Morocco (1930) The story goes that the iconic lesbian kiss in this film was, if not directly Marlene Dietrich’s idea, vehemently defended by her. It is said that she suggested that having her take the flower from the young woman she kissed and then giving it to the soldier would make it so that the kiss could not be cut to appease censors without making the appearance of the flower make no sense. I haven’t found any source that this is fact, but either way, having a lesbian kiss on screen in 1930 was unusual. As was seeing women in more masculine suits.
“She was like a vision. When I saw her face, her eyes, I thought she was from another world. Her eyebrows together were a swallow in mid-flight.
I was still very much a young girl. Yet, I knew I could love this person. I would sing in the morning. Perhaps not for her, but for my own freedom in love. She loved my singing.
When I said I would leave her one day, my words probably hurt her deeply. But she said, “I know. I can’t bind you to my crutches or my bed. Leave.” And one day, I opened the door, and never returned.”
— Chavela Vargas, about Frida Kahlo, in Chavela (2017). Photography of Frida Kahlo and Chavela Vargas, 1945, by Tina Modotti.
