Sex, Love and Politics at the Movies

Source: With permission of Mora Stephens, pictured on set

September 9, 2015

Summary:  Mora Stephens' new film "Zipper" explores private needs and the public good.  Starring Patrick Wilson, Lena Headey and with an appearance by John Cho, it's a great conversation starter about politics, the libido and ethics.  

I was pleased to see Mora Stephens’ third feature film “Zipper” in limited release recently.  (It is available for streaming online at iTunes and many other platforms.)  Her great film "Conventioneers" was featured at CAAMFest in 2006.  My interview ("Hapa Hollywood") with her and Eric Byler for Hyphen Magazine is here.  "Zipper" premiered at Sundance earlier this year.

“Zipper” is a worthwhile and engaging film, taking on sex, scandal and politics in one fell swoop that could have been ripped from any number of headlines in recent memory.  Sam Ellis (played by Patrick Wilson) is an up-and-coming prosecutor, being egged on to run for higher office.  On the surface, he seems to have it all: a beautiful wife and son, a dream-job, admiration of colleagues, and even a hot legal intern throwing herself at him.  But in his private moments, we see his isolation, dissatisfaction and need as he pleasures himself to laptop porn.  Director Stephens is most concerned here with how seemingly private choices create consequences for us all, and can even corrupt the institutions most vital to our social and political well being, from the family to government.  I found myself remembering Steve McQueen’s “Shame” (which I wrote about in 2011).  “Shame” was a compassionate and meticulous exposition of the internal world of a man addicted to sex.  “Zipper” is similar in its gaze at the relentless ache of stubborn desires and longing, but ultimately more of a morality tale concerned with the bigger picture of society.

Source: With permission of Mora Stephens, pictured on set

Ellis’ life is built around fulfilling others’ expectations.  His libido, though, has a life of its own.  This secret self, he later says, “is the only thing that’s mine” (paraphrase).  It’s a telling and poignant moment, because it contains truth and contradiction.  While Ellis’ libido is his most private and intimate activity, it also connects him to others, draws his vulnerability into relationship, and puts him at risk (which seems to be part of the thrill).  In the embrace of escorts, his humanity finds escape, tenderness, pleasure, and acceptance – all forms of love.  In those moments, he is his most basic self, one human being needing another.  But oh, the complications.

Politics may naturally attract people with big appetites, egos, and even ids.  In its ideal, it demands the transcendence of selfish desires for the greater good – different only in its scale and potential for harm than the journey any of us makes on the path to maturity and individuality.

But the libido, we see in “Zipper,” is far from settled case law.  It’s probably more of a koan – a paradoxical Zen riddle whose name is the Japanese word for case, or matter for thought.  Many of us aspire, I think, to the highest forms of communal love, in our politics and public life (the “beloved community”), which seems incompatible with the basest of private desires – such as greed, lust, hatred or self-centeredness.  We rightly view selfishness as corrupting on personal and public levels.  Yet the self has persistent projects that affect others, for good and ill.

As we enter into another presidential cycle, we face choices about leadership styles, ideas, platforms and personalities that will influence our public life and discourse.  Attitudes towards money and economics are probably more important than libidinal concerns, but Stephens makes the case that seemingly private corruption can open the door for more damaging ethical lapses or scandal that impairs public potentials.  How much scrutiny is too much scrutiny?  When do we forgive politicians and others for their lapses of judgment, for being all-too-human?  Complicated and unresolved questions, indeed.  But certainly character, conscience, temperament and maturity should be important, and even prerequisites, for public office.  Because they’re sure to be tested.

“Zipper” is sure to be a conversation starter.  I recommend it.

(c) 2015, Ravi Chandra, M.D. F.A.P.A.

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