Greta Garbo was a butch queen in this subversive drama from the Golden Age of Hollywood
Amid whispers about her private life, Garbo bucked expectations about a queen who does drag.
Mark
Welcome back to our queer film retrospective, “A Gay Old Time” and the next entry in our annual Pride series “Old Queens Of Hollywood,” in which we talk about stars from the Golden Age of cinema that we now know to have been queer through the lens of a classic film that shaped the public perception of their sexuality.
This week, let’s look back at one of the biggest stars of the era—and of film history!—through one of her signature roles that defied the gender norms and conventions of the times, delving into how it may have reflected the double life that she was forced to live, like so many other actresses of the time.
The Golden Age Of Garbo
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Swedish-American actress Greta Garbo is now considered one of the greatest screen legends that Hollywood has ever created, making a seamless transition from her stardom in the Silent Era to the early Golden Age of Hollywood with the arrival of sound.
She became known for her mysterious, melancholic, and often tragic persona on screen, and for the subtlety she brought to roles during a time where melodrama was the norm. Although she was immortalized in movies like Mata Hari, Camille, and Grand Hotel, her career burned bright and fast. She retired from the public eye after only two decades in the spotlight, labeled box office poison by the press, critics, and industry insiders.
For the rest of her life, she referred to her time in Hollywood as a period in which she felt trapped, inauthentic, and divided. Many factors could have contributed to that feeling, but a pretty significant one may have been Greta Garbo’s latent queerness that had to be suppressed for the cameras and the public eye. Although never explicitly stated or confirmed by her, Garbo was rumored to have engaged in many same-sex relationships, including with Louise Brooks, Lilyan Tashman, and writer Mercedes de Acosta.
Garbo was part of what at the time became known as the “Sewing Circle of Hollywood”; a veiled network of queer women in the industry that held private meetings where they could meet, socialize, and be romantic with each other away from the studios’ prying eyes. Notable members included Marlene Dietrich (who we discussed in the first column of this miniseries, and hosted many gatherings herself), Tallulah Bankhead and Barbara Stanwyck.
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A Royal Love Triangle
Greta Garbo became known mostly for her romantic tragedies and complex female roles, the majority of which did not seem to reflect this side of herself that she had to keep hidden. But one of them does stand out as being remarkably progressive for its time in regards to gender roles and presentation, which could be read as indicative of the side of Garbo that remained subdued for her entire career.
The 1933 film Queen Christina, directed by famed theatre and film director Rouben Mamoulian, is a historical biopic that follows the story of the eponymous queen of Sweden, who was known for her practical and devoted leadership in the 1600s, but was forced to choose between loyalty to her country by marrying a suitable man to reign alongside her, or following her heart when she falls for a Spanish general visiting her on official duty.
At its core, the film is a very traditional love triangle story about a woman torn between her heart and her duty. But what makes it interesting is the framing of this particular woman. Queen Christina of Sweden was one of the few female figures in history that ruled on her own accord from the death of her father at a very young age, something akin to England’s Elizabeth I. She was well-respected for her character, intellect, and devotion to her people, not her looks or her role as a mother or wife.
Butch Queen
In the movie, Queen Christina is stylized as wearing exclusively heavy masculine clothes: pants, capes, and shirts usually associated with male regalia. Additionally, Garbo infuses her with a stance, confidence, and poise that contrasts heavily with the other handful of female characters in the story (one of which, Countess Ebba spared from her personal court, seems to have a more than subtle romantic yearning with).
She is a woman that had to earn the respect of her male counterparts, and allows Garbo to play with nuances in a way that was not allowed of actresses much at the time.
The film also includes an extended sequence in which Queen Christina, running from her royal duties for a couple of days, hides away in a village inn, in which she makes herself pass as a male. The Spanish royal convoy on the way to see her also stops there, and through a comedy of errors she ends up sharing the same room with a general. Her male facade is only able to last so long, and the two fall in love when her real identity (as a woman, not as a queen) is revealed.
All Hail The Queen
In the end, even with its progressive portrayal of a female character with agency and its nods at gender bending and use of male drag, the film still makes Queen Christina not only choose between her man and her country, but has her make the active decision to abdicate her throne to pursue the Spanish general, who ends up dying from a duel.
In a strange bittersweet final note, Queen Christina decides to keep on her journey to new lands, leaving her country behind, but perhaps finding something new in letting go of all the expectations that had bound her.
Queen Christina is a rather awkward but commendable combination of traditional narrative arcs and progressive portrayals of female characters and gender norms (particularly in a pre-Code era), that at the same time could reflect the inner life of its lead. A life burdened down with expectations from an entire society outside of themselves, that when forced to choose between living for others or living for what her heart yearns, she may have chosen the latter to a great professional cost.
Queen Christina is available for digital rental or purchase via Amazon Prime Video & Apple TV.
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