At age 73, writer and melancholy master of the bon mot, Quentin Crisp (1908-1999), became an Englishman in New York. Nossiter's camera follows Crisp about the streets of Manhattan, where Crisp seems very much at home, wearing eye shadow, appearing on a makeshift stage, making and repeating wry observations, talking to John Hurt (who played Crisp in the autobiographical TV movie, "The Naked Civil Servant"), and dining with friends. Others who know Crisp comment on him, on his life as an openly gay man with an effeminate manner, and on his place in the history of gays' social struggle. The portrait that emerges is of one wit and of suffering.
Acting
Crisp's entire existence is performance—no acting required.
Direction
Nossiter lets Quentin simply exist in his natural habitat.
Director
Jonathan Nossiter
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Crisp's one-man show ran for nine months Off-Broadway; this documentary captures him at peak Manhattan assimilation.
The film quietly documents pre-ACT UP queer NYC—Crisp as elder statesman of a community he both belonged to and kept ironic distance from.
US
