“The joys of love are but a moment long, The grief of love endures forever more...”First of all, the posters and the tagline for this are so misleading and diminishing. The poster makes it seem like a steamy forbidden romance and the tagline’s treatment of Deborah Kerr is similar to that of Anne Bancroft in The Graduate. I’m so glad I found this film through a friend’s recommendation, because if I had found it on letterboxd I would have been completely misled and much less interested. *
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Tea and Sympathy is not a romance, nor is it film about grooming or manipulation or seduction of any sort. This is a film about two perpetually dismissed, misunderstood, marginalized people and displacement of emotion. This is a film about love (and lack thereof), but not in the traditional sense. Did she overstep? Unfortunately yes. But did she also realize this and make a concerted effort to right her wrongs? YES! And did she still help Tom and see him and do more for him than anybody else in his life? YES! I rest my case and I will not hear any Laura Reynolds slander in this household.
But I digress. This is a beautiful film with so much to say about heteronormativity, discrimination, sexism, and homophobia, as well as friendship, understanding, kindness, and decency. It’s an expertly executed skirting of the Hays Code, and aesthetically it is just simply stunning — some of Minelli’s absolute best melodramatic work, and one I can’t wait to revisit and recommend. ☕️
