Chris & Don: A Love Story

July 18, 2008 by James Lovette-Black
Filed under: gay culture, men's health, video

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Christopher Isherwood met Don Bachardy in 1953, when gay men were demonized and hunted in a rarefied McCarthyist era of horrific repression. An out middle-aged man and his lover that was 30 years younger occasionally raises an eyebrow now, but then it was viewed as perverted and exploitative.

It was neither, it was about love, companionship, affection, and intimacy. A new movie about this loving couple’s longtime relationship comes out today: Chris & Don: A Love Story. Using archival video footage shot with Isherwood’s 8 mm camera, interspersed with re-enactments, the movie tells the story of these two men who were together for 35 years until Isherwood’s death from cancer in 1986. Below is the trailer from the movie; pay attention to Don Bachardy’s emotion in recalling his lover, Christopher Isherwood’s, comments about “what an artist would do”: very touching and moving.