Sean Mathias (1) (1956–)

When Janine brings home young stranger Michael for the afternoon, it seems she has a secret to keep from her husband Jeffrey. But Jeffrey has an even bigger secret, or thinks he does. He's started seeing Mark, who isn't a random stranger at all, as he's secretly been following Janine and Jeffrey for months, just waiting for the moment to drop a bomb on them and ruin their lives.

This is a play that was first presented at the Edinburgh Festival in 1985 before moving to its run in London the show more following year. It starred Jill Bennett and John Castle as Janine and Jeffrey, the middle-aged unhappy couple who tell such opposing stories about their lives together. It's a black comedy, with J and J barely able to think beyond themselves even as the most crushing news is delivered to them. And it's a short play that's really hard to nail down. It begins with the typical " I'm doing this because I'm so unhappy" stuff, then goes into a situation that is not funny at all, then goes into a rather Monty Python type conversation between Janine and Jeffrey. I'm giving it three stars because the not funny stuff is disturbing. show less

Max is gay and as such is sent to Dachau concentration camp under the Nazi regime. He tries to deny he is gay and gets a yellow label (the one for Jewish people) instead of pink (the one for gay people).

Director: Sean Mathias
Writers: Martin Sherman (screenplay), Martin Sherman (play)
Stars: Lothaire Bluteau, Clive Owen and Mick Jagger

Sean Mathias directed this screen adaptation of Martin Sherman's award-winning play about the persecution of homosexuals by Nazis during World War II. In Germany, the Nazi party's program of genocide against any and all perceived "enemies" is coming into full swing when the party begins a violent purge of homosexuals in its membership. Max (Clive Owen), a bisexual playboy, is attending an orgy thrown by drag queen "Greta" (Mick Jagger) and featuring a number of party members when the show more festivities are raided by the police; Max and his lover Rudy (Brian Webber) escape, but they are later arrested and sentenced to a concentration camp. En route to the camp, Max betrays Rudy and arranges to be given a yellow identification star, marking him as a Jew, instead of a pink triangle, which would signify him as gay; while the Jews are destined to be executed, gay prisoners receive even more brutal treatment from the guards. While incarcerated, Max meets Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), an inmate who proudly wears the pink triangle. Max and Horst fall in love with each other, and Horst's bravery leads Max to accept his sexual identity. Bent was released in two versions; the original cut was rated NC-17 for a sequence featuring strong sexual content, while a trimmed version was granted an R. Mark Deming show less

Dall'omonima piece teatrale di Martin Shermann: la vicenda di un omosessuale Tedesco internato in un lager nazista, nel quale, allo scopo unico di nascondere la propria omosessualità, si fa passare per ebreo coprendo il triangolo rosa con la stella gialla. Ma l'amore per un altro deportato, il quale non nasconde la sua omosessualità nel lager e subisce le peggiori angherie per questo, lo farà redimere dalle sue posizioni.