| OK, I have to admit it. The
Hunger contains the first lesbian love scene that I had ever seen on film.
As a teenager, I watched it over, and over, and over, and over again. Viewing
it many years later, Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon making love hasn't lost
any of its mesmerizing qualities. With billowing curtains and classic beautiful
women, it remains one of the most sensual and erotic images to grace the screen.
Miriam (Catherine Deneuve, 8 Femmes, Belle de Jour) and John
(David Bowie) are a sophisticated New York vampire couple who frequent goth clubs
to find their next victims. Brutally subsisting on the blood of others gives them
immortality, and Miriam is centuries old. But John starts to rapidly age, as evidently
Miriam's lovers are not truly immortal. Enter Dr Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon,
Thelma & Louise), a scientist focusing on the subject of aging. John
goes to her for help, but it's too late for him. What Miriam finds in Sarah is
her next lover. When Sarah comes to the house, Miriam seduces her, and while making
love, she transfers some of her blood into Sarah's veins. Sarah becomes a vampire
as well, but she is strong willed, not quite accepting the life Miriam has planned
for her. There are many vampire flicks out there that employ lesbian themes,
but this one is a real step above the others. (Note Susan Sarandon's interview
in The Celluloid Closet regarding
The Hunger. The script called for her character to get really drunk before
being seduced by Miriam, thereby giving her some kind of excuse for letting it
happen, but she insisted that not be the case. "Certainly, you wouldn't have
to get drunk to bed Catherine Deneuve. I don't care what your sexual history to
that point had been.")
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