polyamory in movies/music/art?

[flakey]

Hey everybody

In my first post, when talking about my wife, I mentioned how I thought watching typical romantic comedies afected her negatively by creating a certain image of how relationships are/should be.

So I was wondering if there's any movies that actually do portray polyamory out there, or at least hints of it.

What about music, and other art forms? There must be people expressing themselves out there about polyamory, no?


The only example I can think of right now is the triad portrayed in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona... Interesting movie, by the way.

Anything else anybody think of ?

[Ceoli]

I'm a huge fan of "Shortbus". It's very human, creative, thoughtful and just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy too. And the "Sex Not Bombs" room is just plain HAWT

[redsirenn]

Torn Between Two Lovers

-Artist: Mary MacGregor
-peak Billboard position # 1 in 1976-77
-Words and Music by Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul , and Mary) and Phil Jarrel


There are times when a woman has to say what's on her mind
Even though she knows how much it's gonna hurt
Before I say another word let me tell you I love you
Let me hold you close and say these words as gently as I can

There's been another man that I've needed and I've loved
But that doesn't mean I love you less
And he knows you can't possess me and he knows he never will
There's just this empty place inside of me that only he can fill

CHORUS
Torn between two lovers
, feelin' like a fool
Lovin' both of you is breakin' all the rules
Torn between two lovers, feelin' like a fool
Lovin' you both is breakin' all the rules

You mustn't think you've failed me just because there's someone else
You were the first real love I ever had
And all the things I ever said, I swear they still are true
For no one else can have the part of me I gave to you

CHORUS

I couldn't really blame you if you turned and walked away
But with everything I feel inside, I'm asking you to stay

CHORUS


Torn between two lovers
FADE
Feelin' like a fool
Lovin' both of you is breakin' all the rules

[foxflame88]

After a quick online search, here is a list I found.... (I have not seen any of these)

"All That Jazz" (1979) Bob Fosse (Roy Sheider, Jessica Lange, Leland Palmer, Ann Reinking, John Lithgow, Ben Vereen, Sandahl Bergman, Wallace Shawn)
This musical semi-autobiography of drinking, smoking, pill-popping, womanizing choreographer Bob Fosse spends a large fraction of its time dealing with his constant cheating and the effects it has on the people who love him. More cheating than polyam, more polyam than polyfi, but well done and doesn't pull any punches.

"Anna and the King" (1999) Andy Tennant (Jody Foster, Chow Yun-fat)
Based on the story of Anna Leonowen.

"Big Top Pee-wee" (1988) Randal Kleiser (Pee-wee Herman, Kris Kristofferson, Valeria Golino)
A subplot has Pee-wee's former fiancee Winnie taking up with the 3 or 4 Piccolapupula brothers. Boy, does she look happy!

"Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" (1969) Paul Mazursky (Robert Culp, Natalie Wood, Elliot Gould, Dyan Cannon)
More a wife-swapping tale than any model for a healthy poly relationship. Still, widely known, and helped raise poly questions in many people's minds when it first came out.

"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) George Roy Hill (Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross)
"Has a very active poly flavor to it. While it was never stated as such, both men seemed to have a very active relationship with the woman." - Gene Wolf

"Cafe au Lait" French film about a woman who becomes pregnant by one of her lovers. The three of them wind up forming a family of sorts to raise the child.

"Carrington" (1995) Christopher Hampton (Emma Thompson, Jonathan Pryce [best actor, Cannes])
"The true story of a bunch of writers and artists in England in the 20's, 'The Bloomsbury group', of which perhaps Virginia Woolf is the most well-known outside literary circles but she does not appear in the film. Jonathan Pryce plays a gay man; Emma Thompson is straight but in love with him; eventually she marries another, bisexual man and the three of them live together for some time. Problems occur when (1) Thompson's first fiancee has difficulties giving her up; (2) Thompson has a secret affair with the bisexual man's closest friend; (3) the bisexual man openly introduces another woman into the arrangement, which Thompson doesn't mind but Pryce does; (4) Pryce falls ill." - (anonymous)

"A Change of Seasons" (1980) Richard Lang (Shirley Maclaine, Anthony Hopkins, Bo Derek, Mary Beth Hurt)
A surprisingly good performance from Bo Derek, and a superb one from Shirley Maclaine, help elevate this movie above the norm. Maclaine's professor husband (Hopkins) has an affair with Derek; she then has an affair of her own, and the four decide to go on a holiday together to see whether they can work something out ...

"Enemies: A Love Story" (1989) Paul Mazursky (Anjelica Huston, Lena Olin)
From a story by Isaac Bashevis Singer. A man with three female partners gets very different things from each relationship.
"An interesting depiction of what I call 'squeaky wheel poly', where the person who yells the loudest about problems is the one who gets most of the attention" - Stef Jones

"French Twist" ["Gazon Maudit"] (1995) Josiane Balasko (Victoria Abril, Josiane Balasko, Alain Chabat)
About a woman who ends up with a husband and a wife. Very funny, with lots of realistic irrationality as they work through all the issues. There is a review at the Out magazine web site which includes the following quote: "Everybody dreams of having this, your house, your husband, your children, and your wife," Abril says with an impish laugh. "You would have no guilt, no clandestinity, no lies. What more could you ask for?" How about a sequel?

