If “Barbie” was supposed to be the Year of the Girl, then what do you call the three-month stretch of 2024 that gave us “Love Lies Bleeding,” “Drive-Away Dolls,” and a musical “Mean Girls” with lesbian intern Reneé Rapp? Hot Sapphic… Spring?
Actually, that’s not half-bad. It’s just a shame Kamala Harris lost the election, Charli XCX steered the girlies wrong, and Brat Summer turned out to be a launch party for the modern Republicans’ debut EP, “Now That’s What I Call Fascism!” Fall.
To paraphrase a bi-coded owl from an almost exclusively heterosexual TV show, “When you look at something through rose-colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags.” It’s a painful thing to yearn for pop culture controversies that would’ve exhausted us a year ago. Where is the annual railing against consumer culture? How can we get back to No Kink at Pride discourse? Please, dear God, can someone yell at me on social media for quoting “BoJack Horseman” when “Tuca & Bertie” was right there?!
History could have predicted the ultraconservative backlash we’re living through in 2025, but that doesn’t make experiencing it any easier. For millions of LGBTQ people around the world, this Pride Month has been an intersectional clusterfuck blanked in anxiety, confusion, and grief. Sure, you can still watch “Becoming,” that documentary about Michelle Obama from 2020, on Netflix and the former First Lady may bring you some comfort. But even her most famous advice (“When they go low, we go high…”), doesn’t hit the same when everywhere you look democracy is on fire.
These days, the best lesbian movies are any lesbian movies — homophobic propaganda notwithstanding. Trump has used the federal government to wage war on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the country. He’s got an especially heavy axe to grind in the education sector, which means preserving imperfect and even controversial texts about queer and genderqueer life is now essential. With that in mind, we’ve overhauled IndieWire’s list of the greatest hits for homosexual women.
We’ve still got old entries written by former colleagues we miss dearly, and there’s at least a dozen titles that didn’t move an inch on our ranking. Still, expanding to 40 films in all, our new selections reflect a complex mix. Borrowing another lesson from “Barbie” (which really should have had a single lesbian character in it, don’t you think?), women cannot be everything to everyone. That same philosophy has been applied here. You’ll find gold-star projects towards the top, but we’ve also presented some divisive projects as well as a handful of so-called “lesbian classics” that are merely queer-coded.
Trans women are women, and their lesbian stories, experiences, and identities appear throughout. Bi-erasure sucks worse than being sacrificed to the devil by a boy band, so we’ve also made room for “Jennifer’s Body” and a few more movies that go both ways. That said, the seminal girl-on-girl disaster-piece “Cruel Intentions” did not make the cut, and sadly, “Ghost World” still doesn’t feel like it belongs here. (Maybe those are bettered suited to something like the Gayest Movies That Aren’t Explicitly Gay?)
This list won’t work for every woman or nonbinary person who loves women and nonbinary people. What one lesbian might see as a bold and essential entry in queer canon (hello, “Tár”) another may dismiss as tawdry and inconsequential (hello again, “Tár.”) But isn’t that the kind of fight we miss having? Read on for IndieWire’s list of the 40 Best Lesbian Movies Ever Made. —Alison Foreman
With editorial contributions by Jude Dry, David Ehrlich, Jamie Righetti, and Tambay Obenson.
40. “Mean Girls” (dir. Mark Waters, 2004)
The musical version of this 2004 classic teen comedy is arguably the “gayer” rendition of the story — and not just because Renee Rapp plays Regina George, although that’s certainly part of it. But the 2004 original, as much as it shows its age in how it uses the label of lesbian as a punchline, is a more vital queer text, as plenty of girls who grew up with it found themselves enthralled in the complex web of resentment, admiration, and jealousy that forms between new to school Cady (Lindsay Lohan), ultimate mean girl Regina (Rachel McAdams), and embittered outcast Janis (Lizzy Caplan). There’s so much queer coding to the masochistic tango these girls dance with each other, particularly in the iconic monologue where Cady extolls how Regina has consumed her every thought. Its lesbianism might be mostly subtext, but it’s enough to earn “Mean Girls” a permanent place in any queer movie night worth its salt. —WC
39. “Rebecca” (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)
Ostensibly, Daphne Du Maurier’s novel “Rebecca” is a romance between the unnamed young narrator and the wealthy older Englishman Maxim de Winter who sweeps her off her feet and onto his estate Manderlay. But their relationship, presented through the unreliable eyes of the second Mrs. de Winter, has always been toxic and controlling, intentionally rotten to the core. The real love story of “Rebecca” is the obsessive loyalty and adoration towards its deceased title character, Maxim’s first wife, that Manderlay housekeeper Mrs. Danvers holds long after her passing. While some might argue that the book’s depiction of her love, coded quite obviously queer, traffics in predatory lesbian stereotypes, there’s true poignency and romance to Danvers devotion to her beloved Madame. In the celebrated 1940 film adaptation, Judith Anderson brings both wicked horror villain presence and sharp pathos to the character, making her the most memorable and enduring icon of one of Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest works. —WC
