Chris and Don 7

A story about love, Hollywood, art, being gay in mid-20^th-century Europe and America, and, in subtle subtext, aging. Christopher Isherwood was the hook, the famous name, and it helped that he was so good looking and, apparently, charming, on top of being British and a good writer. But Don Bachardy was the real story, and it was mainly through his eyes and words that the movie was told. Only 12 years my senior, he seemed to be the eyes of age, perhaps because his English accent, absorbed from his relationship with Chris, hasn’t aged naturally. But for every scene of him doddering around his flat, there was another of him biking to the market, doing crunches at the gym, which showed him remarkably fit. What is truly remarkable, though, is the fact that this 17-year-old boy, whom Chris picked up while cruising a Malibu beach, not only carried out a lifelong relationship with a man 20 years his senior, from a different social universe, but turned into a major artist himself. With pictures to show and quite a story to tell.