"The Hunger" (1983) Tony Scott (Susan Sarandon, David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve)
More bi than poly, and only a few moments of that (between Deneuve and Sarandon, and then at the very end Sarandon appears to have new partners of both genders).

"Lovin' Molly" (1974) Sidney Lumet (Beau Bridges, Blythe Danner, Anthony Perkins, Susan Sarandon)
Follows the lives of three men and the one woman they share from the time they are children until they are seniors. One man, who you never see, is the legal husband (and her first lover), the other two are best friends and her alternate lovers. Based on "Leaving Cheyenne" by Larry McMurtry.

"Micki + Maude" (1984) Blake Edwards
(Amy Irving, Dudley Moore, Ann Reinking, Wallace Shawn, Andre the Giant)
A man who wants a child badly ends up getting both wife and girlfriend pregnant.

"No Way Out" (1987) Roger Donaldson (Kevin Costner, Sean Young, Gene Hackman)
Costner gets involved with Young, who is already involved with his boss (Hackman). Bad things happen. She actively says that she is poly (before she is killed).

"Paint Your Wagon"(1969) Joshua Logan (Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Jean Seberg, Ray Walston)
Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood live in a triple relationship with Jean Seberg. The woman is sold off to the highest bidder (Marvin) by her Mormon husband, then makes up her mind that she is in love with both Marvin and Eastwood. Since her former husband had two wives, she reasons, why can't she have two husbands? There is absolutely no hint of sexual involvement between the two men.

"Rita, Sue and Bob too" (1986) Alan Clarke (Siobhan Finneran, Michelle Holmes, George Costigan)
A married man's affair with two younger women causes his wife to leave him. Can the three lovers transmute their sexual interest into something more lasting?

"She's Gotta Have It" (1986) Spike Lee
A story of a woman with 3 boyfriends who each are trying to get her to give up the other boyfriends.

"Splendor" (1999) Greg Araki (Johnathon Schaech, Matt Keeslar, Kathleen Robertson)
"an excellent movie. It is about a MFM triad, and covers the beginning of the poly relationship, and they have to decide, when the female becomes pregnant, how to keep the family together. The two males have to work together to show how much they really need the female and how much they love her. ... a good ending"

"The Unbearable Lightness Of Being" (1988) Philip Kaufman (Lena Olin, Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche)
The womanizing Tomas falls in love with monogamous Tereza, but only his lover Sabina truly understands him. Meanwhile, Russian tanks roll into Prague. Highly recommended.

"Willie and Phil" (1980) Paul Mazursky (Michael Ontkean, Ray Sharkey, Margot Kidder, Natalie Wood)
About a trio polyamorous relationship.

[Joreth]

Bookmark www.theinnbetween.net/polymovies.html for a growing list of poly movies that I have personally watched & verified for poly content and http://joreth.livejournal.com/tag/reviews%20(movies) to read my reviews of each movie (plus a few that don't make the list)

I will be adding a poly music page soon.

[Magdlyn]

Originally Posted by foxflame88

"Paint Your Wagon"(1969) Joshua Logan (Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Jean Seberg, Ray Walston)
Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood live in a triple relationship with Jean Seberg. The woman is sold off to the highest bidder (Marvin) by her Mormon husband, then makes up her mind that she is in love with both Marvin and Eastwood. Since her former husband had two wives, she reasons, why can't she have two husbands? There is absolutely no hint of sexual involvement between the two men.

I just saw this the other day! I was so surprised. It was a gold mining camp and there were 400 men and only one woman. So, she got 2 husbands out of the deal. It depicted California when it was a territory, not a state, and this triad made their own rules. Sadly the whole town gets punished at the end for this and other "dissapations" as was common in movies of classic Hollywood.

[monolicious]

Hubby and I just watched the movie Hump Day and it was fantastic!

It briefly touches on the idea of poly, but is mostly about the idea that human sexuality is not fixed, but flexible and fluid.

The movie was unscripted and has such a raw, real, genuine feel it blew us both away.

Best movie I've seen in years.

The movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona has poly in it, but it also has horrible, annoying narration, and the end sort of fall flat.

[Rachelina]

My husband, his girlfriend and I recently watched the 1962 film Jules and Jim. Here is the Netflix synopsis:

Writers Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre) are close friends who fall in love with the same woman, the unpredictable Catherine (Jeanne Moreau), amid the turbulence of World War I Paris in one of director François Truffaut's best-loved films, adapted from the novel by Henri-Pierre Roché. What results is a decades-long love triangle that both tests and strengthens the bond between the two men.

She is married to one of them and openly seeing the other for most of the film. I was really impressed by the woman's husband's ability to accept her need to see the other guy. At one point something was said about "inventing a new form of love" or being "pioneers of love," I wish I could remember the exact quote.

[Jade]

Just throwing in an oddball film for consideration. The End of the Affair isn't really about poly, but in the end, I think it has a strong poly bent. It certainly yanks your heartstrings and shows that love, while not necessarily always happily ever after, opens your heart to more than you desired or thought it could bear.

[RfromRMC]

Several months ago, I was aimlessly surfing the net and saw a mention of a movie about a gay-male triad. I think it said it was French with English subtitles. I wrote the title down and of course lost it!
Does it ring a bell to anyone? It looked pretty new (less than a couple of years old).