Christopher and His Kind (film)

Plot

In Los Angeles in 1976, Christopher Isherwood begins writing his memoir. The film flashes back to 1931 as Christopher prepares to leave England for Germany, against the wishes of his mother Kathleen. On the train he meets Gerald Hamilton, an English neer-do-well of Irish descent, who suggests that Christopher take a room at the boarding house where he lives. Upon his arrival in Berlin, Christopher meets his friend Wystan Auden, who takes him to the Cosy Corner, a seedy gay club populated by hustlers.

Christopher takes up residence at Geralds boarding house under landlady Fraulein Thurau. There he becomes fast friends with Jean Ross, an aspiring actress who sings at an underground club. He also begins a tumultuous affair with Caspar, one of the rentboys from the Cosy Corner. Their relationship continues until Caspar abruptly disappears. Christopher does not see him until many months later and is horrified to see that he has joined the National Socialists.

To earn a living Christopher offers English lessons. One of his students is Wilfrid Landauer, the wealthy Jewish owner of a department store. He entreats Christopher to take a political stand against Nazism but Christopher, as an artist, initially demurs. Herr Landauers home is ransacked by the Nazis and they lead a boycott against his and other Jewish-owned businesses. Christopher last sees Wilfrid when their eyes sorrowfully meet over a bonfire of books the Nazis are burning.

Heinz Neddermayer, a street sweeper whom Christopher espies from a cafe, enters Christophers life and they fall in love. Frau Neddermeyer looks kindly upon Christopher but Heinzs brother Gerhardt, a Nazi sympathizer, detests him. When Frau Neddermayer enters a sanatorium for treatment of tuberculosis, Gerhardt angrily advises Heinz that Christopher and Jean are no longer welcome in his home.

Bobby Gilbert, the American steel heir, whom Jean had been courting to take her to Hollywood, departs Berlin suddenly, leaving Jean bereft and pregnant. She pawns her jewellery to pay for an abortion and soon after leaves Berlin as well.

With the Nazis gaining in power, Christopher and Heinz decide to leave Berlin. They travel to England where Christopher tries to secure permanent residency for Heinz. Their hopes are dashed, however, when a passport officer denies Heinz a permit to remain in the country. The couple decides to travel around Europe, avoiding a return to Nazi Germany.

Several years later Jean and Christopher chance upon each other in an outdoor cafe in England. They reminisce and he tells her that Heinz was eventually arrested and sentenced to prison, followed by a stint in the army. Jean confides that she does not miss Berlin.

The scene shifts to 1952. Christopher has returned to Berlin for the first time since 1934, to write a magazine article. He reunites with Heinz who, following the partition of the city, ended up in East Berlin. He has married and has a son named Christoph. Heinz expresses his wish that Christopher should find a family of his own and suggests that he and his family could move to America and become Christophers family as well. Christopher refuses to commit to the idea but promises to remain in contact with Heinz. He visits his old boarding house for a joyful reunion with Fraulein Thurau, whose home ended up being in the American sector of the city. She presents him with the dolphin clock that adorned his old room, exhorting him to look at it and remember happy times.

Closing titles convey that the next year, 1953, Christopher met Don Bachardy and the two remained together until Isherwoods death. Christopher and His Kind was published in 1976 and Heinz, shocked at its frankness, never communicated with Christopher again.

Cast

Production

Christopher and His Kind was shot in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Members of the Ulster Unionist Party protested the filming because of the large swastika banners hung from buildings during the production. As a result, scenes with the banners could only be shot early in the morning or late at night. To research the role, Matt Smith read Isherwoods novels, watched video footage of Isherwood and traveled to the United States to meet Isherwoods longtime companion, Don Bachardy. "Just seeing the love Don had for him, and to be in the space where Christopher had lived and written was very informative." Because of its interest in Smith as the Eleventh Doctor in the Doctor Who franchise, the BBC issued strict instructions that Smith was not to appear completely nude in the film. Said director Geoffrey Sax, "They told me I must not show Doctor Who’s bare bottom. They were quite firm about that, even though Matt was playing an entirely different character. They have invested a lot in him as the 11th Doctor and were due to make a second series with him, so they were obviously anxious to protect their property. So I said: OK, you won’t see his bare behind."

The dolphin clock that appears in the film is the actual clock from Isherwoods room in Berlin. Don Bachardy lent it to the production.

Critical reception

Sam Wollaston of The Guardian highly commended the film "Christopher and His Kind," notably praising Matt Smith's performance as "appealingly rakish, thoroughly disreputable, charming, posh, clever, and funny," and comparing it favorably with John Hurt’s portrayal of Quentin Crisp. Wollaston also lauded the performances of other actors and celebrated the film's adept recreation of the era, summarizing his review with the accolade, "Brilliant, top drama, well done." Michael Hogan of The Sunday Telegraph agreed with this positive evaluation, describing the film as "handsomely shot" and "lovingly recreating the period" with a "twinkling, tongue-in-cheek feel" and "lusty sex scenes" that prevent it from being overly sentimental. Hogan similarly praised the performances of Smith and the supporting cast.

Less impressed was John Lloyd for the Financial Times who found the gay sex scenes discomfiting. Additionally he thought that the acting was not intense enough, finding the scenes between Christopher and his mother to be the most effective. The film, he concluded, "wasn’t great but it was bravely done, all the same".