However it’s Conigrave’s book on which this film is based, it’s his book about his relationship with Caleo, a sort of love letter to him, and we’re all very lucky to be able to see what an amazing, yet heartbreaking, relationship it was. It’s a story that’s been told a few times (‘Philadelphia’), but not in such a meaningful, and very realistic, way. Credit goes to director Armfield and writer Murphy for successfully bringing this story to the screen.

But it’s in the storytelling where this film excels. ‘Holding the Man’ continues to tell the delicate and ever increasing sad story of these two men and their caring and loving relationship, how Caleo was the first to get sick, how their parents and family dealt with both men’s illness, and how Conigrave coped with Caleo’s deterioration.Ĭorr and Stott are terrific and give it their all (Anthony LaPaglia is especially good as Caleo’s stern and unforgiving father). It is 1985 when they discover that they are both HIV positive. and Europe – and Australia was no exception – without knowing it. So it was a time when gay men were getting infected both in the U.S. But these two men were exploring their sexuality in the 1970’s, a time when HIV and AIDS had yet to rear it’s ugly head. They start dating and almost immediately fall in love. (In Australian Football holding the man occurs when a player is tackled without the ball). But it’s Conigrave, an aspiring actor, who tackles and gets him. Stott is the football player and football loving Caleo, a man who anyone could fall in love with. ‘Holding the Man’ is directed by Australian Neil Armfield (2006’s ‘Candy’ with Heath Ledger), with a screenplay by Tommy Murphy, who adapted it for the stage in 2006. Ryan Corr plays Timothy Conigrave, while Craig Stott plays John Caleo. And it’s a story that some of us, who were around in the 1980’s and 1990’s when friends and partners were dying right and left from AIDS, can unfortunately relate to. It’s a movie that simply tells a story, a love story so enduring and epic that it’s irrelevant whether the characters are gay or straight.

‘Holding the Man’ is one of the better, or perhaps maybe the best, of all the films that’s dealt with the AIDS crisis.

Holding the man by timothy conigrave