‘Victim’: the British film credited with liberating homosexuality
There’s a deep power to the medium of cinema in how it can confront the attitude of the times and alter the perceptions of its audiences. In the early 1960s, there was a distinctive culture of homophobia in Britain, and homosexuality was actually illegal until the passing of the Sexual Offences Act in 1967.
One film that arguably assists in getting that law passed is Basil Dearden’s 1961 neo-noir suspense movie Victim, starring Dirk Bogarde and Sylvia Syms. Remarkably, Victim was the first British movie to actually explicitly name homosexuality and explore it in a sympathetic light, proving the kind of attitude the British public had around the mid-20th century.
Diving into the clandestine nature of homosexuality in post-war Britain, taking place on the London legal circuit, Bogarde plays Melville Farr. He is a successful barrister whose world threatens to come crashing down around him when he receives a series of letters blackmailing him and threatening to expose his homosexual affair with a working-class man.
Rather than succumbing to the blackmailer’s demands, Melville confronts them head-on and aims to uncover their homosexuality-preying operation. In that light, Victim is a brilliant portrayal of the kind of persecution homosexuals faced around the mid-20th century and its bigoted and prejudiced society.
Living in secrecy and fear as a gay man in Britain was quite the norm at the time. Dearden’s film, aided by the masterful performance by Bogarde, provided a moving commentary on how intolerance in society leads only to pain and self-hatred and that such ignorance ought to be apprehended.
As Melville makes his journey from secrecy to activism with the admirable help of his wife (played by Syms), Victim stands its ground for the rights of homosexuals and is a truly groundbreaking work and a vital one for the modern LGBTQ+ community, an inspiration to any oppressed and marginalised group.
On top of that, the movie possesses brilliant and tense pacing, intelligent dialogue, and artistic cinematography worthy on an aesthetic as well as a social level. But most importantly, Victim serves as a call to action, a plea for our societies to become more tolerant of whatever might be considered deviant or undesirable behaviour.
Bogarde actually received a thank you letter from Lord Arran, the man who brought the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 legislation before Parliament, which proves the kind of impact both he and Dearden made with Victim. The film is an essential piece of gay cinema and has written itself into the history of homosexuality itself.
Check out the trailer below.
