Lover, Beloved, the film adaptation of songwriter Suzanne Vega's one-woman stage show about the life of 20th-century female American writer Carson McCullers is set to make its broadcast debut. The film will be available via Public Television Stations and the PBS App starting February 28. Check local listings for dates and times in additional markets. The world debut was at SXSW 2022 in Austin.
In this experimental blend of film, theater and music, Vega fictionalizes a talk McCullers gave at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, making it two separate talks at two different points in the author’s life.
During the first, in 1941, she drinks her way through the lecture, revealing messy romances and illnesses. In the second, 25 years later, she confronts her mortality, reminiscing on her novel and play The Member of The Wedding, as well as on her twice-failed marriage and romances with members of both sexes—ending on the credo she forged with her husband.
The film features songs by Vega and Duncan Sheik (of "Barely Breathing" fame). In 2016, Vega released an album based on the 2011 play Carson McCullers Talks About Love, with musical contributions by Sheik, Gerry Leonard and others.
George Paul
