SOURCE: "Racial and Sexual Politics in The Crying Game," in Cineaste, Vol. XX, No. 1, 1993, pp. 30, 32, 34.

In the following essay, Michel analyzes the pitfalls concerning gender, sexuality, and race that Jordan fell into when filming The Crying Game.

Complex, subtle, and beautifully acted, The Crying Game unmistakably evokes and disrupts conventional expectations about national, racial, and sexual boundaries. In achieving its impressive thematic and visual coherence, however, Neil Jordan's compelling film succumbs to some of the risks entailed in its ambitious project. Where its disruptions are insufficient or excessive, the film implies a conservative politics at odds with the screenplay's apparent intentions. Public discussion of those intentions and accomplishments has been limited, so as not to spoil the film for those who haven't yet seen it. But the engaging intricacy of the film demands a detailed consideration that is impossible without revealing the plot as well as the other...