RSVP (1991 film)
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| RSVP | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Laurie Lynd |
| Written by | Laurie Lynd |
| Starring | Daniel MacIvor |
Release date |
|
Running time | 23 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
RSVP is a Canadian short film, directed by Laurie Lynd and released in 1991. It was one of the films singled out by film critic B. Ruby Rich in her influential 1992 essay on the emergence of New Queer Cinema.[1]
The film, mostly musical with very little spoken dialogue, stars Daniel MacIvor as Sid, a man returning home for the first time since his partner Andrew's death of AIDS. He turns on CBC Stereo's classical music program RSVP just as the announcer is reading a request, submitted by Andrew himself shortly before his death, to play Jessye Norman's recording of "Le Spectre de la rose" from Hector Berlioz's Les nuits d'été.[2] As the music begins, Sid reminisces about the relationship; after it ends, he calls Andrew's sister in Winnipeg to advise her to listen to the program when it airs in her time zone. His sister, in turn, notifies other family members and each relives their own memories of Andrew as they listen to the song, creating an extended community of people united in their grief as the shared experience of the music metaphorically collapses their geographic distance from each other.[3]
Cast
- Stewart Arnott as Sid's Friend (voice)
- Ferne Downey as Andrew's sister
- Gordon Jocelyn as Andrew's father
- London Juno as (unnamed)
- Daniel MacIvor as Sid
- Ross Manson as Andrew
- Judith Orban as Andrew's mother