“Lesbian Chic”: Bound and Anne Heche in Wild Side (Erotic 90’s, Part 15)

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At the beginning of the 90s, lesbians were a punchline for a male-gaze-oriented media, an easy target for expressing the anxiety that women might not need men after all. By the middle of the decade, women-loving-women had become the heroes of a number of neo-noir crime films, but the culture at large still rejected lesbianism when not intended to arouse men. While The Matrix has widely been reappraised as a trans allegory after the transitions of its directors the Wachowski sisters, their previous feature Bound was transparently queer, but its reception was complicated by the media’s perception of its makers. Bound was released just a few months after the burial of an extremely similar film called Wild Side. Barely seen on its initial release amidst studio recutting and the suicide of its director, today Wild Side plays as a heartbreaking and troubling example of what could have been for its star Anne Heche, who would soon after become one-half of the most famous lesbian couple in Hollywood – and suffer the career consequences.

SHOW NOTES:

Sources:

“Lesbian Chic” by Jeannie Russell Kasindorf New York Magazine, May 10, 1993

“We Love Lesbians! Or Do We? 'Hot' Subculture -- Or Just New Hurtful Stereotypes?” by Kara Swisher, Washington Post, July 18, 1993

“Heard the One About Lesbian Comics?: Kate Clinton and Lea DeLaria have fought the homophobia of the comedy world and broken into the stand-up mainstream” by Jan Breslauer, LA Times, July 18, 1993

“Bonnie and Bonnie” by Alan Frutkin, The Advocate, September 5, 1995

“Showgirls Aside, Erotica Grinds On” by Andrew Hindes, Variety, October 30-November 6, 1995

“Gramercy Ties Up Bound” by John Brodie, Variety, December 20, 1995

“Bound” by Duane Byrge, The Hollywood Reporter, January 29, 1996

Wild Side, Entertainment Weekly, May 03, 1996

Donald Cammell, 62, Director Of 'Performance,' With Jagger by William Grimes, NYTimes, May 5, 1996

“Obituaries: Donald Cammell” by Leonard Klady, Variety, May 6-12, 1996

Cinema Sex Magick: The Films of Donald Cammell by Chris Chang, Film Comment, July-August 1996

“Unrestricted Viewing” by Graham Fuller, Interview, August 1996

“Bad Girls: Tristan Taormino, The Advocate, October 1, 1996

“Girl Meets Girl. Dumps Boy” by Janet Maslin, NYTimes, Oct. 4, 1996

“A Message That's Diminished by the Buildup” by Caryn James NYTimes, April 13, 1997

“Yep, I'm Gay” Ellen DeGeneres Interview, TIME, April 14, 1997

“Heche’s ‘Wild Side’ to be seen on cable” Variety, Apr 30, 1997

“Just for Variety” by Army Archerd, Variety, April 30, 1997

What’s Next for Heche? by Elaine Dutka, LA Times, May 1, 1997

“What’s the Problem? Let Her Do Her Job” by Lizzie Borden, LA Times, May 5, 1997

“The Rise of ''Wild Side'' The movie was just another erotic thriller until its director killed himself and Anne Heche became Ellen DeGeneres' other half, Entertainment Weekly, May 30, 1997

“Anne Heche The One Who Got Away” by Bill Zehme, Esquire, August 1, 1997

The Man That Time Forgot by Paul Beard and Lee Hill, Neon, August 1997

“Glory Bound an interview with Larry and Andy Wachowski” by Nat Whilk and Jayson Whitehead, Gadfly January 1998

“Glory Bound” An interview with Larry and Andy Wachowski by Nat Whilk and Jayson Whitehead, Gadfly, January 1998

“Documentary: Donald Cammell” by Kevin Macdonald. The Observer, May 3, 1998

Donald Cammell The Ultimate Performance BBC Documentary, 1998

“Who’s That Girl?” by Jonathan Van Meter, New York Magazine, July 27, 1998

The ‘Performance’ of a Lifetime by V.A. Musetto, New York Post, August 8, 1999

“The Year Of The Rat, From Scottish Triumphs To Us Black Comedy And A Moving Paris Debut, It's A Great Year For The Edinburgh Film Festival” by Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, August 20, 1999

https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/festivals/edinburgh/1999

“A cut above, Donald Cammell's reputation has soared posthumously. Brian Pendreigh meets Frank Mazzola, the editor who has restored the director's last film” The Guardian, January 14, 2000

“The Wild Wild Test” by Trevor Johnston, Time Out London, June 28, 2000

“Donald Cammell's Wild Side, Peter Bradshaw is mesmerized by a weird tale of brutal rape, high-class call girls, zillion-dollar fraud - and an unlikely love triangle” by Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, June 2000

“Maybe he preferred being glamorous to being merely great” by David Thomson, The Independent, June 25, 2000

The Lost Wachowski Brothers Interview by Josh Horowitz, November 5, 2003

“Model’s tell-all book reveals Madonna and Jolie lesbian affairs” by Tony Grew, The Pink News, Jan 15, 2007

“Madonna's Lesbian Phase Remembered” by Michael Musto, OUT, November 2013

“Remembering The First ‘One:’ CK One Turns 25, We Look At The Legacy Of The World’s First Openly Marketed Unisex Fragrance” by Sabrina Cooper, Dazed, April 2019

“Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon revisit their lesbian neo-noir Bound” by Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, June 06, 2019

“Anne Heche says romance with Ellen DeGeneres got her fired from 'multimillion-dollar movie deal” by Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, Oct 5, 2020

“Sandra Bernhard on fall out with Madonna: ‘Her relationships just don’t last’ They were BFFs in the 1980s, but then the seemingly inseparable pair parted ways” by Ree Hines Today, Dec. 23, 2021

“Isaac Mizrahi Says Love Triangle Sparked Madonna/Sandra Bernhard Feud” by Mey Rude, OUT, February 24, 2022

“'Pansexual' Madonna 'STOLE her best friend Sandra Bernhard's girlfriend Ingrid Casares' in the early '90s: 'She was betrayed'” by J. Peterson, Daily Mail Australia, March 1, 2022

The Year Lesbians Were Chic, Paper.com, by Trish Bendix

Donald Cammell’s Wild Side, Irish Film Institute

Donald Cammell: A Life on the Wild Side by Samuel J. Umland and Rebecca A. Umland

Lana and Lily Wachowski (Contemporary Film Directors series) by Cael M. Keegan

Call Me Anne by Anne Heche

Call Me Crazy by Anne Heche

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Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche at the 1997 Emmy Awards

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:

Vik Fence Lardha - The Fence
Mill Wyrm - Potions
True Blue Sky - Bitters
Tessalit - Azalai
Stock Still - Reflections
One Quiet Conversation - K2
Launch Code - Kittyhawk
Song at the End of Times - Limoncello
Chai Belltini - Vermouth
Chams Pacer - Lemon Jelly
Thumbscrew - Sketchbook 2
Deixa - Orange Cat
Metropolis Calling - Kittyhawk
Smooth Edges - Lemon Jelly