QUEER CINEMA
Fried Green Tomatoes PG
USA | 1991 130 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Jon Avnet
STARRINGKathy Bates | Jessica Tandy | Mary Stuart Masterson
This film is adapted from Fannie Flagg’s 1987 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café. The author was involved in writing the screenplay, along with the director Jon Avnet and also Carol Sobieski, who originally envisioned the film as a musical. The latter option was discarded and what we have is an epic drama linking the present travails of one Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates) with the romance between Idgie Threadgoode (Mary Stuart Masterson) and family friend Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker) that occupies a period between the first and second world wars. The romance is retold by an elderly lady living in a nursing home, Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy), who meets Evelyn while she is at the nursing home visiting her husband’s aunt.
Numerous subjects are tackled in the film through the narratives of present and past, including female empowerment, lesbianism and the importance of strong friendships between women.
Ninny is a sprightly woman in her early eighties, while Evelyn is (or has become) a timid, downtrodden woman in her forties, trying hard to rescue her marriage to Ed, now that the children have fled the nest. Ed seems a hopeless case, glued to sport on the TV and expecting his wife to continue as home-maker and provider of TV dinners. He’s not abusive, but just doesn’t get what’s happening to his traditional household, now that Evelyn wants to break free from the role she is still expected to play.
Evelyn keeps up the meetings with Ninny at the nursing home and hears more and more about the Threadgoode family history – shown in the film through a series of flashbacks. The two women build a strong bond, and the story-telling becomes a form of therapy for Evelyn, rather more effective than her attendance of various consciousness-raising groups. Ninny dispenses no-nonsense advice and Evelyn gains in confidence over a period of time.
The drama of Ruth and Idgie’s relationship is exciting and emotional, expressed through beautiful scenes, bright colours and exceptional bravery. The actors playing their roles have great chemistry, adding to the authenticity of their bond as they set about running the Whistle Stop Café. Theirs is a lesbian relationship – everyone around knows it, but they don’t make a big deal of it. It’s less explicit than in the book, but nonetheless obvious and undeniably erotic.
Some film critics, back in 1991, opined that the film should be have been more explicit. But it seems hardly necessary, and the film has since entered the canon of lesbian movies, being hailed by the community both then and now. It was also a great commercial success both in America and around the world and garnered numerous Oscar and BAFTA nominations.
Fried Green Tomatoes tells a good story of both past and present with great sensitivity and good humour. It comes highly recommended as a movie to discover or re-discover and will look great back on the big screen again.
25 February 2026 WEDNESDAY 19:30
AUDITORIUM
Tickets £10.25|£6.25 (under 26) inclusive of fees