Product Description

A touching tale of evolving sexual identity and self-discovery that feels both familiar and utterly original. Precocious teen Gil loves vacations with his beloved grandma Mrs. A (Emmy winner Polly Bergen, Commander in Chief). Mrs. A is raising the boy, whose parents are deceased.

But this year s summer is different. Grandma s health is failing, and she requires a live-in caregiver. When Danish male nurse Jan (Charles Busch) arrives on the scene, Gil doesn t know how to react to the business-like nurse. Likewise, Jan isn t interested in Gil he is totally focused on his new patient.

Although Gil and housekeeper Betty (Dana Ivey) are certain that Grandma will dislike Jan as much as they do, Jan suits Mrs. A perfectly, cooking her healthy foods and soothing her in a way no previous nurse has been able to do.

And even though Jan has no interest in kids, he eventually finds himself drawn to Gil, and concerned about what will happen to the boy when his Grandmother passes away. Jan himself is surprised by this, as he is both a bachelor and a gay man. In fact, he is really concerned about Gil s somewhat flamboyant developing personality, certain that this will cause havoc as he gets older.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19201 in DVD
• Brand: Wolfe
• Released on: 2007-11-20
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 96 minutes

About the Director
A Very Serious Person marks the directorial debut of the legendary Charles Busch. The film premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won an honorable mention. Busch also stars in the film as Jan.

He previously wrote and starred in "Die Mommie Die," for which he won a 2003 Sundance Film Festival award for best performance. And, he wrote and starred in "Psycho Beach Party."

His film acting career includes "Addams Family Values", "It Could Happen To You" and "Trouble on The Corner." On television, he appeared for two seasons as Nat Ginzburg in the HBO series "Oz".

He is also the subject of the documentary film The Lady in Question is Charles Busch.

His theatrical career includes these highlights: author and star of Psycho Beach Party, Times Square Angel, The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset, You Should Be So Lucky, and Shanghai Moon. His play Vampire Lesbians of Sodom ran five years in New York and is one of the longest running plays in Off-Broadway history.

Busch's play "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife" starring Linda Lavin, Tony Roberts and Michele Lee was nominated for a Drama Desk for best play and won Mr. Busch the Outer Critic's Circle John Gassner Award for Playwriting. It reopened on Broadway in November, 2001, was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Play and ran 777 performances.

For his play "Shanghai Moon," Busch was nominated for a Lucille Lortel award and a Drama League Award.
Busch was also given a special award for career achievement at the 2003 Drama Desk Awards.

Customer Reviews

Love and Where to Find It
A VERY SERIOUS PERSON is a tight little film with a fine story, solid cast and enough thoughts about connecting isolated individuals to make the movie both entertaining and touching. Spanning the ages from young teenagers to middle age to elderly, each focusing on basically needy souls trying to find solid ground, writer (with Carl Andress)/director/actor Charles Busch has developed an ensemble effect in casting just the right actors to relate his ideas.

As a summer for consolation for the elderly ill Mrs. Aronson (Polly Bergen, reminding us what a fine performer she is!) has requested that her 13-year-old grandson Gil (P.J. Verhoest), whose parents are deceased, come live with her on the Jersey shore. Mrs. A is known for being a difficult patient, going through live-in nurses like wildfire, and living with her trusty housekeeper Betty (veteran actress Dana Ivey), but she is in for a surprise when young Gil moves in - a slightly feminine lad with a penchant for old Hollywood movies, writing grand stories about great heroines, dressing like Marie Antoinette, and refusing to learn swimming or any outdoor activities in favor of watching 'Gone with the Wind' whenever possible.

Into this household enters the latest 'nurse', a gay Danish ex-dancer Jan (Charles Busch) who by admission is 'a very serious person' - obsessive compulsive in his care for Mrs. A, coping with the flustered Betty, and rarely smiling at the antics of the overpowering Gil. Each of these three rather glitzy people is lonely, and each in his/her own way wants acceptance and love. The story is how the three learn from each other, give and take, and find the niche that proves the summer was not wasted.

Busch draws marvelous performances from Bergen, Verhoest, and Ivey as well as creating lovable side characters: the outrageous gay hairdresser (Carl Andress) and his associate (Alexa Eisenstein), Jan's love interest (Simon Fortin) among others. The growing relationship between Jan and Gil provides a platform for some serious issues about accepting sexuality and the interaction of all the characters on the failing Mrs. A is warmly managed. This is a comedy with an edge and above all it is a solidly entertaining movie. Grady Harp, January 08

Growing...Up
"A Very Serious Person"

Growing...Up

Amos Lassen

Charles Busch is a familiar name in gay entertainment. He is a playwright, a movie maker, an actor and a wonderful drag persona. Now Wolfe Video is releasing, in November 2o, his new movie, "A Very Serious Person" in which he directs himself for the first time. The movie premiered at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in 2006 and has received awards at other festivals including one for artistic achievement.
"A Very Serious Person" tells the story of Jan (Charles Busch, himself), an itinerant male nurse from Denmark who takes a job taking care of a terminally ill women, Mrs. A (Polly Bergen--I remember her; I guess I am really old). Mrs. A has been raising her orphaned thirteen year old grandson, Gil. As they spend the summer by the shore, Jan who prides himself on his mental reserve finds himself in a strange position as a mentor to the boy and preparing him to spend the rest of his life with his Floridian cousins upon the death of his grandmother. The boy and the man develop a deep emotional bond--two loners find each other and they are both changed by their friendship. Gil matures and acquires independence and Jan reveals just how vulnerable he really is. As the two men become closer and develop a deep camaraderie, they begin to include others into their circle and this causes Gil to take his first steps on his journey of self-discovery.
Charles Busch gives us a beautiful little movie and I use the word little in the positive sense. Had the movie been bigger it would have not had the tenderness and beauty it has. Watching the man and the boy develop their relationship was a beautiful experience and everything else about the film is wonderful as well.

Sweet, original story of coming of age, dealing with loss.
Raised by his grandmother after his parents death, Gil is a shy but enthusiastically creative 13 year old boy, who loves show tunes and "Gone With The Wind". Unfortunately, Mrs. A (played with her usual panache by Polly Bergen) isn't likely to live out the year, so Gil looks forward to sharing what may be their last summer together on the Jersey shore. Assisting her with practical matters at home has been her friend Betty (Dana Ivey), as well as a live-in nurse, which the still-feisty Mrs. A has a tendency to frustrate. When the agency sends Jan, a somewhat fey Danish male nurse, Betty and Gil assume he won't last long, but surprisingly he and Mrs. A get along well. Jan also becomes the primary male role model for Gil, and tries to tame some of his acting-out and conflicts with his grandmother.

In his directorial debut (and one of his few movie roles out of drag), Charles Bush portrays Jan as a strong-minded, no-nonsense, sophisticated taskmaster with a heart of gold, who worries about how Gil's rather flamboyant peraonality will go over when he has to go live with an aunt and cousins in Florida, after his grandmother passes on. Jan even feuds with a local male hairdresser, who sees himself in the boy and wants to encourage him to be proud of who and what he is. It's a sweet, quite original coming-of-age story with added aspects of dealing with death and dying. DVD (out 11/20/2007) has commentary by Bush, deleted scenes and a short. I give it four stars out of five.