The Guest House
| The Guest House | |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | Michael Baumgarten |
| Produced by | Michael Baumgarten |
| Written by | Michael Baumgarten |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Michael Reola |
| Cinematography | Ankush Kohli |
| Edited by | Jennifer Barlow |
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Production
company |
Baumgarten Films
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| Distributed by | Wolfe Releasing |
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Release date
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Running time
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82 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $250,000 |
The Guest House is a 2012 lesbian romance film written, produced and directed by Michael Baumgarten. It stars Ruth Reynolds and Madeline Merritt as two women who fall in love over a weekend at a Los Angeles guest house. The film has received mixed reviews from critics.
Rachel is a rebellious 18-year-old musician who lives with her father, Frank, at his Los Angeles guest house. After staying out late one night, she is grounded for the weekend, and while Frank is away on business, she is left with her father's new employee, Amy, a college graduate from Iowa who has only recently arrived in California. Lonely, and still affected by the death of her mother, Rachel feels drawn to Amy; and over the course of the weekend, they become lovers. When Frank returns, he is shocked at their relationship, and it is revealed that he and Amy were formerly involved. The two women part company.
Some time later, Amy is reunited with Rachel after seeing her perform in San Francisco.
Madeline Merritt originally read for the role of Rachel before being cast as Amy. Neither she nor Reynolds had portrayed a lesbian character on screen prior to this film, though Merritt had previously starred in a stage production of Boston Marriage while at university. Reynolds found that their experience on-set mirrored that of their characters, saying, "It was a challenge because we are considered straight, so it was kind of cool to find out how comfortable it was to be with someone of the same gender...even though its something that’s completely new. So aside from our characters, we discovered it in real life as well". The two women became friends during filming. Merritt recalled, "When Ruth and I had callbacks, we read together and we just clicked. The chemistry and connection were just there: it wasn't something we had to work at, we really played well off of each other from the start." Reynolds also relished the opportunity to play a musician.
The Guest House received mixed reviews from critics. Writing for AfterEllen, Danielle Riendeau summed up her review by saying: "Guest House is largely a fun piece of fluff, with attractive leads and a fun premise, but the film is far, far too chatty for its own good. The writing is spotty, with a few clunky lines, and the final third dives far into melodramatic territory." However, she also noted the "fantastic chemistry between Reynolds and Merritt" and found the love scenes "decidedly hot". Dora Mortimer gave the film a negative review for Diva magazine and found that it lacked authenticity, saying: "If you're looking for a lesbian film – hunt elsewhere. This film's only claim to LGBT issues is having two very femmey members of the same sex feign interest in each other. It is written and directed by a man and it shows." Lauren Shiro of Curve magazine was much more positive, saying: "The Guest House is a cute, fun, and highly enjoyable movie. This is a perfect light-hearted, feel good movie for fun weekend entertainment."
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