Pride month is wrapping down. So for the last film for our theme month where we are reviewing lesbian arthouse movies, we take a look at the definition of an arthouse film. The movie, ELENORE MAKES LOVE, from 2015, is a short hour long feature with the feel of the type of film that showed daily in New York City during the heyday of black and white erotic films. And yet, like many of them, it presents itself the esoteric and complex arthouse feel that turned erotism into avante-garde or artifice.
From IMDB: A young, tall, blonde, female photographer, Dee (Dee Herlihy), meets a pretty brunette model, Eleanor (Audrey Kovar), in an upscale hotel suite in New York City for a private photo shoot. They soon romantically connect and spend the weekend together in the room. As the film progresses into a non-linear dream-like mix of conversation and making love, it is slowly revealed that the two women have a past together. In the end, that past may be more present than we think. In the different flashbacks, the photographer’s brother (Ryan Balas) tells her that he disapproves of her dating Elenore, while Elenore the model has another lover, a married man, whom she spends time with on the side.
The film was directed and written by Ryan Balas while also starring as Dee’s brother. A cast of only four, the film stars Dee Helihy, Audrey Kovar, Ryan Balas, and Richard Buonagurio. Being shorter in length, and as deeply arthouse as a film can be, the movie has little reviews by press or websites. Your co-hosts, however, decide to take a look at this little film and give their thoughts.