This film chronicles the short lives of two Australian gay men from
their teenage years into the AIDS epidemic. Following the perspective of
Timothy Conigrave (Ryan Corr), the audience witnesses the beginning of his
relationship with John Caleo (Craig Scott) at an all-boys school in Melbourne
during the 1970s. The two lead distinctly different lives: Timothy is a
typical, sexually charged teenager involved in theatre, while John is a subdued,
Catholic rugby player. With the help of three female friends, Tim finds himself
kissing John at a private dinner party, beginning a stereotypically endearing
teenage romance. Alas, their idyll dissolves with John’s father’s discovery of
a love letter. He forbids the two from seeing each other, but being typical
teenagers, the two disregard his wishes. They continue to date into college. While
John is content with their relationship, Timothy expresses his desire to branch
out, both in his romantic and professional lives. He applies to and is accepted
by NIDA (the National Institute of Dramatic Art) and asks John for a separation
while there. Tim, now unencumbered by a relationship, sleeps around in a
montage of homoerotic encounters. Eventually Tim and John get back together,
but their relationship, like those of most other homosexual men at that time,
has become haunted by an insidious illness: HIV. On a seemingly routine check
in 1985, both men are diagnosed positive. They assume that John was infected
first given his worse lab values; however, Tim returns to his parents’ place
for a wedding a few years later only to discover from the Red Cross that he was
likely positive in 1981. Tim and John spend roughly the next decade in and out
of the hospital, John’s condition being markedly worse than Tim’s. John dies in
1992. Tim is acknowledged as a “friend” in the funeral to appease John’s
religious family despite their 15-year-long relationship. Having worked as a
writer and activist since leaving NIDA, Tim makes use of his skill to write a
memoir with John as the subject. Tim completes the memoir in 1994 Italy and
dies ten days later.
