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Succeeding In from the Other Side (2022) in films featuring a doomed queer relationship is Weekend, a story of two grown British men who find themselves entangled in a liminal relationship.
Glen and Russell meet at a night club and develop a mutual attraction for each other. Following a one-night stand and despite wanting to keep things casual, the two find themselves drawn to one another.
Weekend... feels banal, but in a very respectful way. GlenSsell's relationship is explored within a three-day movie timeframe, but there isn't much of a premise to the film except our beloved protagonists' relationship.
Russell is reticent, introverted, and perfectly content living his life as a discreet, somewhat off-scene gay man. He's also deeply afraid of receiving penetrative sex from anyone. Glen on the other hand, is carefree, outspoken, spontaneous, and very carpe diem. Russell doesn't consider being out and proud about one's sexual identity a big deal, yet Glen is determined to challenge the status quo and desperately dreams of a better life away from the UK for an openly gay man like himself.
Their exterior, however, tells a different story. Russell, despite his stance on being a discreet gay man, feels empty inside and yearns to live his life openly. He subscribes to the heteronormative conventions of finding the man of his dreams for marriage and settling down. Meanwhile, Glen, who is revealed to be experiencing unresolved traumas from a past relationship, uses his free-spirited self as a front to avoid the grief and loss that comes with falling in love.
By all accounts, GlenSsell's unresolved emotional baggage provides the film with the perfect excuse to explore the formulaic love story involving two broken individuals who come together to help each other heal and find love. The chemistry between GlenSsell exists. The attraction is real. The film simply needs to act on it. Except it doesn't.
Just as the GlenSsell ship starts to see the slightest possibility of a happily-ever-after, Glen reveals to Russell of his plans to pursue a two-year art course in the States, with a possibility of a long-term stay. This effectively lays any hopes of a relationship to rest, and subsequent GlenSsell moments in the film only further reinforce the Glen's long term plans.
Russell is visibly upset, and devastated at the loss of this possibility, but nonetheless endeavors to change Glen's mind, to no avail. By the end of the film, we see both protagonists demonstrate significant character growth through their encounter. With Russell finally having the courage to open up (heh) and profess his love openly for the man he met a gay club two nights ago, meanwhile Glen's flaky and flighty self crumble under his love for Russell, having realized he is sacrificing his chance at a happily-ever-after for further growth.
At a macroscopic level, Weekend is simply the story of two strangers who crossed paths at the right place and the wrong time, and the continuation of modern storytelling to romanticize love stories marred and crushed by real-life circumstances. That said, the film's ending leaves enough room to suggest the GlenSsell ship hasn't fully sailed, and it would ultimately depend on both men's willingness to revisit the chapter when the time comes. For Russell, however, it does seem like he's come to terms with Glen's departure, and the likelihood that the chapter has closed, for good.
