大象传媒

Director Don Boyd's documentary offers a sympathetic portrait of a gay couple preparing to publicly register their relationship at a commitment ceremony in London's City Hall. Originally commissioned for the 大象传媒's Storyville series, the digitally-shot Andrew And Jeremy Get Married is interesting primarily because it's an unlikely love story that crosses age and class boundaries: the two lovers are a 68-year-old ex-English teacher Jeremy, and his much younger partner Andy, a former bus driver and reformed heroin addict.

Boyd's intention with this film was to "rid the world of some of the ludicrous misconceptions about homosexual life", and he has found a pair of engaging and complex subjects, who are clearly devoted to one another. Seemingly freed of economic worries, their lifestyle is a pleasant round of picnics, literary parties and trips to Gay Pride events, both in Brighton and in California.

"BETTER SUITED TO TELEVISION"

Despite utterly different childhood environments, both men struggled to come to terms with their sexualities, and there are some revealing recollections from Jeremy of gay life pre-decriminalisation in 1967. He himself underwent 'conversion' therapy from psychiatrists such as RD Laing and took the advice of doctors to get married to a woman, in a forlorn attempt to cure his same-sex desires.

The drawback to the narrow focus is that it seems better suited to a television documentary slot than to a big-screen release. Missing is a sense of broader context to the question of gay marriage that's raised by the title. Is it becoming more or less popular in societies like Bush's America, and why is it that gay couples today still do not enjoy the same legal rights and privileges as their heterosexual counterparts?