If These Walls Could Talk 2
- ️Thu Apr 11 2024
A 2000 Made-for-TV Movie Anthology Film directed by Jane Anderson, Martha Coolidge, and Anne Heche that follows several lesbian couples in three different time periods. It is a thematic sequel to 1996's If These Walls Could Talk (which dealt with the subject of abortion over different periods).
The movie stars Vanessa Redgrave, Chloë Sevigny, Michelle Williams, Sharon Stone, Ellen DeGeneres, Paul Giamatti, Elizabeth Perkins, Kathy Najimy, and Jenny O'Hara.
It aired on HBO on March 5, 2000.
Tropes for the film:
- The '60s: The first segment takes place in 1961. Being gay is highly stigmatised, so elderly lesbian couple Edith and Abby must hide their relationship from the outside world despite having been together for three decades.
- The '70s: The second segment takes place in 1972. While being gay is a bit more socially accepted than it was in the previous decade, Linda and Amy still face some discrimination for being a lesbians, particularly in regards to gender roles and stereotyping during second-wave feminism.
- Alliterative Family: Abby and Alice Hedley.
- Babies Ever After: The third segment ends with Kal and Fran successfully getting pregnant, after going through a lot of strife to conceive.
- Butch Lesbian: Amy is a lesbian with short hair who always wears very masculine clothing. She meets Lipstick Lesbian Linda, whom she hits it off with. However, three of Linda's Lipstick Lesbian friends are downright hostile to and jealous of Amy after they've begun dating, outright forcibly removing her leather jacket and trying to dress her in more feminine clothes when she comes to their house for dinner until the latter stops them. Amy met Linda while at a lesbian bar which it appears catered to masculine lesbians like her, with many more there too.
- Common Law Marriage: Abby and Edith can't legally marry or even be open about their relationship in public because same-sex marriages weren't remotely close to being legalised in their lifetime (the story takes place in 1961), but they've been in a loving, committed relationship for thirty years and live together in the same house, with both of them contributing to the mortgage. Sadly, the potential legal downsides of this kind of relationship seriously impact the couple when Abby suffers a stroke; Edith isn't allowed to see her while she's hospitalised because she's not considered a family member and subsequently doesn't find out until the following morning that Abby died. Although Edith had contributed equally to the mortgage, she still has no legal claim to the house and so it passes to Abby's only living relative, her nephew Ted. He decides to sell the house, forcing Edith to find a new place to live; she can't even lay claim to any of Abby's belongings as Ted and his wife have legally inherited them and promptly pack them up.
- Dying Alone: Edith discovers her long-term partner Abby died alone in a hospital room after having a stroke; Edith wasn't allowed to be in the room with her as she's not considered Abby's family and none of the staff save for one nurse bothered to inform her of Abby's condition despite her pleas.
- Female Misogynist: Some of the girls Linda hangs around at college with show signs of this; they champion feminist causes but are critical of women who prefer to dress in more masculine clothes, saying they make other women look bad for wanting to 'look like men'. The group also aren't interested in supporting lesbian causes even though Linda and her fellow lesbians helped them get free contraception on the college campus; apparently, they only think straight women's rights are important.
- I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: Natasha Lyonne and Michelle Williams previously worked together in But I'm a Cheerleader.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: The central plot of the third segment is Fran and Kal trying to conceive a baby, which is made more difficult as they're lesbians and so extra steps are involved. They're looking into using sperm donors but are concerned about the donor being overly involved with their lives, so they eventually opt to use an anonymous sperm bank rather than someone they personally know. Unfortunately, they still can't conceive and so turn to fertility doctors for help. In the end, Fran finally does get pregnant.
- Maiden Aunt: Abby appears to be this to her nephew Ted as she's never married, but in truth she's secretly been in a relationship with her 'roommate' Edith for decades (they're as good as married, but can't officially tie the knot or be more open about their relationship because it's the 1960s).
- Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Discussed. Amy dresses quite masculine while Linda is more feminine, but when Linda asks if she's supposed to be 'the woman' and Amy 'the man' in their relationship, Amy says that's not how it works. Some of Linda's friends look down on Amy for supposedly indulging in gender stereotypes they've tried hard to dismantle and can't understand why Linda would want to be with her, but Amy just sees it as her being herself and in the end Linda accepts her for who she is, too.
- Period Piece: The first and second segments respectively take place 39 years and 28 years before the third segment, which is set in the then-contemporary year of 2000.
- Secret Relationship: Abby and Edith have been in one for thirty years; they must hide the true nature of their relationship because of society's bigoted attitudes towards same-sex romances. As such, when Abby's nephew Ted comes to visit their home following Abby's death, Edith hides evidence of their romance such as by removing photographs of the two of them together and making it appear they slept in separate rooms.
- Tagline: "Women love women".
- Turn of the Millennium: The third segment takes place in 2000. Same-sex relationships are accepted or at least tolerated enough that Kal and Fran can openly be in a relationship and have a child together, though they do express concerns over their family facing discrimination.