Finding movies that accurately represent the lives of queer, lesbian and bisexual women has never been the easiest task. Thankfully, I spend the majority of my free time watching queer film and have put together a list of 10 movies that address the complex realities of queer women in a variety of social, racial, familial and historical settings.
1. Carol
Carol follows the love story of two women in New York City in the 1950’s. Therese Belivet
(Rooney Mara) works in a department store when she meets elegant Carol (Cate Blanchett), a beautifully alluring woman stuck in a loveless marriage. The two have an instant and intense connection, but their relationship is tested when Carol’s husband questions her ability as a mother, using her relationship with Therese as leverage to win custody of their daughter.
Carol and Therese navigate their love and intimacy through the strict heteronormative conventions of the time period. The characters honesty, vulnerability and refusal to take up traditional female roles makes this 2015 film a modern queer classic.
2. Blue is The Warmest Colour
Yearning to fall in love, French high school student, Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) is trying to discover herself. She dates a boy at school, but desires something far more. Everything changes when she meets Emma (Léa Seydoux), a mysterious and free-spirited art student, at a gay bar in Brussels. Adèle is fascinated by Emma and as their friendship quickly grows into Addèles first love.
This coming of age movie follows their relationship over several years. We follow Adèle’s journey as she finds, loses and re-claims herself through the passion and heartache of her first love.
**
3. But I’m a Cheerleader
This classic 2000 rom-com is a queer and campy classic. Megan (Natasha Lyonne) considers herself to be an All-American girl. She is on the cheerleading squad and even has a quarterback boyfriend (although she really isn’t attracted to him). Megan is shocked to find out that her parents decide to send her to True Directions, a straight boot camp, due to her ‘lesbian tendencies,’ such as eating tofu and having posters of female models in her locker. The camp is run by “ex-gay” Mike (RuPaul). Once at True Directions, Megan meets rebellious and unapologetic lesbian, Graham (Clea DuVall) and the two begin to fall for one another.
The film is very satirical and the over exaggeration of heterosexuality is done purposefully to highlight the stereotypes surrounding queer identity.
4. The Watermelon Woman
What is particularly special about this movie is that it was the first feature-length film written by a Black lesbian woman.
Cheryl Dunye, an openly lesbian author, film producer and editor, stars in her debut 1996 film. Cheryl (she plays herself in this film), works at a video store in Philadelphia is trying to make a film about Black actresses from the 1930s who’s roles were seldom credited. The story discusses the difficulties of finding archival information of Black and queer women whose voices were silenced in Hollywood.
Cheryl is practically interested in actress Fae Richards who was known as ‘The Watermelon Woman.’ During her research, she discovers that Richards had a love affair with Martha Page, a white director. At the same time, Cheryl meets Diana, who is also a white woman.
The Watermelon Woman is a story about history, self-determinism and documenting the realities of queer, Black women in film.
5. The Kids Are All Right
Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nik (Annette Bening) are a lesbian couple who’ve been together for 20 years, although their relationship is far from perfect. They have two children via an anonymous sperm donor. The story takes off when their daughter Joni (Mia Wasikosova) is leaving for college and her and her younger brother make contact with their donour, Paul (Mark Ruffalo). Once the family meets Paul, their lives all change, and relationships continuously re-defined.
This 2010 feel-good drama is all about family, love and all the hiccups that happen on the way.
6. The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love
This 1995 classic stars Randy Dean (Laurel Holloman) as a lesbian high school student who has a rough time in school and is faced with lots of homophobia from her community. Randy starts an unlikely friendship with popular Evie Roy (Nicole Parker) and their friendship quickly turns into a romance. Although Randy’s family does not accept her relationship, and Evie’s friends turn their back on her, their love is stronger is than these difficulties.
7. Desert Hearts
Set in 1959, Desert Hearts ties in Americana aesthetics and queer identity to create a beautiful piece about starting over and finding love. New York professor, Vivianne Bell (Helen Shaver) travels to a ranch in Reno, Nevada after divorcing her husband. During her stay, she meets the younger, spunky Cay Rivvers (Patricia Charbonneau), the ranch owner’s daughter. As their relationship develops, Vivianne realizes that there is much more to life than her uptight academic circle in NYC. Their story is played out with beautiful western landscapes and country music.
Here’s a fun fact: this was one of the first major motion pictures to portray lesbianism in a positive light, according to the British Board of Film Classification. Many earlier and current films often end the storylines of lesbian characters with trauma, violence or death.
8. Disobedience
Disobedience premiered in Canada spring of 2018. The film is about Ronit Krushka (Rachel Weitz), a NYC photographer who returns to her Orthodox Jewish community in London to attend her father’s funeral, having been estranged for having had a childhood crush on her best friend, Esti, (Rachel McAdams) who was also raised in their Orthodox community. Upon returning back home, Ronit is living in a limbo between the modernity of NYC, not covering her hair, and smoking cigarettes, while Esti wrestles with accepting her role within the traditions of the Orthodox community. Their love and attraction for one another is quickly reunited as they struggle with the boundaries of faith, religion and the meaning of unconditional love.
9. D.E.B.S
An action and rom-com film, this 2004 is a must see queer girl film. A group of four prep school girls; Amy (Sarah Foster), Max (Meagan Good), Janet (Jill Ritchie) and Dominique (Devon Aoki) are recruited by a secret government agency, D.E.B.S, which stands for Discipline, Energy, Beauty and Strength. The girls prepare to be like Charlie Angels secret agents. Their most important mission is to capture Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster), a dangerous criminal. The central plot unfolds when Amy falls for Lucy.
10. Pariah
Pariah tells the story of Alike (Adepero Oduye), a 17 year old African American high school student living in Brooklyn. Alike embraces her lesbian identity, but hasn’t come out to anyone except her friend Laura. At home, Alike wears more traditionally ‘feminine’ clothes, but when out, she embraces her butch style with baggy clothes, baseball caps and mens shirts. Alike struggles to find a girlfriend until her Mom makes her meet Bina (Aasha Davis), a daughter of one of her co-workers. Alike beings to develop a crush on Bina, although this causes a strain with her friendship with Laura. This 2011 film tells a beautiful story understanding identity, love, family and shows a coming of age story about young Black lesbian women.