
At age 73, writer and melancholy master of the bon mot, Quentin Crisp (1908-1999), became an Englishman in New York. Nossiter's camera follows Crisp about the streets of Manhattan, where Crisp seems very much at home, wearing eye shadow, appearing on a makeshift stage, making and repeating wry observations, talking to John Hurt (who played Crisp in the autobiographical TV movie, "The Naked Civil Servant"), and dining with friends. Others who know Crisp comment on him, on his life as an openly gay man with an effeminate manner, and on his place in the history of gays' social struggle. The portrait that emerges is of one wit and of suffering.
Self

The Bum

Man on Street
Street Performer
Street Performer
Self

Dinner Hostess / Writer
Writer

Writer
Self - Actor

Professor
Writer
Singer

Gossip Columnist

Talk Show Host (archive footage)

Gay Activist
Self - Publisher
Pornographer

Self

Cabaret Performer
Playwright
Performance Artist
Painter
Gallery Owner
Sculptor
Filmmaker

Painter
Painter
Painters' Friend
Painter
Performer / Actor
Self