『A Delicate Journey Toward Identity and Freedom in the Conservative 1950s』
🎥 Movie Overview
🎬 Title: On Swift Horses (2024)
🌍 Country: 🇺🇸 United States
🎞️ Genre: Romance / Drama / Historical
🗓️ Production & Release: Independent production, released in 2024
⏳ Running Time: Approximately 102 minutes
📢 Director: Daniel Minahan
🖋️ Screenplay: Bryce Kass
📖 Original Novel: Shannon Pufahl, On Swift Horses
📺 Platform: Theatrical release followed by limited streaming availability
👩💼 Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones – Muriel
Sasha Calle – Sandra
🧩 Deep Story Exploration (Spoilers)
🌄 The Repression Behind the 'American Dream'
Set in 1950s America, the film begins with the return of Lee, a Korean War veteran, to a postwar society obsessed with stability and the ideal of a “normal” family life.
- Surface Stability vs. Inner Turmoil: Lee and his wife Muriel leave Kansas for San Diego in search of a “brighter new life.” While Lee represents the archetype of a diligent husband and breadwinner, he also embodies the rigid structure of the American Dream.
- Suppressed Identity: The era’s social conservatism forces queer individuals to hide their truth and perform traditional gender roles. The film zeroes in on the desires and transgressions simmering beneath that polished surface.
➡️ Parallel Narratives: A Gamble Toward Hidden Truths
The film revolves around Muriel, Lee’s brother Julius, and Lee himself. Yet at its core, it follows the parallel queer awakenings of Muriel and Julius, each searching for freedom in a repressive world.
🕸 Muriel’s Double Life: Gambling and Secret Love
- Hidden Desire: Muriel loves her husband but feels a deep void within the rigid boundaries of domestic life. She finds release in horse race betting and a secret relationship with her neighbor Sandra.
- The Meaning of Gambling: Betting on horses symbolizes Muriel’s urge to wager her stable life to chase her true desires. Her act of hiding money mirrors her need to protect her concealed self.
🎠 Freedom and Safety Within Oppression
Muriel’s encounters with Sandra sharply contrast the suffocating norms around her, highlighting the tension between repression and liberation.
- Sandra as a Symbol of 'Truth' and 'Freedom': Unlike Muriel, Sandra lives with a stronger sense of self-acceptance and confidence in her lesbian identity. While Muriel hides behind the mask of marriage and her husband’s dreams, Sandra represents authentic living and emotional freedom.
- Muriel’s Awakening: Muriel is drawn to Sandra’s confidence and honesty. Their relationship becomes a safe space that allows Muriel to acknowledge the same-sex attraction she had long repressed.
- Parallel Desires: Just as Muriel finds thrill and autonomy through gambling, her secret affair with Sandra becomes another form of emotional and sexual independence—a private life hidden from the world.
🚨 Unfulfilled Longing and the Threat of Reality
Because the story unfolds in the 1950s, Muriel and Sandra’s relationship can never exist as a simple romance—it is laced with risk and social constraint.
- Palpable Chemistry: The performances create subtle yet intense chemistry, illustrating how this relationship becomes the most vital emotional experience of Muriel’s life.
- The Wall of Reality: Their love constantly clashes with Muriel’s marriage. Sandra insists, “This is real,” confronting Muriel’s reluctance. For Sandra, the relationship defines her identity; for Muriel, it remains a clandestine transgression.
- Muriel’s Self-Centeredness: At a crucial turning point, Muriel lacks the courage to leave her husband and makes a selfish remark that deeply hurts Sandra. This moment exposes Muriel’s incomplete self-acceptance and the imbalance of their relationship—she sacrifices Sandra’s sincerity for comfort and safety.
💔 A Catalyst for Self-Discovery
Muriel and Sandra’s relationship ultimately collapses when Lee discovers it, prompting Muriel to leave home. Their love becomes a catalyst, not a destination, for Muriel’s personal growth.
- Steps Toward Independence: Although separated, Muriel can no longer deny her authentic desires and identity. The relationship empowers her to find the inner strength to walk away from Lee and chart her own course.
The romance between Muriel and Sandra is one of the film’s most thrilling and emotionally resonant threads. It vividly portrays how, in the oppressive 1950s, a “forbidden love” became a dangerous gamble for self-realization. Their connection embodies both an unattainable dream and a past that must be left behind.
💡 The Subversion of a Subtle Love Triangle
The film initially teases Muriel’s attraction to Julius, hinting at a triangle, but this is soon overturned. Muriel is drawn not to Julius himself but to the freedom and rebellion he represents. Likewise, Julius feels a kinship with Muriel as someone who understands his hidden self. Rather than romantic desire, their bond reflects a shared awareness of identity, and both eventually set out to pursue their own same-sex relationships.
✨ Strengths and Critical Views
On Swift Horses has been praised for its brave portrayal of queer identity and the pursuit of freedom within 1950s repression.
- Strengths: Outstanding performances, meticulous period detail, and the film’s candid exploration of forbidden desire make it stand out. The intertwining of gambling and love as parallel acts of risky betting gives the story thematic depth and poignancy.
- Limitations: Some critics argue that condensing the complex source novel into a two-hour runtime results in uneven pacing and an overly tidy ending. Others note that the sexual tension, while implied, lacks the physical eroticism that the subject might invite.
Even so, On Swift Horses will be remembered as a sensual and soulful portrait of two women who courageously “ride their horses” toward authenticity rather than conformity.
🎯 Personal (Subjective) Rating
💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥♥♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★★
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