THE TRUTH ABOUT 'WALLS' - AND PEOPLE MORE TO COUPLES THAN SEX IN HBO FILM.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

If the walls of a certain frame bungalow could talk, they might whisper, pant and giggle about passionate, sweaty, sometimes playful sex between women. Or they might tell in straightforward fashion of three generations of lesbians struggling to live regular, loving lives outside the scope of what society says is normal.

``If These Walls Could Talk 2,'' HBO's follow-up to its very successful 1996 film on abortion, addresses lesbianism in three distinct time periods and some of the problems homosexual women have faced in those eras.

What a lot of what people want to know, however - as a reason to tune in or a reason to tune out - is whether there are graphic loves scenes between women. The answer is yes, in the latter two segments of the trilogy. But Sharon Stone, a self-proclaimed ``expert on salacious material,'' said there is so much more to ``Walls'' than naked women between the sheets.

``I think if (a sex scene) draws someone to the project, and they're obviously going to have to watch more than that to get to that, then we have accomplished something with that, that has value,'' Stone said.

Stone co-stars with Ellen DeGeneres in the lighthearted third story, written and directed by Anne Heche. As the current owners of that bungalow, Stone and DeGeneres play a couple dealing with a typical ``2000'' dilemma: How to conceive a child outside the conventional method.

The trilogy begins with ``1961,'' about an elderly woman (Vanessa Redgrave) living in that house, dealing with the death of her partner of 50 years, and the grief she suppresses because their relationship was secret.

In ``1972,'' the bungalow is home to Linda (``Dawson's Creek'' star Michelle Williams) and three other feminist gay college students. Linda's housemates, angry at men on the whole, turn against her when she gets involved with a butch lesbian (Chloe Sevigny of ``Boys Don't Cry'').

The filmmakers and stars of ``If These Walls Could Talk 2,'' speaking to the Television Critics Association, struggled to find the words to describe the importance of the project.

Stone was asked what she learned by playing a lesbian role.

``Well, I learned that I'm exactly like a gay woman except I don't have sex with women,'' she replied, drawing laughs and a snappy retort from her comedian co-star.

``And I learned that I'm exactly like a straight woman, but I don't have sex with a man. We're kind of the same,'' DeGeneres said.

Stone explained that she sees lesbians as people subjected to the same type of discrimination racial and ethnic groups have experienced.

``It's just, you know, today's prejudice,'' she said. ``I didn't feel that it was really any different than another prejudice that I might find in the straight life. I really mean it when I say I'm just like a gay woman except I don't have sex with women. ... You're not different. The differences that happen to gay women are as a result of people oppressing people and trying to make them hide who they are.''

Martha Coolidge, who directed ``1972,'' took a stab at it: ``Love is love, and couples falling in love is the same, and making love is the same, but different for each one of us. But it's not like it's different because of who we love.''

``I am so delighted that we get to do these pieces,'' added Jane Anderson, the openly gay writer-director of ``1961,'' ``that some kid out in the Midwest can watch these films and finally, finally know that there's normalcy and dignity and acceptance at the end of this long, dark tunnel that we've had as a minority.''

All right, back to that sweaty, passionate, playful stuff. Real-life partners Heche and DeGeneres argued about whether a sex scene was important to the ``2000'' piece, but the writer-director won the battle.

Knowing DeGeneres well, Heche realized the best way to get her to relax was with a few drinks. So, she says, she had a well-stocked bar set up in her star's trailer and suggested DeGeneres and Stone, who also was uneasy about the scene, knock back a few before filming it.

Yeah, DeGeneres can kid about the ``secret handshake'' she taught Stone. And she can quip about her short-lived disdain for the Hollywood establishment after she came out of the closet in that famous ``Yep, I'm gay'' Time magazine cover and her situation comedy was canceled. (She said she and Heche changed their minds about leaving Los Angeles for good after a bunch of reporters showed up outside their house ``holding hands, singing 'Kumbaya.' '')

She is moving on professionally, looking forward to her first stand-up comedy show in eight years and a CBS pilot for next fall in which she plays herself hosting a traditional sketch comedy show in the Carol Burnett vein.

But DeGeneres isn't likely to forget the sting of seeing her old show's ratings drop, having ABC give up on the series, realizing that good projects that suit her new public image are going to be hard to find.

``I don't ever want to visit that place again, because there was depression, you know,'' she said. ``My show was canceled. I was sad. I was going through a grieving period and there was a little bit of bitterness and I made mistakes, publicly. ... There are things that I acted out publicly that should've just been my grieving period alone in my corner of my basement rocking naked.''

Amid the laughter, she added, ``Oh my God, I'm revealing too much!''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1) Sharon Stone, left, and Ellen DeGeneres co-star in ``2000'' for the trilogy ``If These Walls Could Talk 2,'' at 9 p.m. Sunday on HBO. The two actresses play a lesbian couple trying to conceive a baby.

(2 -- 3) Vanessa Redgrave, left, stars as a woman who loses her lifelong partner in the segment ``1961.'' Chloe Sevigny, right, plays a lesbian who gets involved with a college student in ``1972.''

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--Review of ``If These Walls Could Talk 2''