecting the philosophy offree love orsexual liberation, the film was rejecting what some gay activists felt was a necessary value of the newgay liberation movement.
Larkin responded to the criticism by saying, "I wanted to say that same-sex relationships are no more problematic but no easier than any other human relationships. They are in many ways the same and in several ways different from heterosexual relationships but in themselves are no less possible or worthwhile".[2] Incidentally, Vito Russo, who wroteThe Celluloid Closet appears inA Very Natural Thing.
The film was not financially successful, and the director,Christopher Larkin, moved toSan Diego, California, where in 1981 he published the bookThe Divine Androgyne According To Purusha.[3] Larkin committed suicide on June 21, 1988 after a two-year struggle withHIV/AIDS.[4]
The film was released inVHS in 1996. It was released onDVD as a 25th anniversary edition in 1999 by Waterbearer Films. It is currently streaming on Amazon Prime (April 2025).