This movie is now available for download from the British Film Institute website at a cost of £3.50, so it is great to be able to access it again.
I first saw this movie as part of a Channel 4 series of gay/lesbian shorts and to me it demonstrates what short movies do well. They can often explore the dream-like and fantastical, yet at the same time also address reality.
What I liked about 'Rosebud' is that it is about an independent young woman's realisation of her sexuality through witnessing the straight forward activities of her lesbian neighbours. It is not lascivious, though it is sexy. Viewers looking for 'girl-on-girl' action will be disappointed. Rather you see an unfolding of the heroine's consciousness through her dreams and her painting. Her neighbours are passive rather than active encouragement to this realisation. As her mural shows it is like angels revealing a lovely secret to her. Like many people, conventionality has meant she has not been exposed to anything rather than myths of lesbianism, and coming to the city and her own apartment allows her to see a different truth.
The lack of dialogue gives the movie intimacy as it is as if you are seeing it very much in the first-person and sharing her thoughts. Despite the fantasy elements it demonstrates a lesbian lifestyle in London and though things probably never run this smoothly in real life, it is nice to see how they could be. Overall, a touching coming-out short which might encourage some viewers to take the challenge of addressing their true sexuality by seeing the potential happiness they might be denying themselves.
I first saw this movie as part of a Channel 4 series of gay/lesbian shorts and to me it demonstrates what short movies do well. They can often explore the dream-like and fantastical, yet at the same time also address reality.
What I liked about 'Rosebud' is that it is about an independent young woman's realisation of her sexuality through witnessing the straight forward activities of her lesbian neighbours. It is not lascivious, though it is sexy. Viewers looking for 'girl-on-girl' action will be disappointed. Rather you see an unfolding of the heroine's consciousness through her dreams and her painting. Her neighbours are passive rather than active encouragement to this realisation. As her mural shows it is like angels revealing a lovely secret to her. Like many people, conventionality has meant she has not been exposed to anything rather than myths of lesbianism, and coming to the city and her own apartment allows her to see a different truth.
The lack of dialogue gives the movie intimacy as it is as if you are seeing it very much in the first-person and sharing her thoughts. Despite the fantasy elements it demonstrates a lesbian lifestyle in London and though things probably never run this smoothly in real life, it is nice to see how they could be. Overall, a touching coming-out short which might encourage some viewers to take the challenge of addressing their true sexuality by seeing the potential happiness they might be denying themselves.
