My Two Loves

{{short description|1986 film directed by Noel Black}} {{distinguish|Mis dos amores}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox television | image = My Two Loves (1986 film).jpg | image_upright = | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = ABC promotional image | alt_name = | native_name =  | genre = Drama Romance | creator = | based_on =  | developer = | writer = Rita Mae Brown<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J8xDWDqOkEC&pg=PA79|title=The International Who's Who of Women 2002|first=Elizabeth|last=Sleeman|date=1 March 2019|publisher=Psychology Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9781857431223}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-2ekCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT588|title=Women Screenwriters: An International Guide|first1=Jill|last1=Nelmes|first2=Jule|last2=Selbo|date=29 September 2015|publisher=Springer|via=Google Books|isbn=9781137312372}}</ref> Reginald Rose | screenplay = | story = | director = Noel Black | creative_director = | presenter =  | starring = Mariette Hartley Lynn Redgrave Barry Newman Sada Thompson | open_theme = | end_theme = | composer = Gary William Friedman | country = United States | language = English | num_seasons =  | num_episodes =  | list_episodes = | executive_producer = Alvin Cooperman | producer = | location = San Antonio | cinematography = Arthur Albert | editor = | camera = | runtime = 100 minutes | company = Alvin Cooperman Productions Taft Entertainment Television<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b748a8ae4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190302152450/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b748a8ae4|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 2, 2019|title=My Two Loves (1986)|website=BFI}}</ref> | budget = | network = ABC | released = {{Start date|1986|04|07}} | related =  }} '''''My Two Loves''''' is a 1986 American made-for-television romantic drama film directed by Noel Black<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pV9iCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA39|title=Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2014|first=Harris M. Lentz|last=III|date=11 May 2015|publisher=McFarland|via=Google Books|isbn=9781476619613}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kW8j6sHvrewC&pg=PA44|title=Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors|first=Jerry|last=Roberts|date=5 June 2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9780810863781}}</ref> starring Mariette Hartley and Lynn Redgrave. It is considered groundbreaking for its portrayal of bisexuality and lesbianism on network television in the United States.<ref name="The Advocate">{{Cite web |last=Kort |first=Michele |date=2000-11-07 |title=Natasha's Gay Genes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l2MEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA60 |website=The Advocate |pages=60–61, 66}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Lynn Redgrave – Events|url=http://www.redgrave.com/events.htm|website=Redgrave.com}}</ref>

==Plot== Gail Springer, a recently widowed single mother, takes a job as a chef. Her late husband's divorced friend Ben is attempting to woo her, but her daughter does not approve. When her boss Marjorie confesses that she is gay, Gail enters into a relationship with her, but Gail's mother does not approve.

==Cast== * Mariette Hartley as Gail Springer * Lynn Redgrave<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UX_GCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA350|title=Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2010|first=Harris M. Lentz|last=III|date=21 March 2016|publisher=McFarland|via=Google Books|isbn=9780786486496}}</ref> as Marjorie Lloyd * Barry Newman as Ben * Sada Thompson<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAqdwE8hZKsC&pg=PA350|title=Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2011|first=Harris M. Lentz|last=III|date=10 January 2014|publisher=McFarland|via=Google Books|isbn=9780786491346}}</ref> as Dorothea * Sara Inglis as Amy Springer * Robert Sean Leonard as Larry Taylor * Eve Roberts as Dr. Hoffman * Arturo Tamaez as John * Thee Swan as Martha * Rachel Fey as Instructress * Ray Liberto as Melon Seller * Edwin Neal as Telephone Man * Diane Perella as Teacher * Lee Connally as Flower Vendor * Celia Newman as Cheerleader * James Patrick Lockett as Man at Zoo * Travis McGehee as Boy at Zoo

==Production== ''My Two Loves'' was filmed on location in San Antonio, Texas.<ref name="allmovie.com">{{cite web |title=My Two Loves (1986) |url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/my-two-loves-v127659 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190302090531/https://www.allmovie.com/movie/my-two-loves-v127659 |archive-date=March 2, 2019 |website=AllMovie}}</ref> When Alvin Cooperman decided to produce it, San Antonio was going to double for St. Louis. After a week Cooperman rewrote the script and made the location San Antonio.<ref name="outinsa.com">{{cite web |last=Elder |first=Gene |date=3 January 2015 |title=My Two Loves, the bisexual love story made in SA |url=https://outinsa.com/remembering-two-loves-bisexual-love-story-made-sa/ |website=Outsina.com}}</ref>

