Queerly Ever After is a bi-monthly column where I take a look at LGBT+ films that gave their characters a romantic happily-ever-after. There will be spoilers.
What words come to mind when you think about your teenage years? Acne, angst, rebellion, sexual exploration, emo? 1997’s All Over Me, written by Sylvia Sichel and directed by her sister, the late Alex Sichel, has all of that and more. Okay… it doesn’t really have all the acne that defined many of our teen years. Set during a summer break in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC, All Over Me follows teenager Claude (Alison Folland) through a summer of self discovery and personal change.
Best Friends Forever
Like many teenage girls, Claude spends all of her time with her best friend Ellen (Tara Subkoff), but their friendship starts to split when Ellen starts dating bad-boy Mark (Cole Hauser) and Claude realizes she is in love with Ellen. Mark is the kind of boy you wouldn’t want to be in the same room as, he’s a violent, homophobic, sexist, controlling drug dealer who somehow captivates Ellen’s attention and plies her constantly with drugs. Claude wants nothing to do with him, but Ellen can’t get enough.
While her relationship with Ellen is starting to fray, Luke (Pat Briggs), a young gay man, moves into Claude’s apartment building. Sensing in her a kindred spirit, he sort of takes her under his wing. However, after an altercation with Mark, that Mark started of course, Luke turns up murdered in a possible hate crime. When Ellen hints to Claude that she was present when Luke was murdered, and that Mark is the culprit, Claude keeps mum in order to protect her oldest friend, but she also starts to break away from Ellen.
It’s at a gay bar that Luke told her about that Claude meets Lucy (Leisha Hailey), a teenage girl in a band who is open and comfortable in her sexuality. Claude and Lucy instantly hit it off, but Claude holds back in pursuing Lucy because of her feelings for Ellen. Eventually, after Ellen’s behavior becomes more erratic and Mark threatens Claude, Claude decides it’s time to break free from the hold Ellen had over her and turns Mark in to the police, effectively severing her friendship with Ellen. Separating from the part of her life, and moving on from that friendship enables Claude to fully embrace who she is and to start dating Lucy.
Teen Spirit
When it first came out All Over Me was criticized by some for being overwrought and dramatic, but teenage years are overwrought and dramatic. To a teenager everything feels like a life or death situation, and coming to terms with one’s sexuality can be an emotionally fraught experience. Add to that friendships that felt like they were going to last forever suddenly becoming untenable, life is a hodgepodge of emotions and body odor.
Some viewers may wonder why Ellen was so captivated by Mark, why after all his controlling and abusive behavior she stuck with him. She’s a teenage girl whose parents leave her to her own devices, she wants someone who will pay attention to her. She has no relationship experience to pull from, and she doesn’t understand that she can walk away. She actually reminded me a lot of a friend I had growing up who had a fraught relationship with her parents and would bounce from liking one bad-for-her boy to another.
All Over Me: In Conclusion
All Over Me is a poignant coming-of-age film that focuses on some of the sadder facets of growing up and discovering yourself. But while the dissolution of Claude and Ellen’s once-tight friendship was inevitable from the beginning, Claude still got her happy ending with Lucy.
Watch All Over Me
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