Devotion

Not all of Devotion is exactly gripping, especially not in 2025. But I always try and put myself in the point of view of someone who saw this movie when it came out. Devotion was released in 1995 by the same small company that published the book it’s based on. And I can really imagine being perhaps an isolated lesbian in a small town sending away for a mail-order copy of the Devotion VHS. And I can very much imagine that Devotion would’ve provided pretty powerful escapism for its two hour runtime. There’s an optimism in Devotion’s depiction of lesbians. Despite all the personal struggles, the film suggests that lesbians are right at the cusp of breaking through into being mainstream in a way that renders them very normal. And that would’ve been a huge comfort to queer people in 1995, especially those who don’t live in a big city.

Sheila works as a stand-up comedian of moderate success. Much of her stand-up is about being a lesbian though she makes it accessible to an audience of primarily heterosexuals. Then, Sheila gets a call from a TV company. They’re interested in filming a pilot with Sheila. Moreover, they imagine this TV series to have Sheila as a lesbian character though not every episode would deal with her sexuality. It’s all a little too good to be true. Turns out, Sheila’s potential big break didn’t happen just because of her genuine talent. Sheila has a past with one of the executives, a woman named Lynn. Despite her current marriage to a man, Lynn and Sheila not only have a past but some unfinished business with their prior relationship. This of course also impacts Sheila’s relationship with her current girlfriend, Julie.

Devotion came out two years before Ellen DeGeneres and her fictional sitcom counterpart came out. This is the optimism I spoke of. The execs in Devotion think America is “ready” for a gay lead in a comedy that includes episodes about sexuality but also stories that don’t relate to that aspect. Of course, it’s not like this was wholly out of the goodness of their hearts. Lynn was probably leading the charge on all of this. I guess what Devotion really shows is that as they always say in the entertainment industry: it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Sheila got this opportunity not because she’s genuinely funny, but because of her past with Lynn. Likewise, her opportunity is threatened not by the subject of her comedy but by her present with Lynn. The lesbian situationship giveth, the lesbian situationship taketh away.

Sheila’s stand-up is one of my favourite elements of the film. It’s actually pretty funny! There’s a lot of jokes and references that still hold true for lesbian culture today. There’s references to Uhauls and even that damn lesbian sheep study. I still see people makes these jokes today. This movie made me realize how much of mainstream Western lesbian culture comes out of the 90s. Again, that’s where the optimism in this movie comes from. In the big city, Sheila has a community and friends and a job that all relate to her lesbian identity. And she’s poised to make an even bigger leap to the mainstream. In hindsight, as much as gay rights have continued to come a long way since 1995, certain aspects of lesbian culture and community haven’t changed that much in 30 years. But maybe that’s because the lesbian sheep comparison is evergreen.

At two hours, Devotion runs a bit long. The film could benefit from being a tighter, TV movie-style 90 minutes. But this movie is so small that TV movie would be a lofty aspiration. The film indulges itself. Which also means it indulges its audience. This is definitely a movie made by the queer community for the queer community. In 2025, sure, it runs a bit long. The back half is definitely weaker than the first half. But it’s still so easy for me to understand why it opted for length. I appreciate the confidence to say that yes, this very small movie about a lesbian’s personal struggles warrants being 2 hours.

There’s lots I admire about Devotion. I really enjoyed the lead character and many of the jokes. In 2025, some of the excitement of seeing gays onscreen has evaporated which means the film doesn’t quite hold me for its 2 hour runtime. Especially at the budget the film works with and the VHS rip quality of the film available to me. But this is a great little time capsule of 90s lesbian culture both in its small scale production and its larger scale optimism about lesbians breaking through into the mainstream and being largely normalized.

Overall rating: 6.0/10

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