The Naked Civil Servant was released in 1975 and was directed by Jack Gold. It stars a very young John Hurt (I almost did not recognise him) as Quentin Crisp in his biopic which presents his life from the 1920s to 1970s as a gay man.
I found this film very quirky and witty but also enlightening, as I felt it captured life for a gay individual in situations that I had never thought about, such as signing up for WW2. I think although we as a society could I improve on acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community, we are also the most accepting we have ever been (especially the younger generations) making it almost surreal to look back and think that the norm was not to accept these people within society. However, I think within our education system, similarly how we need to be educated more on black history, we also need to be aware of LGBTQ+ communities pasts and this film enlightened me to this issue.
I love how it tackles such a serious topic of discrimination in quite a comical way. I think it adds more weight to the moments where you truly see how harsh it was for Quentin Crisp, such as after he is taken out of his taxi and beaten up in the street. The use of chapter headings help break the fourth wall and add a survivors guide element to the piece.
Lastly, the most poignant moment for me must have been when he was in Portsmouth on the pier and was flirting with these sailors; he claims that that was all he ever wanted, to be noticed by and flirted with by a group of men. It saddens me that something that means so little to most straight individual is a dream come true for a gay individual at the time.
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