The Garden of Chloe: Indie movie of a triad's homecoming is in the works

Another poly crowdfunding project is about to happen, following the ones for The Ethical Slut webseries, Lutine: Le Film, and the books More Than Two and Stories for Unique Families.

This one will be for Johnny Robinson's feature-length movie The Garden of Chloe, "a coming-out story about a middle-aged woman in a long-term V triad," Robinson says. He continues,

Here's the story:

Chloe returns with her two male companions to her home town to take a teaching job and reunite with her family and community. She fears these new bonds are at risk as she becomes more and more cornered into revealing the true nature of her closeted relationships.

In the first half of the film we discover her daily life through the eyes of her sister Ginny. Ginny struggles to wrap her head around how honesty can replace jealousy and love does not diminish when it is shared.

Eventually Chloe finds that the avoidance of public reprisal is too costly to her own authenticity.

This is a micro budget feature-length drama to be shot this spring in central Illinois. This movie needs interest and support! Check out the web page, see the short related videos and if you like it please help me spread the word.

Here's the movie's website, with lots of pix, background material, and several videos, including discussions with the actors about their characters and this prequel:



On watching this, I had some doubts about the acting and the slow pace. Robinson responded,

I agree that there was some overacting in "Chloe Returns"; these are theatre actors and they need to be dialed back for film. This was our first time working together and they'll get the hang of the medium as we move forward. It was a moody nostalgic piece. We will shoot the actual movie in March, April and May.

Producer/director Johnny Robinson (left) with Michael David Myers and Kelly Lynn Hogan (Martin and Chloe).

Also on the website is Robinson's representative list of ménages à trois in the movies, where he notes that they generally fall into three inadequate tropes:

1) The triad as a solution to a love triangle. In this category, the polygamy is only introduced in the last 10 minutes of the film as a happily-every-after. It is never fully described.

2) The threesome as a soft-focus sexual fantasy come true. This reckless adventure can't endure and is usually destructive. There are many movies in this category.

3) A conflicted compromise that endures throughout life, in spite of the participants' efforts to resist it.

About modern polyamory, he writes, "I believe it has never occurred in the movies, not the way I am depicting it. Chloe's ménage à trois is a day to day life. It doesn't begin or end in the movie, it is never really threatened, it is simply there. The conflict in the movie is caused by the larger society's reaction to it, and the challenge that creates for Chloe.

"I don't tell people the movie is about a triad. I say it is about the challenge of being yourself when the outside world resists. I normalize the triad by making it a given."

The project's Facebook page. Pinterest.

The crowdfunding project is not yet announced, but watch for it soon.

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