A Taste of Honey

Dir. Tony Richardson. 1961, 101 mins. Digital projection. With Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan, Robert Stephens. “In the early 1960s, at the age of 18, Shelagh Delaney saw a play whose treatment of homosexuality convinced her she could made something better. The result was A Taste of Honey, a play, and eventual film, that addressed gender, sexuality, race, class, and family relations with a uniquely luminous mix of tenderness and weary honesty. The film has become a hallmark of British cinema, influencing directors such as Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, and John Schlesinger, as well as pop artists like Morrissey. Despite its fame, A Taste of Honey’s aching tension between blood family and the families we create remains revelatory and intimate, especially to queer audiences.”—Donal Mosher