Why does everyone assume that Geoff is gay??
Everywhere I look on IMDb.com about this film, including the one plot summary, it is assumed that Geoff is gay, but is that NECESSARILY So?? It is NEVER established in the film that he is actually gay. Although that is one Justifiable INTERPRETATION of the film, it is an Interpretation, an Opinion and NOT a Fact that is clearly established in the film itself. The FACT is that Geoff's sexual orientation in the film is left Ambiguous, and I would argue deliberately so.
Having just viewed the film for the first time, the thought that Geoff is gay never even entered my mind. And I'm a 67-year-old American who "has been around the block" many times, and acquired at least Some "street smarts" along the way.
One theme of the New Wave that I noticed in Continental European films, a theme that I see greatly influence Continental Films for decades to come, is that of casting the main characters as being somewhat "victims of their social environment", as characters that are more "acted upon by others", rather than as "strong initiators of social action" themselves.
This being the first British New Wave film I've viewed, I can nonetheless say that this theme is also quite evident at least here.
Jo is very much a pawn of her environment, insofar as she sees herself permanently damaged by her neglectful mother, and as she deliberately and knowingly had sex with, and got pregnant by a man that she knew was leaving for sea very soon. That she unthinkingly had an affair with a Black man, at a time when racial prejudice was an everyday fact of life for Caucasians in the Western World, is also a sign of her being a pawn of whatever Life was to next offer up to her. Letting her mother back into her life, when she clearly wanted to live alone with Geoff is another sign of her Social Passivity.
As strong willed as the mother superficially appears in the film, she too is very much a pawn of her environment. She takes no deliberate action to establish a stable home for her and her daughter, rather submitting to being kicked out from one apartment after another. She also seems content with any man that Fate serves up for her.
It is in this context that it never even occurred to me that Geoff is gay. He too simply exhibits a great deal of Social Passivity. Jo chooses him. He doesn't choose Jo. He is also passively willing to marry a girl who is carrying a Black baby, simply because Fate coincidentally put her in his life. His "homemaking skills" are also a sign of his Social Passivity in general, symbolizing his willingness to accept the passive woman's role of the time, rather than the strong male role. In America, such Passive heterosexual men are sometimes simply called "pussy whipped", and not gay at all.
Even the way the film ends "in the middle of nowhere", with no firm resolution, is fitting for a film whose main characters can be justifiably characterized as "anti-heroes" much more than "heroes". The film ends on a note where all three main characters seem resigned to accept WHATEVER life throws their way because, after all, they are all merely "victims of their social environment". This resignation to Passive Fate is how the ending to this film reminds me very much of the ending of Jean Paul Sartre's 1944 play "No Exit". ... [email protected].