Movie Reviews

A Secret Love

"A Secret Love" is a 2020 documentary by Chris Bolan, starring Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel as themselves. This film lasts 1h22. Chris Bolan is Terry and Pat's great-nephew.
As far as I could follow the chronology, the filming of this documentary started around 2013. The audience is introduced to two Canadian ladies, Terry and Pat, who have been together for more than 65 years but have only declared their love to their family 3 years prior. This documentary is quite traditionally made: interviews, archive images, and following the lives of those ladies from when the shooting started until it ended (around 2017?). A lot of topics are brought up about these women: how they met and fell in love (at a hockey rink when Terry was 18 and Pat 22), the death of Pat's parents and her quasi-adoption by Terry's parents, Terry's career as one of the first professional female baseball players in the 40's, their job in the same interior design firm during 26 years… and of course the romance that they hid from everyone for more than 60 years. For example, they exchanged many letters throughout their lives, but cut out the top and bottom (the sender and receiver of the letter) so as not to be uncovered if someone were to read them. In parallel, the film documents their lives today, and the changes that their coming out and old age are bringing. They still live in their Illinois home, but Terry's niece, who loves her very much (but Pat not so much…), wants them to move to a nursing home, especially because Terry has a beginning of Parkinson disease. While Terry wouldn't be against moving, Pat has a hard time parting with the home that she shared with her lover for so many years. We are introduced to several of their family members and friends, who give us an insight of how they met and feel toward Terry and Pat. There is also a quick overview about what it was like to be a lesbian a half century ago. Some underground bars were raided by the police, and women could be arrested for "impersonating men". That could lead them to lose their jobs, custody of their children… we often get documentaries about what it was like to be a male homosexual or even a transgender person in the 20th century, but lesbians are rarely interviewed. As their backstory goes on, their present lives also evolve, and Terry's niece eventually convinces Pat to move into a nursing home. They are really happy there. And they get married! Eventually, they move to a nursing home in Alberta (their place of origin and where their families live), and the movie ends. An additional text tells us that they lived there happily for 2 years, until unfortunately Terry passed away in 2019 at age 76.
It's interesting to put into perspective that these ladies came out when they were in their 70's, not because of a change of heart but because they felt threatened before. People my age are usually more open about their sexuality and gender identity, and discover them at a young age, but we sometimes forget about the pioneers of our freedom. I liked this movie in that sense, but it was a bit emotionally heavy in the sense of what old age does to people's lives. Not necessarily a documentary to start with for people who are unfamiliar with that genre.