The Consul of Sodom 2009

Jaime Gil de Biedma, a wealthy Barcelona-born poet, travels to Manila in 1959 on a business trip as director of the Philippine Tobacco Company. At night he sheds his public persona and freely explores his sexuality, meeting a young man who works in an erotic nightclub. They share a reckless night, and the experience leaves Jaime acutely aware of Manila’s poverty and the social divide around him, a contrast that sharpens his sense of responsibility and conscience. The city’s harsh realities begin to weigh on him as he returns home, where the personal and political realms collide.

Back in Barcelona, the film follows Jaime as the police question him about subversive friends who still dream of changing Spain’s regime. He faces exclusion from the Communist Party because of his sexuality, a moment that tests his loyalties and his sense of belonging. During this period, he reconnects with his friend Carlos Barral and crosses paths with Juan Marsé, a young writer poised to publish his first novel, both of whom illuminate different facets of the literary and political scene.

Jaime’s personal life grows tangled as he treats his lover Luis with disdain. After a heated argument, [Luis] leaves him for good. His father, Don Luis, steps in to cushion the blizzard of troubles with the police, but warns that Jaime must straighten out his life to protect the family and the business. The tension between duty and impulse frames Jaime’s world as he tries to balance the obligations of family, work, and a bohemian lifestyle that intensifies on weekends. The mid-1960s bring new passions as Jaime frequents Bocaccio, a nightclub where he meets Bel, a divorced woman with two children who pulls him into a daring, impetuous romance. Their bond deepens quickly, even as Bel wrestles with a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband. Jaime buys an apartment and asks Bel to marry him, but she declines; they continue to live as free spirits who refuse to be tethered by tradition. One fateful night, [Bel] dies in an accident, and Jaime, overwhelmed by grief, contemplates ending his life. His circle of friends and family helps him recover, yet the tragedy hardens him and he swears he will never write poetry again.

With the 1970s comes a new chapter as Jaime returns to the Philippines to steer the company through economic shifts under Ferdinand Marcos’s dictatorship. On his return he meets Toni, a humble young photography assistant, and they enter into a complicated relationship. Despite Jaime’s awareness of class differences, he finds himself drawn to someone of a lower background, and Toni asks to be mentored, hoping to be drawn deeper into Jaime’s refined world. On a sun-soaked beach with Toni and friends, Jaime is moved to tears by the sight of a girl dancing with Toni, a moment that crystallizes the tension between youth and aging.

As time marches on, Jaime becomes acutely aware of his own aging. He pens lines that reflect his longing for youth even as time advances:

What do you want now, youth, you impudent delight of life?

The poem’s sentiment echoes the larger reflection that, as he grows older, the world he once sought to change feels increasingly distant. He writes another line:

Growing old, dying, is the play’s only plot.

The fact that life was to be taken seriously, we understand only later. Jaime’s father dies, deepening the sense of loss and responsibility that haunts him. A violent confrontation with Toni unfolds at the country house Jaime had bought as their love nest, culminating in Toni throwing him out, and Jaime suffering a bad fall in the snow. The close of that episode is bleak, yet it catalyzes a deeper understanding of mortality: “Like all young people, I was going to change the world. I wanted to make my mark and withdraw to applause. Growing old, dying, it was all a question of the size of the theater. But time has passed and I see the unpleasant truth.”

Years pass. Now older and weary, Jaime shares a life with a young stage actor and learns he has AIDS. His friends organize a poetry recital at Madrid’s Students Residence that becomes a public tribute to the poet’s life and work. Even as disease approaches, Jaime clings to an ache for youth and beauty. He hires a young male prostitute, and in a hotel room he can only watch the young man dance to the Pet Shop Boys’ Always on My Mind, a stark, intimate moment that underscores both longing and loss.

Throughout, the narrative threads Jaime’s social ascent, artistic vocation, and intimate disappointments into a meditation on aging, memory, and the enduring pull of youth. The film blends lush metaphors with grounded scenes of friendship, obligation, and desire, offering a portrait of a man who navigates contradiction with a poet’s eye and a life lived at full tilt.