Treading Water

Christmas is the season for giving and spending time with your family... apparently. How can you face this when your family is ruled by an uptight matriarch who won't even acknowledge your lesbianism? Casey Olsen (Redman) and Alexandra (Landra) are passionate lovers who have surprisingly made successful lives for themselves in a New England coastal town. Casey is a longshorewoman who is starting her own boat restoration enterprise, and Alex, her beautiful partner, is currently working as a youth counselor.

As Christmas approaches, the pair, who live on Casey's houseboat-cum-love nest, must come to terms with the emotional turmoil in the Olsen household. Though only across the bay, they are socially polar opposites. The strict Catholic mother (Miller) simply cannot bring herself to accept that her daughter is gay, and therefore Alex will not be invited to join the entire family for Christmas dinner. Having lived through this before, Casey puts her foot down; and the entire fabric of the family begins to come apart piece by piece, as secrets, homophobia and repression are brought out to air. Himmel has successfully created a poetic, sometimes comical and frequently erotic character study that many of us will identify with. The climax is neither predictable nor melodramatic in this emotionally charged drama.