Even for same sex couples right now, it is not something that they would think about. At their age, it is something that they have never thought about when they were younger. You can hardly blame her.ĮDGE: There are also other issues like inheritance, the power of attorney. It had already caused big problems for their families obviously in the 1960s, so that is why it is probably their fault that their granddaughter does not know. Back then, they fell into their butch and femme roles and they kept their relationship hidden. Thom Fitzgerald: I think it is true for older people, they still carry the worldview of when they came to age. People still do not know about what their situation is. Self determination is the journey that they are on.ĮDGE: If they are not married, they still have a granddaughter who is in the dark about their relationship. For those two, I think it does not matter. I do not think I could say that it does not matter without being attacked. It does not really matter how anybody thinks, probably including me, even if I made them up. Thom Fitzgerald: I would say, after 31 years, it is up to the couple how a couple self identifies. Even Stella understands that, legal or not, their particular situation outside all the politics of it, they are not going to be able to stay together.ĮDGE: After 31 years of being together, is marriage still important? People who have seen the film would see that it never really makes a difference. I think it is a great romantic gesture on Stella's part and she believes it will make a difference in a situation, whether it would is a completely different story. They have to go somewhere where it would still be legal. Dot said she is willing to do it but only once. That it would not be taken away like a see-saw instability. I wrote a scene where they talk about wanting to be married for good. By the time we began the shoot, it was illegal again. When I started writing, there was no gay marriage in Maine, and then when we were close to shooting, it became legal and that changed everything. Thom Fitzgerald: I actually shot a scene that talks about that. ![]() ![]() So their logic may be flawed.ĮDGE: The couple lives in Maine, where same sex marriage is, as in California, taken away from them. In reality, in some states it is, in other states it is not. Thom Fitzgerald: That is quite the conundrum at the moment. The question that came to my mind is that, would their marriage be recognized when they come back to the U.S.? Why would they go through with it? who has to cross the border to Canada to get married. So that is what is on my mind, really thinking about the pros and cons of getting married.ĮDGE: The story is told from the perspective of a lesbian couple in the U.S. This trepidation, sour grapes, they talk about in the movie with regard to the institution of marriage. Thom Fitzgerald: I have been with my partner Doug for thirteen years so it was just an interesting thing on my mind, to think about how the world is changing so quickly now and how that would be even more extreme for someone who is 70 or 80 years old, to have doors that are closed one's entire life suddenly open and the realm of possibility suddenly so different that not everyone is eager to go through the newly opened doors. Along the way, the couple pick up a hitchhiker Prentice (Ryan Doucette) who needs to get home to see his dying mother. To do so, they travel north to Nova Scotia. ![]() They decide that they should, once and for all, get married to give legal credence to their relationship. "Cloudburst" is essentially a road movie about Stella (Dukakis) and Dot (Fricker), a lesbian couple in Maine who after more than thirty years together, risk being separated by Dot's granddaughter who is oblivious to the couple's relationship. The film could likely be the gay film to crossover to mainstream success. The screen adaptation has been traveling the film festival circuit in Canada since late last year and has picked up awards from Vancouver to Montreal, and stateside in San Francisco, San Diego and Palm Springs. Originally a stage play, "Cloudburst" won the 2011 Merritt Award, Nova Scotia's theatre award for Best New Play. If having Oscar winners Olympia Dukakis ("Moonstruck") and Brenda Fricker ("My Left Foot") play a lesbian couple of thirty years is not enough to pique your interest in the new comedy from Thom Fitzgerald ("3 Needles," "The Hanging Garden"), how about watching Olympia Dukakis butch-swearing her way on a trip to Canada to get legally married?
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