High art how does lucy die

Top Gap. See more gaps ». Create a list ». Lesbian Movies. See all related lists ». Frankly, though, I wish the movie had spent a little more time concentrating on Syd alone and less on her sexual liaison with Lucy. Although better developed than most motion picture lesbian affairs, it's fundamentally not all that compelling. Unfortunately, the romance between Syd and Lucy is just one of a number of things on Cholodenko's agenda.

Her script delves into themes of female empowerment, the war between ambition and affection, the effects of star power, and the balance between art and commercialism. None of these ideas many of which are glossed over are effectively presented. They are either woven into the plot in an obvious, chunky fashion all that's missing is a neon sign saying "Look! Important issue ahead! Aside from Syd and Lucy, the characters are either irritating or complete non-entities. They're good. She tells her so.

Lucy is thin, a chain-smoker, projecting a kind of masochistic devotion to the older Greta Patricia Clarkson. Both are deeply into drugs. Greta seems to drift between lassitude and oblivion; she's like a Fassbinder movie so drained of life it doesn't move anymore.

She falls asleep during sex with Lucy. She nods off in a restaurant, and the waiter tells Lucy: "You know this restaurant has a policy about sleeping in here. She wants to move up at her magazine.

Her editor, the often hung over Dominique Anh Duong , started as a receptionist at Interview--so all things are possible.

Syd pitches Lucy's photos to Dominique. They set up a luncheon. Lucy insists on Syd being her editor. Gradually, by almost imperceptible degrees, the two women are drawn toward one another. Greta sees what is happening. But her hold on Lucy is strong: a triangulation of drugs, exploited guilt and domination. She knows what buttons to push. It knows how these people might talk, how they might respond.

Klemm Posted online, March Lesbians, the Manhattan art scene and heroin are the ingredients of High Art , a superb feature film debut from , written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko Laurel Canyon. Radha Mitchell stars as Syd, a young woman who works at an art magazine called Frame. Though she has just been promoted to Assistant Editor, her newfound status still entails doing the grunt work and getting coffee for her superiors.

Her live-in boy friend, James Gabriel Mitchell , complains that they continue to treat her like an intern, and this sparks friction between them. She has her work cut out for her at first. Harry David Thornton shows no interest in even looking at the pictures, but co-editor Dominique Anh Duong recognizes the name Lucy Berliner.

As a young photographer, Lucy had staked her reputation and then inexplicably, and belligerently, dropped off the map. Syd has gotten Dominique's attention and now she has to lure Lucy to the magazine by offering her the cover. Lucy seems bored by it all but says, "I haven't been deconstructed in a long time. The connection between the two women soon evolves from a professional artistic relationship to a sexual one.

I've left much for viewers to discover on their own and this is a thematically rich film that deepens on repeated visits. The cast is outstanding and the script hits all the right notes.

The ending is a downer but High Art remains a well crafted film by a first time director at the top of her game. High Art is not a preachy film, nor does director Cholodenko condemn the denizens of the cinematic landscape she paints for the audience.

A tale of innocence lost, Syd will pay a high price for her ambition.