Pride Month Movie Review of “Poltergay”

Poltergay

Poltergay is a 2006 French comedy about a newlywed couple moving into a house, only to find it’s haunted by the ghosts of 5 gay men who, in 1979, died in a disco explosion in the cellar that was an underground gay club.

I put this film on on a whim for some background noise, and ended up being very pleasantly surprised. It’s genuinely funny, and while it does play into stereotypes (they are some very camp queens), at no point does it feel mean or dehumanising.

The haunting begins with my favourite gag, the eerie sound of Boney M’s Rasputin (their only record to make it through to the afterlife) echoing through the house, audible only to Marc and not his wife Emma. What follows is a crisis from Marc, questioning both his sanity and sexuality, leading to a break up with Emma. It’s now down to the five gay ghosts to help Marc win her back.

I know, I know, it’s a very tired trope that gay men exist to fix heterosexual’s problems, but in Poltergay the relationship is reciprocal. Marc, portrayed as your typical hapless straight man, is never homophobic towards the ghosts, he just wants peace and quiet. His gay panic moment is alleviated by the wholesome response of his friends and family when he comes out to them.

Furthermore, our Poltergays have clear and genuine friendships between them independent of their relationship with the straights. There are a lot of gay sex jokes (and unfortunately it does dip into predatory gay territory once or twice), but the film takes time to demonstrate the emotional component of their relationships, romantic and platonic. Once Marc understands them, he takes them for a night out on the Paris gay scene. Their excitement at seeing gay clubs, gay cafés, gay bookshops, and so on in public was probably my favourite moment of the film.

Poltergay isn’t perfect, but it is sweet and affirming, if you’re looking for something wholesome yet spooky this could be one for you.

Review by Dai Baddley

Twitter: @PrepareToDai

As part of our Pride Month celebrations, we asked our contributors to provide a link to a charity of their choice. Dai chose Gendered Intelligence and we would ask, if you are able, if you could please consider a donation to support their work.