Sleeping with Strangers

November 15, 2018
A veteran film critic and historian escorts us through cinema history to examine our sexual attitudes and appetites glowing in the dark.In his latest book, Thomson, the author and editor of more than 20 books about film and TV (Television: A Biography, 2016, etc.), puts on display an array of his virtues as a writer: clear, precise language; vast knowledge of his subject (from books, screens, interviews, and friendships); an open sense of humor; and attitude. Though film history is the author's principal interest here--and how the movies have affected our ideas about love and sex--he comments at times on contemporary issues, as well, including sexual harassment (Harvey Weinstein, Louis C.K., Kevin Spacey, and others) and the current occupant of the White House, whose rise to power he calls "grotesque." As usual, Thomson pulls no punches and takes no shortcuts. His technique is to focus on specific, often iconic films--the creators, casts, and others involved--and to show how they have influenced the viewing public and the culture at large. Throughout, the author is a genial guide as he moves through the films and personalities, including, among dozens of others, Rudolph Valentino, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Jean Harlow, Tony Curtis, Jude Law, and Nicole Kidman. Thomson explores not just the on-screen sexuality of his principals, but also their off-screen, "real" sexual identities. We learn a lot, for example, about who was gay, or possibly gay, and who was bisexual. We also see a lot of Weinstein-ian behavior that prevailed long before #MeToo: director Nicholas Ray having sex with the 16-year-old Natalie Wood; other dominant male figures--straight and gay--taking sexual advantage of their power. However, the author also reminds us that viewers are not innocent: We sit in the dark, watching, imagining, and enjoying the sex (he confesses to a number of his own youthful passions for film stars).Literate, frank, and sometimes graphic--another essential volume from an essential writer.

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January 1, 2019
When it comes to romance and sex, we've taken our cues from movies for as long as movies have existed. But, argues noted film historian and critic Thomson, the relationship between the movies and our personal lives goes deeper than we might have thought. The movies, he argues convincingly, have encouraged and contributed to a lengthy societal dialogue about sexuality. The very idea of masculinity, for example, has evolved, thanks to the movies and to the way actors have demonstrated that it's okay to admit we have an emotional side. Likewise, the movies' shifting portrayals of women have helped to spark a serious conversation about women's roles in romantic relationships. His analyses of how a range of movie stars, from Rudolph Valentino to Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and dozens of others, have impacted our thinking about sex and relationships are unfailingly provocative. Thomson is pretty much a walking encyclopedia of film history, and this is the kind of subject he can really sink his teeth into. Fascinating and illuminating.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

Movies introduced the masses to the "voyeur delight" of exploring sexuality on screen from a safe distance, which allowed for many shades of sensuality and gender to find cinematic representation. Film historian Thomson (Moments That Made the Movies) specifically examines "feminine significance and power, macho confidence, and gay wit" in this context--a wide scope that includes recent films such as Call Me by Your Name and Phantom Thread but largely remains rooted in Thomson's ken of classic cinema. He ruminates on the sexual meanings of performers (Rock Hudson, Marlene Dietrich), directors (Alfred Hitchcock, George Cukor), and genres (male buddy Westerns) and whether all movies had a "gay air" that was suspicious of "America's approved romantic formulae." With a tone of academic remove, the book never gets salacious (though given its adult language and subject matter, it would earn a Hard R rating as a movie) or all that alluring, either. VERDICT Cinephiles with critical eyes will get the most out of this exploration of "beauty on screen, desire in our heads, and the alchemy they make in the dark." [See Prepub Alert, 8/27/18.]--Chad Comello, Morton Grove P.L., IL