http://www.gaycitynews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19769249&BRD=2729&PAG=461&dept_id=569331&rfi=6Gentlemen In Love Don Bachardy and
Christopher Isherwood pose
in front of a painting of themselves by
David Hockney.
By:
GARY M. KRAMER 06/12/2008
CHRIS & DON: A LOVE STORYDirected by
Tina Mascara and
Guido SantiZeitgeist Films
Opens Jun. 13
Quad Cinema
"Chris & Don: A Love Story" documents the 30-year relationship between writer
Christopher Isherwood and his partner
Don Bachardy, who was 30 years his junior.
Isherwood, born near Manchester, England, was a prolific writer over a 40-year span and a close friend of both
W.H. Auden and
Stephen Spender, but is probably best known for the opening words of his 1939 novel "
Goodbye to Berlin" - "
I am a camera," which was the title of a stage adaptation of his novel that eventually became the musical "
Cabaret."
Bachardy became a respected painter and pencil portrait-maker.
"
Chris & Don," which incorporates Isherwood's diaries, home movies, photographs, and interviews, as well as Bachardy's scrapbooks, drawings, and paintings, is an intimate and affectionate portrait of the men who lived together in California from 1953 until Isherwood's death in 1986. During the early years of that relationship, it was still quite daring to be an openly gay couple.
One essential bond between the two men - whose love is adoringly depicted via animated sequences involving a surrogate horse and a cat - is the house they shared in Santa Monica. The small hillside ranch is lined with books and artwork on every wall -
David Hockney collages and
Duane Michaels photographs, as well as plentiful portraits of nude men. The garage was converted to an atelier for Bachardy.
A distinguished gentleman, whose British accent is something he "mimicked" from Isherwood, Bachardy opens the door of his home and is dressed almost entirely in blue. His wiry frame is draped in a blue linen shirt, and his jeans are held up by a blue leather belt. Even his socks, which sport yellow dollar signs on them, are blue.
An interview with the artist begins with Bachardy explaining how he was approached to be in the documentary.
"I did it just as a favor to Guido [Santi, the co-director]," he says, adding that he never believed the film would actually happen.
"Because I liked the filmmakers and I was at ease with them, I was much more candid than I would have been with any filmmaker I didn't know well," Bachardy says, almost wistfully. "The older I get the more my life becomes like an open book. I used to be much more private, and much less forthcoming, but it matters much less the older I get, and why keep things from people?"
Almost as if to prove his point, the artist launches into a randy story comparing Isherwood's penis with that a handsome man named Alex - and recounts his sexual experiences with the two of them.
But Bachardy's stories are not all naughty. Bachardy describes how he met Isherwood and talks about their life together as well as his own experiences since his lover's death. He also talks with considerable animation about the famous people he's painted over the years -
Bette Davis, whom the movie-mad Bachardy worshipped in his youth, actress
Teri Garr, costumer
Edith Head, and California Governor
Jerry Brown, for whom he was commissioned to paint the official portrait that hangs in the state capitol building.
Bachardy and Isherwood ran in a famous crowd - posing for Hockney and smoking hashish with
Paul Bowles. But this high life might not have been possible for Bachardy had he not met Isherwood, and the artist acknowledges this.
"I've had an insanely lucky life," he says.
When pressed about his "luck," and what may account for being in the right place at the right time, or knowing the right people, he demurs: "Luck is luck. I can't tell you that I deserved it more than anybody else."
One of the most poignant episodes in "
Chris & Don" recounts the story of Bachardy painting Isherwood as he was dying.
"It wasn't death Chris was afraid of, but dying," Bachardy recalls. "His dying was something we were doing together."
Painting Isherwood, he explains, was a way to be with him as much as possible during the experience.
"We had already established the habit of sittings," Bachardy explains. "He was my first live sitter. It was his suggestion that he offered himself to me as a subject."
The paintings, seen in the film, are among the artist's best. The canvas Bachardy painted of his lover is seen in a visit to the atelier, and it is masterful. Isherwood sports a blue shirt painted in such a way that makes his soulful visage seem to float. It is a haunting, beautifully realized work.
The artwork and books that surround him in his home are constant, almost nagging reminders of Isherwood, but Bachardy enjoys having them everywhere.
"What a wonderful thing to be reminded of [Chris]," he says. "This house is packed with memories. He is very much with me still. I cultivate his presence. It is a very essential part of my life. Whenever I need encouragement, and strength, I think about him - I can't despair."
Bachardy says that making "
Chris & Don" was more enjoyable and therapeutic than cathartic or painful. The film is a joyous celebration of a life lived and shared by two men passionately in love.
"Chris was a mentor and guide," Bachardy says. "Of all the gifts he gave me, to find and follow my vocation was the greatest."