Cranky over Claire: now out in a special anniversary DVD package, Claire of the Moon is still polarizing lesbians after 10 years.

Claire of the Moon * Written and directed by Nicole Conn * Starring Trisha Todd, Karen Trumbo * Wolfe Video * $24.95

Ten years after its release, Nicole Conn's Claire of the Moon still gets lesbians talking and fighting. (You too have probably heard it called Clear the Room.)

Remember the story? Claire (Trisha Todd), a hetero good-time gal attending a writers' retreat for women, is irritated by yet attracted to out lesbian psychologist Noel Benedict (Karen Trumbo). After many intellectual discussions, the two have sex and the movie ends.

But for the audience, that's when the arguments start. Now the movie that ruffled so many feathers has returned, re-mastered on a two-disc anniversary DVD. I went out among lesbians in the Midwest and California to find out why we hate/love this movie so much.

"Too many blazers!" was the answer I heard first. Apparently, so much has been made of blazers on-screen that a drinking game--one shot for each new blazer--was established among dykes tired of seeing the movie every time they visited gay women friends.

"Two hours of foreplay!" commented a friend of mine, who decided upon re-watching Claire that there was more sex than she remembered--but still not enough sex to overcome all the "psycho-political bull" throughout the film.

"I loved that they used pretty women for a change and that they didn't seem like straight women pretending to be gay. It was very real for me," said one gal from Los Angeles, expressing her reason for owning the video and looking forward to the DVD release.

"Claire doesn't go back to a man; that in itself made it a great lesbo movie for me," answered a lesbian therapist I happened to question.

Amazingly, no one I spoke to felt indifferent or ambivalent about this film, except those women who hadn't seen it--and there weren't many. That it could still evoke such intense emotion said quite a bit about a small independent film over a decade old. Even the lovely Trisha Todd told me, "I constantly get people either loving it or hating it, and neither is ashamed to say it. It has been so profound for so many."

I noticed that many gay women rank Claire as one of those "mediocre" hits of lesbian pop culture--including other so-so dyke movies of the '90s, the huge influx of "same old thing" women's musicians, the "tired" gay girl comics, and the "boring" lesbian novels we settled for back when we were desperate for anything that spoke about (or to) us.

I can't say I disagree. I'm thrilled to see lesbians who are unwilling to love a movie or book or singer or comic just because she is lesbian. It's a strong move toward self-love when we demand as much of the entertainment we pay to see as would any mainstream (read: straight) consumer.

Still, I think it's oversimplifying to put Claire in the "we would have watched anything" category. Ten years ago a movie that had two adult women fall in love, make love, and apologize for nothing was a beautiful thing. As we look at what's in theaters now and even on the horizon, it's clear that Claire of the Moon is still a brave, groundbreaking movie that deserves to be seen and argued about by loud lesbians everywhere.

Westenhoefer is traveling the country on her "Banned in Pittsburgh" tour.