Chris and Don

An improbable love story, Chris and Don steals from the heart and delivers a message that is undeniable: love is all you need. With a thirty year age difference, the unlikely couple, who grew up in completely in different environments, maintained a life long relationship that was utterly brave in its time. Christopher Isherwood was a writer from England who had created a stir with his novel, "I am a Camera", which later became the basis for the movie, Cabaret. Isherwood moved to the United States in 1948 (with friend, W.H. Auden) and finally settled on southern California where he joined the ranks of expatriate writers who wrote for Hollywood. On Valentine's Day in 1953, a 48 year old Isherwood meets a very young Don Bachardy, who is rumored to be 16, but looks even younger. Don and his brother Ted would frequent Will Rogers State Beach, as it was known to be the "gay beach". The archival footage of Don and Ted is enough to understand why Isherwood eventually slept with both of them. But it was Don, who in time, became Isherwood's lover for over thirty years. No relationship is without its struggles and certainly Chris and Don had more than their fair share. Here was a prestigious older writer accompanied by his elfin-looking beautiful boy, who were adamant about their love and would not compromise their relationship, despite what many in Hollywood at the time thought (an overheard conversation with actor Joseph Cotton in particular). They also endured the normal periods of adjustment where they tried on other skins, but it was to be a mortal lock. The first half of the film is about beauty, and the second death. Not just physical death, but the unstoppable passage of time called growing older. Bachardy, who is now 75, is the embodiment of that beauty we all knew or even were in the past. He mentions that losing one's beauty is not easy, and on film, it is even harder. Isherwood becomes ill and we watch him slowly die. Bachardy has become an artist himself and his unflinching portraits of a his dying lover are painful to watch. The music, composed by Miriam Cutler is the perfect accompaniment to this for the most part, charmed life. As a documentary, Guido Santi and Tina Mascara have captured not only a great love story, but something about art, sex, love and southern California in its most interesting cultural period.