The first politicians were tentatively beginning to voice support for same-sex unions still a distant hope at the time , while casual homophobia and entrenched heteronormativity dominated mainstream media, from TV shows to movies and music.
In Plainclothes , we follow Lucas a superb Tom Blyth , a young undercover officer tasked with luring and arresting gay men, all the while grappling with his own repressed sexuality and unspoken desires. This time, the camera shifts its focus from the men seeking connection in public restrooms to the ones whose gaze followed them โ those tasked with the arrests. Though not a thriller, Plainclothes strikingly creates a creeping sense of being watched, a constant, suffocating presence that keeps the film from devolving into a superficial romance or a mere fetishization of a complex and turbulent period.
Here, true perversion lies not in the sexual acts themselves but in the voyeuristic eyes of those observing. Embodied by every cop endlessly watching training tapes on how to arrest gay men, and recording their encounters, turning the act of surveillance itself into a sexual thing.
A thin, precarious line is drawn: the officers are trained not to speak, only to flirt with their eyes, allowing the men to initiate the conversation. When the time comes, the goal is clear โ to arrest the men when they expose themselves in a stall. Lucas knows the routine. But the body speaks in ways words cannot, and after meeting Andrew Russell Tovey โ whom he chooses not to arrest โ Lucas keeps him close, drawn into repeated sexual encounters.
He knows that the deeper he goes with Andrew, the closer he gets to his own destruction. The need to go astray, to be destroyed, is an extremely private, distant, passionate, turbulent truth. Maybe, it is by destroying himself that Lucas might find freedom. Skip to content. Share via. Copy Link. Powered by Social Snap. Copy link. Copy Copied.
