Julianne Moore and Annette Bening star as a married lesbian couple whose two children go looking for their sperm donor in a movie met with cheers Wednesday at the 60th Berlin Film Festival.
The Kids Are All Right by Lisa Cholodenko sees Moore and Bening as a happy couple of two decades whose relationship begins to falter when their teenagers biological father enters the picture.
Moore, 49, said the film was refreshing for taking a lesbian-led household for granted and offering an honest look with a light touch at the dynamics of a long-term relationship.
For me the movie is very much a portrait of a marriage and a family and about what it s like to be married for a long time and have children, she told reporters.
I don t think it matters what your sexuality is. I think all families are the same that way.
The film shows the sperm donor Paul, played by Mark Ruffalo ( Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ), as a ladies man who finds himself drawn in by the family of two women and two adolescents.
Meanwhile, Moore s character Jules is adrift in her career and feeling bullied by Nic (Bening), a successful obstetrician.
She begins to do some work at Paul s house but the strong bond they develop puts her marriage to Nic under threat.
Cholodenko said she saw the film, which she spent five years developing, as a timely addition to the heated debate in the United States over gay marriage and what constitutes a real family.
I don t see myself as an overtly political person. What I did feel good about though, is that there is so much activity in the States right now around gay marriage, she said.
I think that the timing of this film is really interesting – it wasn t calculated, we tried to make this film quite a while ago but needed time to secure financing from reluctant studios.
Cholodenko, 45, who has worked on television series including Six Feet Under and The L Word , said that she hoped the door was opening to more films featuring unconventional families.
It s difficult but hopefully the atmosphere will change, she said.
The Kids Are All Right is screening out of competition at the Berlin Film Festival, which wraps up Sunday. -AFP
