Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit (1990 BBC TV movie)

[Miss Ediths Bad Kitty]

Hi Kittens..



I don't post on here much, but I'd like to know if anyone else has seen this movie?



(Of course, it was an adaptation of the popular Jeanette Winterson novel of the same name.)



It starred Charlotte Coleman (RIP.. ) as Jess. And Geraldine McEwan as the mother. And I always thought it was just staggeringly brilliant.



Is anyone else familiar with it?



I know it won a number of awards way back when (including a few BAFTAs and, I think, a GLAAD award.)



It's the story of a young lesbian girl raised by evangelist parents. Her struggles and her strength.



Charlotte Coleman made such an impression on me when I saw it that I followed her career quite closely ever after (up until her tragic death in 2001.)



It took ages to get it on DVD (as, unfortunately, like much of Charlotte Coleman's work, it was almost entirely forgotten about. )

[Hyo Shin]

Of course. It's one of my favorite lesbian movies. I'm still waiting for the rc 1 DVD.

[rovic]

I loved this film when it was aired by the b.b.c , I was prepubescent and hormone filled to the brim! But on a sadder note I did not know that Charlotte Coleman had passed away she was indeed an extremely talented actor and more importantly one of my first crushes.

[Miss Ediths Bad Kitty]

Yes, sadly she passed away at her home in London in November 2001. She was 33. The official story (released by her family) was that it was an asthma attack, but friends and former work colleagues have said that it was drugs. She had serious drug problems for quite a long time apparently and someone who worked with her has said her death "wasn't a total surprize". Which just makes the whole thing even sadder. I really wish I'd written to her while I had the chance and told her how much some of her performances meant to me...

Edited by: Miss Ediths Bad Kitty at: 11/16/04 9:14 am

[Candleshoe]

This was, I think, the first thing I ever saw on TV with a lesbian in it. I was 13 and it must have been on the BBC on a night when my parents were regularly out, because I watched it while the babysitter talked to her boyfriend on the phone all night. It changed my life, because suddenly I wasn't alone, someone else fancied blonde girls with nice hands too! And coming from a broadly similarly religious background this rang so many bells with me.

I have it on video somewhere, but I haven't watched it in years. I can still remember the glee with which I watched the "Let the sin be mine" line, though, and that strange fear/excitement that someone would walk in and ask me why I was so interested. I wonder whether my life would have been different if they had asked and I had been able to talk about it all?

I wish more of these TV programs were made these days - the shows where discussions could be started around dinner tables, and youngsters could actually ask the questions they want to ask, but under the safe cover of it being about a fictional story....

I must get round to watching it again, someday - if only to marvel at how far we have come. Jess would love The L Word....

[Hyo shin]

Jess would love The L Word....

Maybe not. It's an autographical story of Jeanette Winterson and she doesn't have a TV .

If you love the movie, try Winterson's Passion. It's a great book.

[Candleshoe]

Candleshoe wrote:
Jess would love The L Word....


Maybe not. It's an autographical story of Jeanette Winterson and she doesn't have a TV .

Smart arse... . I will try to find Passion though, thanks!