According to producer Ruth Caleb, in the American version, there is no frontal nudity, the actors are semi-clothed, and a scene in a pornographic theater also was edited for U.S.

It was shown in the United States on PBS on 24 June 1992 as part of Great Performances, but was selectively edited using alternative takes for its television airing.

It was broadcast on BBC 2 on 9 February 1992. The film premiered at the 1991 London Film Festival. Owen goes to stay with Philip and finally tells his son about himself. She later confronts him which leads to Owen admitting his sexuality to her. However, on the evening of the dinner party, it becomes clear to Rose that Owen is the one who is actually attracted to Winston. Owen says he will invite Winston round for dinner because Philip might like him. He says that he is asking because he has a colleague at the university where he works, an attractive man named Winston, and wondered if he was gay. Owen and Philip go out for a meal and Owen asks Philip questions about his sexuality and how people know that they are gay. Her research includes the secret language that a pair of young twins created between themselves and also the case of a neglected young child who began emulating the movements of construction cranes as this was the only thing he could see out of his bedroom window and therefore his only interaction with the outside world at a developmental age. Philip remains friends with Elliot's female flatmate, Jerene, a PhD student who is writing her thesis on languages and behaviour. Soon after their visit, Elliot decides he no longer wants a relationship with Philip and moves to Paris. Meanwhile, Philip's boyfriend, an American named Elliot, receives a visit from his adoptive parents Derek and Geoffrey, the gay couple who raised him. Although he has been married to Rose for years, Owen is also secretly gay, and makes clandestine visits to gay bars and gay adult cinemas. However, the revelation has a far greater impact on his father, Owen, who at first seems accepting of his son's revelation but later begins to cry. His parents are taken aback by the news and his mother, Rose, says that she will need time to come to terms with it. Unbeknownst to his parents, Philip is gay and he decides to ' come out' to them. Philip Benjamin is a 20-something middle-class Londoner who works in publishing.

Cox was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor.

It stars Brian Cox, Eileen Atkins, Angus Macfadyen, Corey Parker, Cathy Tyson, John Schlesinger, René Auberjonois, Ben Daniels and Nigel Whitmey. The film was produced by the BBC for their Screen Two series, and aired on 9 February 1992. It was adapted for television by Sean Mathias, based on the 1986 novel of the same name by David Leavitt. The Lost Language of Cranes is a 1991 British made-for-television drama film directed by Nigel Finch.

The lost language of cranes