The crime thriller “Deathtrap” has more to offer gays than just an attractive Christopher Reeve

Welcome back to our queer film retrospective “A Gay Old Time.” In this week's column, we take another look at the 1982 crime thriller Death trapone thing above all, well… *Spoiler alert*

Crime and mystery novels tend to have a particularly queer appeal. The worlds of Agatha Christie, Jessica Fletcher or Benoit Blanc are always full of larger-than-life characters hiding secrets from each other, exotic far-flung places, fabulous women in outlandish clothes and drama hiding in every corner.

The genre revels in the archetypes and narratives we are drawn to, either because of its camp feel and heightened reality, or because themes such as hiding one's true identity and finding meaning in a chaotic world are reflections of our own experiences.

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The canon of crime stories in film is broad and extensive, and while they always manage to find a queer audience, open queer representation in them is surprisingly quite low. Films like 1975 The last of Sheila1976s Murder by death (which we have already covered in this column) and more recently the Knife out There were queer characters in films of varying degrees of prominence. However, it was rare for a character's queerness to serve as a central plot point or motivation in the story.

This week to celebrate the recent release of the biographical documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeves StoryLet's take a look at a crime film that made a cultural statement by adding a queer layer to its source material, exposing the themes that otherwise simmered quietly beneath.

The structure

The 1982 film Death trap The film stars Michael Caine as Sidney Bruhl, a once-famous thriller playwright who now faces critical and financial decline in his career. Stuck in a creative rut after the failure of his latest play, Sidney is surprised to receive a manuscript one night from a former student, Clifford Anderson (Christopher Reeve).

The play proves to be one of the most brilliant works he has ever read, and his very supportive wife Myra (a spirited Dyan Cannon) persuades him to invite the young writer to discuss collaboration. But Sidney has other plans: he intends to murder Clifford and secure credit for the play in order to revive his own career.

*From now on, this article will be quite spoiler-heavy. So if you haven't seen it yet Death trap and enjoy the film's many twists and turns, do so and come back!*

After a cat-and-mouse chase throughout the evening, Sidney successfully murders Clifford. But to his wife's great surprise, he comes back to life in the middle of the night and tries to take revenge. This is too much for Myra's poor heart and she dies of a heart attack. But then Sidney and Clifford look at each other and smile: their plan worked. They successfully killed his wife and can now enjoy their fortune together. And they share a kiss.

The rest of the film follows the distrust that the two men develop towards each other as Clifford attempts to write a play based on the crime committed by the two (it is a film full of complex narrative themes and techniques).

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Making the crime thriller queer in the truest sense of the word

It's a very cleverly plotted, fast-paced and gripping meta-crime with three hilarious performances at its core. Cannon stands out as the unsuspecting victim, with Reeve effectively weaponizing his boyish charm and Michael Caine comfortably falling into an archetype he's done before (the film has many similarities to 1972). detectivewhere he played alongside Laurence Olivier).

Death trap The film is directed by Sidney Lumet, returning to the genre after directing the star-studded 1975 film Murder on the Orient Expressand effectively translates the “stageiness” of the source material into a dynamic and claustrophobic cinematic experience.

The film is based on Ira Levin's 1978 play of the same name, which at the time had the honor of being the longest-running comedy-thriller on Broadway. Although the play suggests that there is a romantic and sexual relationship between the two leads, the film made this clear by including the kissing scene, which caused great controversy at the time. The film was booed by audiences in previews, and since the discourse it generated apparently revealed a major twist in the film's plot, the studio assumed it would have cost millions of dollars in ticket sales.

A crime of passion

However, the kiss, and therefore the romantic nature of the central relationship, is a key element of the story and what sets it apart from other entries in the genre. Unlike other films where a character's sexuality can be used as information against them (see The last of Sheila or just a touch of personality and backstory that never comes into play, the attraction and bond between Sidney and Clifford is what sets the entire plot in motion.

They kill because they want to be together, and the tension that grows between them after the murder is heightened by their feelings for each other. The professional jealousy at the core of the theme makes more sense and is more noticeable between two lovers than if they were just colleagues.

Interestingly, and rather disappointingly, there have been attempts at revivals of the play that have unsuccessfully attempted to deepen this romantic relationship even further. In 2012, a Los Angeles LGBT Center production staged the post-murder conversations as a post-coital nude scene and had to cancel performances when the production was canceled by Ira Levin's estate. But it's not as if this creates a dynamic that isn't already present in the text.

A twist of fate

Death trap is a worthy entry into the canon of both crime adaptations and queer films. Although it is significantly longer than it needs to be, and its stage origins are sometimes too obvious, it is full of surprises, twists and gore to both embarrass and captivate the reader.

The fact that it centers on a queer couple feels both groundbreaking and surprisingly familiar; It's a genre we've felt at home with for so long that it feels somewhat natural to see ourselves portrayed openly.

Deathtrap is currently streaming on Hoopla, Plex and Tubi. It can be rented digitally or purchased via Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

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