'Pillion' is the story of a gay young man, Colin, who lives in greater London with his family who accept him as being gay as long as the version of 'being gay' he lives out is an extension of their family life where his mother wears the trousers in the house. They are presented as living a comfortable, stable, suburban, life. Colin is a self effacing traffic warden, and has never had a boyfriend, but he has looked for one. His mother chooses dates for him, and he lets her choose them. One night in a straight/mixed pub at the end of another failed date he meets the man his mother never told him about and never knew existed. She is so well insulated in her own world from the definition of homosexuality that Ray represents that Colin is intrigued. For the first time Colin sets up a date of his own with Ray in which Ray proves to not only to be handsome but in need of somebody to control who is amenable to him controlling them. Colin seems unaware that he has been controlled all his life by his mother. Now for the acronym that child-centred family values would deny exists, but is definitely a dish many adults will serve up, or expect, of each other under many different labels. BDSM stands for Bondage, Domination, Submission, Sadism and Masochism. Colin finds an apparently fulfilling life outside of his family that he would never have guessed existed. The life Colin has in Ray's flat, and with Ray's friends, is an education for Colin that he could never have otherwise been offered.
Will the relationship last? Will Colin change as a person? Did Ray have a less detached, softer, side? Watch the film to find out what bumps in the road they both encounter. What I will say, from experience, is that to recognise our free will, and what defines what controls us, we often have to experience over control as something fresh and new to realise that we have to negotiate our own boundaries to recognise who we, and other people, actually are.
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