Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12935 in VHS
• Released on: 1999-07-26
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 103 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Syd (Radha Mitchell) is an editor at a painfully pretentious art magazine; by chance, she becomes acquainted with lesbian photographer Lucy (Ally Sheedy) and her weirdo German girlfriend (Patricia Clarkson, in a strange Dietrich-like role). Syd becomes captivated with Lucy and her work and, smelling a career move, offers to feature her in the next issue of the magazine. The two become attracted, but their relationship is fraught with perils--Syd ditches her rather square boyfriend, Lucy has to deal with her possessive girlfriend, the avaricious management at the magazine pressures Syd and, most importantly, the pair begins to travel down the road of heroin addiction. Besides the lesbian theme, High Art addresses such themes as what an artist is or isn't willing to do for recognition, and what price that recognition carries. High Art is a remarkably honest work, painful at times but understated and thoughtful. It does an excellent job of portraying the heroin-induced torpor of Lucy and her bohemian friends as they lie around and become consumed with the stuff. It's a cautionary tale, a sincere love story, a reflection on the nature of art and a "lesbian film" for which the lesbianism is integral but not part of an overriding agenda. Sheedy is excellent, as is Mitchell in a very expressive role. It's far from being a feel-good movie, but High Art undeniably has some power behind it that will stick with you past the closing credits. --Jerry Renshaw, Amazon.com

Synopsis
Syd meets Lucy, a legendary photographer, who takes her on an unexpected trip. Slowly, Syd discovers the dark truths of Lucy's life and she is forced to confront the price she has to pay for recognition and the unpredictable rewards of fame...

Customer Reviews

Yeah, man.
There is a theory about 'feel good' films and homosexuals. There was a time when lesbians were always violent psychopaths, as portrayed in 'The Killing of Sister George' - and then people decided that they would make happy-happy films about women who were completely okay with their sexualities despite the disapproval of others. Examples are Better than Chocolate, The incredible adventure of two girls in love. And then, people started to realise that such films were totally removed from reality and did not embrace the fact that not all lesbians/gay men are totally happy. This may have nothing to do with their sexuality, but there is some external force that is making them depressed. In the case of High Art, Lucy, one of the central characters is depressed because her girlfriend is a crackhead and her job in the professional art world is wearing her down mentally. The story has nothing to do with lesbians being strange, messed up creatures - but deals, quite maturely, with people who happen to be lesbians in a tight situation. I think there is often a lot of confusion about the difference between a film such as 'The Killing of Sister George' which is blatantly about victimisation, and High Art which is a bona fide tragedy in itself. Cholodenko has made a superb movie about a delicate and doomed relationship which is shot beautifully, has a lot of artistic and intellectual integrity - and is believable. Lucy and Syd's relationship is never properly consummated because Lucy decides that she doesn't care anymore. Syd's first time with a woman is not washed with yellow light, because it is understood that your first time, however old you are, can be a nerve racking experience.

I think the star of the film is 'Greta', Lucy's drug-ridden girlfriend who is the most original antagonist I've seen; Irreverent, larger than life and supremely talented. There is no hope tacked on the end of this film, other than the success of Lucy's photo shoot - which is why I found it so different and enjoyable. It is a challenge, firstly, to those who only want to see Lesbians in happy, or at least redeeming films, and secondly, to those who are thinking of making budget films themselves; the director's commentary is very helpful.

An intense and passionate film about lesbian love
High Art

Who would have thought that The Breakfast Club and Neighbours would ever meet in celluloid?

Ally Sheedy, never the coolest person in the 80's, and Radha Mitchell, star of Love and Other Catastrophes and Neighbours (!) meet when Lucy's (Sheedy) bath leaks into Syd's (Mitchell) flat. In the great film world of chance both live with the photographic image and while Lucy admits that she 'hasn't been deconstructed for years' the audience are compelled to look for meaning the whole way through.

Don't think that this film is just another girl meets girl love story because it isn't. It's about obsession, ambition, desire and being given the chance to try out being someone new. If this film were a book it would come from the pen of Jeannette Winterson, the mind of William Bouroughs and the heart of an early John Irving.

This film is darker than Bound and not as pretentious as Go Fish. It reaches into the pit of your stomach and the piercing noise that opens the film stays until the closing credits. It's a noise like a small broken heart hiding behind the sofa and as the narrative shoots to its inevitable conclusion your heart vibrates in your chest.

This film works not because the camera created a perfect 'deviant' underworld (of sexuality, drugs, hedonism and apathy) or because the characters were tied in sexual tension, not even because Sheedy and Mitchell filled their roles perfectly. No this film works because the story doesn't glamorise the characters' faults. It inspires you to take pictures and look out for high art.....

Greta, who 'lives for Lucy', is the perfect femme fatale. Destructive, self possessed and unable to function without a constant supply of drugs she acts as the measurement of Syd's respectability and drive. Indeed as the film progresses Syd becomes the reason Lucy finds her passion and manages to take tentative steps away from her onetime muse. In Greta we see Betty (Betty Blue) a doomed and frenetic lover who acts as a catalyst in the films narrative.

Like the film noir this film hides behind shadows and uses a very simplistic notion of darkness and light to show the characters feelings. On a light box everything is clear, even if not perfect. Lucy takes her pictures to tell a powerful story and in the end that's what we want to hold on to. An intense account of a chance meeting and a story that seems only half told.

A well filmed, engaging movie, with fabulous sound track
Excellent cinematography and brilliant sound track. Attractive but not wholly likable main characters. Very trippy at times, aided by a fabulous sound track (better than the film). Not so much an enjoyable film, characters on a downhill cycle from the start, but interesting and watchable. Worth a viewing for the sound track and cinematography alone.