H. Lenn Keller | Ifé / 1993

you can never experience too many women

by Douglas Messerli

 

H. Lenn Keller (director) Ifé / 1993

 

Having recently immigrated to San Francisco from Paris, French black lesbian, Ifé spends her day cruising the streets of the city on the Bay in her classic auto, not unlike the way that Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) did in Vertigo.

     Unlike Scottie, however, even if she is a bit vertiginous in her absolute admiration of American women, Ifé is not looking for just one woman as Scottie was. Having committed herself to never falling in love—while nonetheless admitting she has come close to it with Anna, a relationship with whom she felt it necessary to call off before anyone was hurt—Ifé is now on the prowl. But then, who was Whitney, of whom Ifé won’t say much other than she “misses her.” Perhaps she is source of Ifé’s relationship resistance.

     Nonetheless, in a time in which marriage was impossible and short-term relationships were more common than monogamous commitments, Ifé delights in the various tastes of different kinds of women, wanting to try them all as if she were in an ice-cream emporium. “Here,” she observes, “everyone belongs to a tribe and they want to be noticed. It is like one big party.”

     In a period in which such straight-forward female statements of same-sex attraction were rare, the 5 minutes spent with Ifé are far more satisfying than the always ephemeral, constantly disappearing woman Scottie seeks out in the form of various disguises named Judy Barton or Madeline Elster.

     Ifé’s joyful greediness for female sex, revealed her statement “You can never experience too many women,” is utterly liberating.

 

Los Angeles, July 8, 2023

Reprinted from World Cinema Review (July 2023).