Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story

I’ve seen a lot of queer movies in my time clearly made for a straight audience. That’s nothing new. What is new is the lengths to which Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story went to cater to a straight audience. It is to the point where I, a lesbian, no longer felt any personal connection to this film about lesbians.

Serving in Silence is based on the true story of Margarethe Cammermeyer. Cammermeyer was the highest ranking military official to be discharged because of her sexuality. Cammermeyer openly admitted to being gay during a security clearance interview. After this admission, the full heteronormativity of the US military came down on her. They demand that for her to avoid being discharged from the Army, she’d have to go back in the closet. Unwilling to do this, Cammermeyer took the matter to court and eventually got the ruling overturned. It was a groundbreaking case for gays to serve openly in the US military.

This is probably the first lesbian film I’ve seen that genuinely seems to be made for a Republican audience over a certain age. I would be fine if it was simply the depiction of Cammermeyer that was the conservative and pro-military element of this film. She is an individual and allowed her beliefs. However, the political opinions of Serving in Silence are not just that of individual characters but of the movie itself. The politics colour the entire film and how this story is told. There is an expectation of both understanding and support for the US military from its audience. In order to get fully on board with Serving in Silence’s narrative, there needs to be a degree of American patriotism and frankly, conservative American values that one usually doesn’t encounter in a lesbian film.

Where the movie panders the most to a definitely straight, conservative audience is the depiction Cammermeyer’s lesbianism. Cammermeyer is the most straight-friendly lesbian you can imagine. To start with, she was previously married to a man and has four kids. There’s a lot in this movie about how despite being gay, she still upholds traditional American family values.

When Cammermeyer does come out during her security clearance interview, she spends the following investigation desexualizing the lesbian identity. The interviewer asks her several times about her having sex with women. She responds each time about how her lesbianism is about her emotional connection to women, not her physical one. Sex has nothing to do with her sexual identity. And hey, maybe the real Margarethe Cammermeyer is an asexual lesbian and that’s a totally valid identity. But that’s not how the scene came across. Instead, it came across that the movie was trying to shut down any notion of sexual perversion. Margarethe Cammermeyer is a lesbian you can root for because not only does she already have four kids and all that heternormative stuff, but because they’ve depicted her in a completely sexless manner.

This sexless lesbianism follows into the depiction of Cammermeyer’s relationship with her partner, Diane Divelbess. There’s so little physical affection between these two women. They don’t even kiss until the last scene in the movie. It’s a very bizarre juxtaposition of having Cammermeyer’s story about being open and proud and yet the film treats the subject of lesbian relationships with such kid gloves that it ends up looking more like “gal pals” than two committed female partners.

Additionally, this entire film is about Margarethe seeking validation of her sexuality from the straights. While it’s understandable in the main story about the legal ruling, all the subplots also tie back to this. Her relationship to her family and overall, to herself is very contingent about whether various heternormative structures accept her as a lesbian. Just once I wanted her to have a moment where she says, “fuck ‘em. I don’t need their approval.” But no such moment happens. This movie is made for and by straights. As such, their queer characters are beholden to straight opinions.

The movie’s overall opinions on the LGBTQ* community is really not progressive. One of Margarethe’s sons asks Diane when she decided to be gay. Diane never addresses that very incorrect wording. She just answers the question without educating the kid on his ignorance about how sexuality is not a choice. Later in the movie, another of Margarethe’s sons asks her if Margarethe won’t love him because she’s gay and gay women don’t love men. Cammermeyer responds to that staggering piece of ignorance by telling him not to stereotype her like that. Ah yes, that old queer stereotype that gays can’t love their kids.

It really feels like this story tried to isolate Cammermeyer from the larger gay community and their struggles; like she’s the exception to the rule. Maybe those other gays are promiscuous and don’t love their country or apparently their kids but hey! Here’s this sexless lesbian who’s already fulfilled her heteronormative requirements as a woman and celebrates the US military! We can support her specifically but not necessarily the community at large.

There are some positives to this movie. Glenn Close and Judy Davis give good performances. It is also nice to see depictions of queer women who aren’t 22 and perfect 10s. I also applaud the film’s handling of why Cammermeyer chose to pursue this issue so heavily. They don’t make it into just a personal thing. Instead, Cammermeyer is shown as believing this rule is unjust and wanting to abolish it not for just herself but because it’s an unfair law. Her willingness to be a trailblazer is inspiring and done well.

Overall though, this movie is too drenched in heteronormative American patriotism. Maybe if you’re American and you have conservative relatives who aren’t super pro-lesbian yet, you can show them this film. But unless you need to pander to some straights, Serving in Silence doesn’t serve any purpose.

Overall rating: 4.4/10

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