Film Review: “The Naked Civil Servant”

Last night I rewatched the film The Naked Civil Servant, based on the memoir by Quentin Crisp, starring John Hurt.

This film has a special place in my heart.  I’m not sure when I first saw it, but it was broadcast on PBS when I was living in Virginia.  From what I can tell, it was broadcast in the spring of 1975—but I couldn’t have seen it that early; I was still a graduate student at the University of Virginia, and not watching much TV.  I may not have seen it until ten years later, after I’d moved to California.  I do find it difficult to imagine seeing this film in Virginia in the 1970s.

In my memory, my encounter with The Naked Civil Servant blends with my encounter with Christopher Isherwood’s book Christopher and His Kind, which I first read around 1977.  They both changed my life.

In his memoir, Isherwood is unapologetically gay—homosexual.  This was a revelation to me.  Yet Isherwood remained fairly conventional in appearance; Crisp did not.

Crisp liked men, and Crisp liked makeup and flowing clothes.  He decided early on (the 1930s) to be upfront about it.  Consequently he was frequently harassed and ganged-up on.  In spite of that, he made a living for himself through various art-related activities, and ended up as a “grand old man” of the English queer community (though eventually moving to New York).

I’ve read the book the film is based on, but I don’t remember it very well; the film seems more focused.  In it, we see Crisp come to terms with his own nature, and decide to be honest and open about it.  We see the reactions of family, friends, and society.  We see Crisp become involved with various men—and become friends with various women (proto “fag hags?”).

What’s amazing is Crisp’s measured attitude.  He displays compassion for his lovers and his friends.  He tries to educate the society around him, on the assumption that “they don’t understand us; and what people don’t understand, they fear.”  It is his life’s work, his crusade, to educate them.  But he keeps his sense of humor, and his perspective.  This impressed me when I first saw the film, and I tried to learn from him.

The film still impresses me, but in a more personal way. Because now I can see the personal touches involved in the life situations displayed here.  The stories may seem rather fantastic—but you can imagine them all being true.

I’m preparing to watch a sequel to this film, An Englishman in New York, produced 30 years later in 2008.