==Broadcast== The film aired on ABC at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time on April 7, 1986.<ref name="people.com">{{cite web |last=Jarvis |first=Jeff |date=April 7, 1986 |title=Picks and Pans Review: My Two Loves |url=https://people.com/archive/picks-and-pans-review-my-two-loves-vol-25-no-14/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190302090743/https://people.com/archive/picks-and-pans-review-my-two-loves-vol-25-no-14/ |archive-date=March 2, 2019 |website=PEOPLE.com}}</ref><ref name="allmovie.com"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Kelley |first=Bill |date=7 April 1986 |title=Robots Hunt a Reporter in 'Annihilator' |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1986-04-07-8601210228-story.html |website=Sun-Sentinel.com}}</ref>

==Reception== Hal Erickson of Allmovie called the film "groundbreaking" and gave it 2.5/5 stars, writing, "What made this film unique (at least when it initially aired over the ABC network on April 7, 1986) is that one of Gail's amours is her late husband's business partner Ben Taylor (Barry Newman)--while the other is Gail's female best friend, Marjorie Lloyd (Lynn Redgrave)." He went on to call the film "Impeccably tasteful in its treatment of a potential volatile subject, and refreshingly honest and uncompromising at its conclusion."<ref name="allmovie.com"/>

Jeff Jarvis of ''People'' gave the film a C−, writing, "This movie deals with just one fact of life: bisexuality." He continued, "Mariette and Lynn are an item, but you’d never know they’re in love from the way they act. There’s no passion between them. There’s no life anywhere in My Two Loves. In the end the movie looks like the life story of mannequins."<ref name="people.com"/>

==LGBT significance== The films significance as an early television portrayal of a lesbian relationship is noted by Gene Elder of outinusa.com, who writes, "This was in January 1986, and at a time when we were still referring to ourselves as the GL community–shortly adding the B to become the GLB community. The T was to come much later."<ref name="outinsa.com"/>

The Fort Walton Beach ''Playground Daily News'' ran an article with the headline "Lynn Redgrave enjoys challenging roles" on Saturday, April 5, 1986.<ref>{{cite web |date=5 April 1986 |title=Lynn Redgrave enjoys challenging roles |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/fort-walton-beach-playground-daily-news-apr-05-1986-p-15/ |url-access=registration |website=Playground Daily News |page=15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> ''The News-Press'' of Fort Myers, Florida ran an article with the headline "ABC tackles once-taboo subject of bisexuality" on Sunday, April 6, 1986.<ref>{{cite web |date=6 April 1986 |title=ABC tackles once-taboo topic of bisexuality |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/220489861/ |url-access=registration |website=The News-Press |page=123 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Several newspapers ran articles about the film's subject matter. The ''Dayton Daily News'' of Dayton, Ohio ran an article with the headline "'My Two Loves' takes lesbianism one step further" on Monday, April 7, 1986.<ref>{{cite web |date=7 April 1986 |title='My Two Loves' takes lesbianism one step further |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/411879647/ |url-access=registration |website=Dayton Daily News |page=28 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Admitting that "Television has generally been uneasy about lesbians," John J. O'Connor of ''The New York Times'' wrote, "the subject of lesbianism clearly remains delicate, to say the least, for television. In 'My Two Loves,' ... a character contends that lesbians are this country's 'largest invisible minority.' Perhaps with that in mind, 'My Two Loves' approaches the subject with a measure of candor and sympathy and then, in typical television fashion, discreetly withdraws before any difficult decisions have to be made." Praising Hartley and Redgrave, he wrote, "both actresses splendidly transcend the inhibitions of the script and production. Passion between the two women is restricted to rather tentative hugging; ecstasy seems limited to washing each other's hair. Fifteen years ago, 'That Certain Summer' looked at male homosexuals with studied tastefulness and unflagging decorum. Television has finally gotten around to doing the same for lesbians."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/07/arts/my-two-loves-abc-movie-at-9.html|title='My Two Loves,' Abc Movie at 9|first=John J.|last=O'Connor|date=7 April 1986|website=The New York Times}}</ref>

