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January 2002 A&U Issue # 87

One and One
Directed by S. Leo Chiang
Walking Iris Films

Recently, the media has been paying a great deal of attention to an increase in unsafe, anonymous sexual encounters among gay men—and the accompanying rise in rates of sero-conversion. Yet these days, little air time is given to the other side of the coin: the conscious sexual negotiations that go on between positive and negative partners in committed relationships.

S. Leo Chiang’s short documentary “One and One” focuses on this latter, much under-represented subject. In it he follows the lives of two sero-discordant couples:
John and Noel, and Joanne and Robert.

In a mere twenty-seven minutes, Chiang illuminates the complex space these couples inhabit. He does this by simply allowing each couple to tell their story; how they came to meet, how they came to fall in love, how HIV makes it’s presence felt between them on a daily basis.

Both Chiang’s camera work and his interviewing techniques are spare and unflinching. He films a doctor injecting John’s eyeball with a drug that’s keeping his CMV at bay. He gets the couples to open up, and both talk frankly about how they approach sex: the constantly moving line between safe and unsafe, the inevitable slip-ups.

In what is perhaps the documentary’s most telling scene, Chiang shoots Joanne as she receives her test results. She reads the results and breaks down—for a moment we almost assume she has tested positive. But she informs us that she is still negative—and although her tears seem to be of relief, it’s clear that there are numerous, contradictory

Feelings washing over her. This documentary is insightful on every level, but especially in depicting the intricate psychological link that is formed between negative and positive lovers. When thinking about two sero-discordant relationships, we tend to focus on the obstacle HIV poses physically. And this barrier is very real. As Noel comments, “When you have to think constantly if the rubber is going to break, it’s very difficult to be intimate with someone.”

But if these two couples are anything to go by, HIV not only erects obstacles, but dissolves them, especially in the emotional realm. What stuck me most about each couple, was the obviously deep bond they shared. HIV can not only teach us about life and death, but about intimacy and love. Just as this wonderful film can teach what many of us have perhaps forgotten—how to navigate sex mindfully, how to take pleasure seriously.