Photo: HELEN AND THE BEAR
SAN FRANCISCO—The phrase “opposites attract” has rarely rung so true as in HELEN AND THE BEAR, a cinéma vérité portrait of a vibrant woman and her most unusual marriage. Helen grew up feeling like a boy and as a young woman realized she was queer but went on to wed a man. And a rather unexpected man at that…Pete was an antiwar, pro-environment Republican congressman in San Mateo, 26 years Helen’s senior. Despite starting a long-term relationship with another woman, Helen remained wed to the man she calls “Bear.”
This clear-eyed, affectionate documentary finds the couple at a critical junction in their 40-year union — captured with striking honesty and intimacy by the director (and Helen’s niece) Alix Blair (FARMER/VETERAN). With Pete’s health growing more precarious at age 96, Helen starts to look back at her own life as she contemplates what her world will look like without him.
DIRECTED BY ALIX BLAIR, 81 MINS
Where: Vogue Theatre, 3290 Sacramento St, San Francisco, CA 94115
When: June 23, 2024 2:15 pm—3:53 pm
For details, see: https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline48/helen-and-the-bear
