# 183. The Choral (TIFF 2025) with Ralph Fiennes: When queer characters don't make a queer film

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/seventh-row-podcast-1017704/183-the-choral-tiff-2025-with-ralph-fiennes-when-queer-characters-don-t-make-a-queer-film
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/seventh-row-podcast-1017704/183-the-choral-tiff-2025-with-ralph-fiennes-when-queer-characters-don-t-make-a-queer-film.md
Podcast: [Seventh Row Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/seventh-row-podcast-1017704)
Published: 2025-09-18T00:39:00+00:00
Episode link: https://seventhrow.libsyn.com/183-the-choral-tiff-2025-with-ralph-fiennes-when-queer-characters-dont-make-a-queer-film
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/seventhrow/183._The_Choral_TIFF_2_.mp3?dest-id=1934753
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Duration seconds: 1094

## Resource

How can a film with a queer protagonist, written by a queer playwright, and directed by a queer man… not be a queer film? That's the tricky question I'm tackling with The Choral, the WWI period drama that just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). In this episode: my Ralph Fiennes/Nicholas Hytner fangirling, why the film works as a crowd-pleaser but flattens queerness and other marginalized identities, and the bigger questions it raises about reclaiming — or sanitizing — queer history. 🎟 Plus, a sneak peek at Living Out Loud, my FREE three-day summit on queer and trans storytelling happening Oct 3–5. 👉 Sign up for Living Out Loud

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## Transcript

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