When Night Is Falling -1995- (2024)

For younger viewers discovering it today, what shocks is not the sex—which is remarkably chaste by modern standards—but the joy . There is no homophobic violence, no deathbed goodbye, no obligatory apology. There is only the terrifying, glorious business of two women choosing each other against the weight of a world that says no.

Patricia Rozema once said in an interview: “I wanted to make a film where two women fall in love and nothing terrible happens.” Mission accomplished. And in a world still fighting for the right to love freely, that’s not just art. That’s an act of hope. Directed by Patricia Rozema Starring Pascale Bussières, Rachael Crawford, Henry Czerny Available on digital platforms (Criterion Channel, Kanopy, and for digital rental). when night is falling -1995-

Thirty years later, Patricia Rozema’s sensual, lyrical romance remains a defiantly beautiful outlier—a lesbian love story unafraid of magic, myth, or happy endings. For younger viewers discovering it today, what shocks

In the mid-1990s, queer cinema was finding its mainstream footing, but often through grit and tragedy. The Boys in the Band (1970) had given way to Philadelphia (1993), a noble but devastating AIDS drama. Go Fish (1994) offered tender realism on a shoestring. Then, in 1995, Canadian filmmaker Patricia Rozema released When Night Is Falling —a film so lush, so unabashedly romantic, and so visually audacious that it felt like it had arrived from another dimension entirely. Patricia Rozema once said in an interview: “I

If you haven’t seen it, you’re not alone. Despite winning the Teddy Award for best queer feature at the Berlin International Film Festival, When Night Is Falling was overshadowed by bigger-budget contemporaries. But for those who found it—on a late-night VHS rental, a university film studies course, or a quiet streaming discovery—it has never let go. The film follows Camille Baker (Pascale Bussières), a quietly repressed professor of mythology at a Christian college in Toronto. She lives a scripted life: a handsome, devoted boyfriend (Henry Czerny), a choir directorship, and an apartment full of beige. Then, in a laundromat on a cold night, she meets Petra (Rachael Crawford), a bold, sharp-tongued circus performer with a mane of dark curls and a panther’s grace.