If you have any interest whatsoever in lesbian lives as they really have been and still are lived this is THE documentary to see.
No doubt that we have to salute those women who "dared" to show their faces on screen in this documentary; it's not anything we are used to at least not outside the North America.
Even though the woman portraited are, of course, living in North America it is still a fabulous documentary, actually quite breathtaking in all its "naturalness".
Also spiced with a bit of "filmic erotica" I feel is it a necessity to watch for any lesbian woman.
Bravo to those who came up with the idea and bravo for the woman who dared all along!
Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives
1992
Documentary
Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives
1992
Documentary
Plot summary
Ten women, most of them in Vancouver or Toronto, talk about being lesbian in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: discovering the pulp fiction of the day about women in love, their own first affairs, the pain of breaking up, frequenting gay bars, facing police raids, men's responses, and the etiquette of butch and femme roles. Interspersed among the interviews and archival footage are four dramatized chapters from a pulp novel, "Forbidden Love": Laura leaves her hick town and heads for the city, where she meets Mitch in a bar. Sparks fly, and so do laughter and joy. Ann Bannon, one of the writers of those paperback novels about forbidden love, talks about the genre.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 780.05 MB
960*720
English 2.0
NR
Movie Reviews
Reviewed by
A most excellent documentary on a subject too seldomly even heard about
Reviewed by
I love this film- I own the old video- hoped by now that it would be captioned!
I am viewing: Forbidden Love, now on LOGO- NYC, still NO captions!!! in 2006!!! sorry- but this is my story:
When I first saw this ground-breaking film- truly outstanding among the early documentaries- (possibly the first depiction) of: lesbian (hidden) history & culture, I enjoyed it immensely, but I had difficulty understanding any speech in the film, because I am deaf- I rely on captions! It's hard to believe that an up-dated newer (closed caption) version is not now being shown on LOGO! At the same time, as I write, I am amazed how well "Forbidden Love" remains one of the best- if not the best- documentary on: Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives.
Reviewed by
Lesbian Love, For Sure!
I love watching movies, and often times, I ignore documentaries, because I feel they're too dry. You see, they try to educate you or inform you, and I want to be entertained. Well, this did all three! I was fascinated with the women's personal stories, and would often compare theirs to my own. It was insightful to here about life back then, dispelling others into thinking that it's some sort of trend (tsk, tsk!) or some other backwards idea. If you want to get cozy with a bowl of popcorn and lend your ear to some tales of long ago, if you're straight and disbelieve that older lesbians existed, if you want to rid yourself of ignorance to find out more than "what lesbians do in bed", if you want to see fiction mixed gracefully with true life stories, watch this. You may have met one of these fascinating women and not known it. I was at a bookstore, and I heard a familiar voice behind me, thinking it was someone I knew. I peaked behind me, and there stood the Native woman who appeared in it. I was excited, but did nothing about it. If I wasn't so shy, I might have thanked her for sharing her story and for being an inspiration to the younger generation who heard it.