In an interview with ''The Washington Post'' about her role in the film, Lynn Redgrave said, "I've played a nun, a hooker, a bisexual and a saint. Why should this part be a problem?" When asked what it was like to play a lesbian, she said, "I didn't find it hard. It's fun to play people who are not like yourself."<ref>{{cite news |last=Hill |first=Michael E. |date=April 6, 1986 |title=Lynn Redgrave Hooker Saint Homosexual |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/tv/1986/04/06/lynn-redgrave-hooker-saint-homosexual/60f0ef16-740a-4553-9d07-e400319c49dd/ |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

Admitting that such a role could affect her career, Hartley said, "I think it affected my publicist more than anyone else. She had to call Celestial Seasonings Tea to tell them I was going to play a bisexual. It was a curious feeling to think I could lose my contract by playing a bisexual."<ref name="outinsa.com"/>

In the book ''The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV'', author Stephen Tropiano writes, "Lesbianism was also presented as an option for lonely heterosexual women in search of some companionship. In the made-for-TV movie, ''My Two Loves'', widow and single mother Gail Springer (Mariette Hartley) befriends an executive, Marjorie (Lynn Redgrave), who she later discovers is a lesbian. Gail said she had no idea because Marjorie doesn't look gay. 'We don't all wear black leather and ride a Harley Davidson,' Marjorie explains. Their relationship turns into an affair, much to the dismay of Gail's mother (Sada Thompson) and her old friend, Ben (Barry Newman), a male chauvinist who is romantically pursuing her. ... Gail Who must decide between Marjorie and Ben, chooses neither. Again, her choice seems to be between lifestyles, not individuals. Like Gail, television was still not ready to commit either way."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLhJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT110|title=The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV|first=Stephen|last=Tropiano|date=1 May 2002|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|via=Google Books|isbn=9781476847986}}</ref>

In an obituary of Lynn Redgrave for ''Ms.'', Michele Kort wrote, "Outside of her own scripts, Redgrave was gutsy in her choice of roles, including playing a lesbian in a happy (!) relationship with a woman in the 1986 TV film ''My Two Loves''. As I recall, the most intimate moment in the film was a hair-washing scene, but to have ''any'' lesbian representation on television back then was an accomplishment."<ref>{{cite web |last=Kort |first=Michele |date=3 May 2010 |title=Lynn Redgrave, RIP |url=http://msmagazine.com/blog/2010/05/03/lynn-redgrave-rip/ |website=Msmagazine.com}}</ref>

''My Two Loves'' is noted for its portrayal of a lesbian relationship in the article ''Flirting with Equality: A Feminist Social Commentary on the Opposition to Civil Equality for Lesbians and Gays'' by Patricia Madoo Lengermann and Jill Niebrugge in the ''National Women's Studies Association Journal''.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Lengermann |first=Patricia Madoo |author2=Niebrugge |first2=Jill |date=1995 |title=Flirting with Equality: A Feminist Social Commentary on the Opposition to Civil Equality for Lesbians and Gays |journal=NWSA Journal |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=30–53 |jstor=4316377}}</ref>

The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance list the film as a "homosexual milestone" in the portrayal of the LGBT community in the media.<ref>{{cite web |title=Portrayal of the LGBT community in the media: Homosexual milestones: 1972 to 1999 |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_medi2.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408003728/http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_medi2.htm |archive-date=April 8, 2022 |website=Religioustolerance.org}}</ref>

Michele Kort of ''The Advocate'' called it "groundbreaking but coy."<ref name="The Advocate"/>

''My Two Loves'' is included in the list of "Historic LGBTQ Television Moments" by the Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Counseling of Alabama (ALGBTICAL).<ref>{{Cite web |title=LGBT IN THE MEDIA |url=http://www.algbtical.org/2A%20MEDIA.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314063214/http://www.algbtical.org/2A%20MEDIA.htm |archive-date=March 14, 2012 |website=ALGBTICA}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|0091585}}

Category:1986 films Category:1986 LGBTQ-related films Category:1986 romantic drama films Category:1986 television films Category:1986 English-language films Category:American LGBTQ-related television films Category:Films about female bisexuality Category:Films about widowhood in the United States Category:Films directed by Noel Black Category:Films set in San Antonio Category:Films shot in San Antonio Category:Lesbian-related films Category:1986 American films Category:English-language romantic drama films Category:American Broadcasting Company original films