‘Too Late for What?’: Closet, Desire, and Caring Masculinities in Maspalomas

This article examines the representation of gay ageing, desire, masculinity, and the closet in Maspalomas, a Basque feature film centred on Vicente, a gay man in his seventies whose life is shaped by both loss and renewed desire. Through a situated, transfeminist close reading, the article looks at what it means to grow old as a gay man and what sexual desire does when the future appears impossible. The analysis focuses on four interconnected dimensions: the closet, desire, abandonment and caring masculinities. We argue that the closet is not simply an individual biographical stage but a strategy of both survival and disciplining that can be reactivated within heteronormative and conservative institutions, including the family, marriage, and residential care. Moreover, the closet operates as an affective grammar that extends beyond the individual and shapes the relationships of those around him. At the same time, the film presents lust/desire as a force through which Vicente reconstructs his identity and remains connected to a desiring gay community despite ageing, illness, and precarious social circumstances. Finally, the representation of caring male relationships challenges dominant associations between masculinity and emotional distance. The article contributes to scholarship on queer ageing and LGBTQ+ representation by foregrounding older gay men as desiring subjects whose lives continue to involve struggle, agency, intimacy, and possibility.