The Fox (1967)

Sandy Dennis and Anne Heywood star in the 1967 Canadian film adaptation of queer author D.H. Lawrence’s 1923 novella THE FOX.

The film is set in rural Ontario and follows Jill (Dennis) and Ellen (Heywood) who struggle to run their newly acquired chicken farm. A man named Paul (Howard Koch) enters their home and brings change and new love – but soon, his presence leads the two women to realize their true feelings for one another.

A common trope that is associated with THE FOX is the “curing” of homosexuality with a heterosexual romance, but that’s not necessarily what happens. *Spoilers ahead* Ellen does have a romantic connection with Paul, she’s probably bisexual, but in the end she chooses Jill. It’s just unfortunate that another trope rears its ugly head at the end of the film and the two women are separated by death. Just as in THE CHILDREN’S HOUR (1961), Jill and Ellen are forced to pay the price for their queerness.

That being said, THE FOX was still an important film for pushing boundaries, it doesn’t shy away from on screen lesbian intimacy, and the two women do choose each other over the man (or, fox) who tries to separate them. Unsurprisingly, not everyone was happy with the film’s more progressive elements; when the film was released in Mississippi in 1968, the theatre owner screening the film was actually arrested, and the film was confiscated, because local authorities deemed it “obscene.” At the time of release it received an “R” rating in the USA and, according to the New York Times, was later re-edited and re-released in 1973 with a “PG” rating (Hmm, I wonder what they cut…).

THE FOX received a Golden Globe Award (Best English-Language Foreign Film) and composer Lalo Schifrin was nominated for an Academy Award for the film’s score.

THE FOX

1967. Canada.

Director: Mark Rydell

Screenplay: Lewis John Carlino and Howard Koch

Based on: The Fox (1922) by D.H. Lawrence

Starring: Sandy Dennis, Anne Heywood, and Keir Dullea

THE FOX isn’t the easiest film to track down at the moment, but it is available on DVD via Warner Archive.