Sandy: Michael, are you gay?
Michael Dorsey: In what sense?

On NPR this morning, I heard that Tootsie Director (and actor, playing Dorsey’s agent) Sydney Pollack had died. A while back, Jenny sent me this lovely article from the NY Times magazine, describing how Tootsie was watched and recorded into emotional record–in part because that’s how movies were watched before home viewing changed the equation–but also because Tootsie is about performance, going over, getting it right through rehearsal and repetition. It’s a metaphor for working out a relationship with another person, or with your craft, reminiscent of Annie Hall, but one that supposes we could also employ multiple genders in our attempts at perfected self-expression. The line, “I was a better man with you, as a woman, than I ever was with a woman, as a man,” pretty much nails a lot of my own struggles with gendered identity.

This movie, like Some Like it Hot, Victor Victoria, Yentl, Just One of the Guys, and She’s the Man, is also testament to my ability to find sexy even the slightest gay insinuation. A young Jessica Lange and middle-aged Dorothy Michaels (Dustin Hoffman) sharing a bed together and near embrace? Charles Durning slow-dancing with Hoffman-as-Tootsie? My young gay heart skipped a beat. Rest in peace, Sydney Pollack.

Here’s Sydney playing Michael Dorsey’s agent, George Fields:

Michael Dorsey: You should have seen the look on her face when she thought I was a lesbian.
George Fields: “Lesbian”? You just said gay.
Michael: No, no, no – SANDY thinks I’m gay, JULIE thinks I’m a lesbian.
George: I thought Dorothy was supposed to be straight?
Michael: Dorothy IS straight. Tonight Les, the sweetest, nicest man in the world asked me to marry him.
George: A guy named Les wants YOU to marry him?
Michael: No, no, no – he wants to marry Dorothy.
George: Does he know she’s a lesbian?
Michael : Dorothy’s NOT a lesbian.
George: I know that, does HE know that?
Michael: Know WHAT?
George: That, er, I… I don’t know.

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