Honest, erotic, & star-studded—why isn’t this queer boarding school romance better remembered?
Welcome back to our queer film retrospective, “A Gay Old Time.” In this week’s column, with a new school year beginning, we’re revisiting the 2001 boarding school-set romance Lost And Delirious.September marks the official end of summer season.
As beach parties come to a close, we exchange swimsuits for knitted sweaters and steamy poolside flings give way to cozy autumn romances.
This is the month where most students also go back to school, one of the prime locations for burgeoning young love and queer awakenings, as film has repeatedly shown us through the years.This week, we’re taking a trip back to the early ‘aughts with the 2001 teen lesbian romance Lost And Delirious, featuring a trio of would-be prestige actresses coming of age and going through the turmoils of first love and heartbreak in an all-girls boarding school.
Although somehow forgotten by mainstream culture (even within queer circles), the film is a wildly entertaining portrait of the overflowing emotions of teenage girlhood and blossoming sexuality, but also a time capsule of queer tropes that feels equally dated and boundary pushing.Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.Lost And Delirious follows Mary “Mouse” Bedford (Mischa Barton), a young girl whose father and stepmother drop her off at a boarding school, and gets assigned to room with Paulie (Piper Perabo) and Tori (Jessica Paré).Mary is initially taken aback by the abrasive and extroverted nature of her roommates, and soon discovers that they are in a passionate sexual and romantic relationship with each other.
