In "Indian Summer", people live before they die. The romantic comedy about an HIV-positive ballet dancer is rightly a classic and is now available again on DVD.
"Indian Summer" has already been an audience favourite. That was in 1996, when the film was shown in German cinemas under the title "Alive and Kicking". The film was one of the first with an HIV-positive main character, in which people lived before the disease took anyone.
Tonio is the star dancer in a ballet company and wants to make his last big appearance in their new piece "Indian Summer" before following his ex and his best friend into ballet heaven as a dying swan. Everything goes according to this rather melodramatic plan - until Jack turns up: a hairy, slightly chubby character who doesn't fit into Tonio's life at all and promptly gets stuck in it for that very reason.
The way the two fall in love, grow closer and argue with each other is still great cinema because it is so unpretentious, so honest and so screamingly funny. Jason Flemyng, now a Hollywood star, and Anthony Sher deliver a romantic tour de force as Tonio and Jack and English master comedian Bill Nighy as Tristan is, as always, too good to be compared to anyone.
Although "Indian Summer" is almost 15 years old, the film feels very contemporary because it doesn't turn its characters into victims, but lets them celebrate their lives, no matter how long it takes. The film actually follows the rules of every romantic comedy, except that here AIDS is the obstacle between the characters, which they first have to overcome before they can fall in love.
And then, of course, there is the muscular-men-in-tights factor, as with all ballet films, although the ensemble is very respectable. Indian Summer" was one of the first films ever to show what is normal today: HIV-positive people can be sexy.
Those who already know "Indian Summer" will want to see it again, those who don't know it yet should change that as soon as possible.
(Paul Schulz)
"Indian Summer", GB 1996, Director: Nancy Meckler, now on DVD from Salzgeber