38. “Jennifer’s Body” (dir. Karyn Kusama, 2009)
A marketing campaign focused mostly on Megan Fox’s sex appeal and a public that didn’t quite get what it was going for resulted in “Jennifer’s Body” flopping at the box office when it first released, only to endure far past its initial release as a queer cult classic, one with themes of female rage against patriarchial violence. Fox stars as the titular Jennifer, who becomes demonically possessed and remerges as a cold succubus looking for vengeance. Her target is men, but it’s her nerdy best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried) she has the most chemistry with, and their kiss that’s the film’s most iconic moment. For anyone who has ever experienced a homoerotic friendship from hell, “Jennifer’s Body” is a horror movie that’s all too familiar. —WC
37. “All About Eve” (dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)
One of the greatest movies ever made, “All About Eve” is ostensibly the tale of a bunch of straight women being passive-aggressive backstabbers toward each other. But the film has always been catnip for queer cinephiles, and queer readings of its themes have existed for decades. In many respects, Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s Broadway drama paved the way for many others female-focused films about obsession and identity, about women who desperately want to become other women. Eve Herrington’s (played with verve and a short cut to die for by Anne Baxter) ruthless quest to usurp the career of aged theater star Margo Channing (Bette Davis) might be one motivated primarily by a desire for the spotlight, but there’s a sexual charge to it all the same, a sticky fixtation that’s thrillingly feels like a mix of love and hate. Plenty of movies on this list, from the explicitly to the implicitly queer, owe their existence to “All About Eve.” —WC
36. “Shiva Baby” (dir. Emma Seligman, 2020)
A farce turned into a pressure cooker thriller, “Shiva Baby” is at its core a relatable story of a bisexual millennial figuring out what she wants. Rachel Sennott broke out in Emma Seligman’s film playing Danielle, a directionless young woman who grapples with feelings of inadequacy and resentment when she attends a shiva with her parents. Also there are her sugar daddy (Danny Deferrari), his wife (Dianna Agron), and her much more successful ex-girlfriend (Molly Gordon), compounding all the many stressers driving Danielle crazy over 78 near-real-time minutes. It’s a painfully relatable coming-of-age tale for many a queer person, one that’s thrillingly romantic at times thanks to Gordon and Sennott’s irresitable chemistry. —WC
34. “Imagine Me & You” (dir. Ol Parker, 2005)
Nowadays, lesbian rom-coms are….still pretty rare, sadly, but mainstream enough that Hallmark got in on the action. In 2005, finding one with a relatively wide release was a near fruitless endeavor, which made “Imagine Me & You” something to celebrate. In many respects, Ol Parker’s British import is very much a conventional rom-com: a girl (Piper Perabo) gets married to a nice but boring guy (Matthew Goode) only for her to find and fall for the person she should actually be with. The key difference is that the person she should actually be with is also a girl (Lena Headey). “Imagine Me & You” very much follows all the beats that you’re familiar with, and is maybe a touch stale for it, but the actors are charming, the jokes are witty, and the emotions are heightened from the complications keeping the leads apart being far more realistic, personal, and painful. It’s the clearest cinematic sign that almost anything is better if it’s gay. —WC
33. “Fried Green Tomatoes” (dir. Jon Avnet, 1991)
Having just won her Oscar for “Misery,” Kathy Bates didn’t know how to stick up for her co-stars Mary Stuart Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker on the “Fried Green Tomatoes” press tour. Bates and Jessica Tandy served as the film adaptation’s narrators, but were disproportionately featured in its coverage. That makes sense when you consider the movie mostly hid the explicit lesbian romance at the center of Fannie Flagg’s 1987 book. Speaking with IndieWire, Bates said she regretted not doing more to prop up the less established actresses on the 1991 film — calling director Jon Avnet’s heartbreaking Alabama dramedy “their story.”
Still, the lesbian subtext in the sweet and melancholy connection shared by Idgie and Ruth at the world-famous Whistle Stop Cafe is unmissable. Masterson and Parker make a lush-yet-rustic fantasy from the enchanting love of a school teacher and a bee charmer. They may not kiss, but you’ve never seen passion as fiery as the surprises hiding in this mostly quaint film about fighting patriarchy. —AF
32. “Clouds of Sils Maria” (Olivier Assayas, 2014)
A ravishingly acted and written psychological drama, “Clouds of Sils Maria” is probably best remembered as the film that helped cement Kristen Stewart as both a great actor and as a lesbian icon. But there’s so much more to Olivier Assayas’ film, a meditation on fame, image, and aging built around the performance and persona of Juliette Binoche, playing a role based in part on herself. She’s Maria Enders, a successful actress who reluctantly agrees to star in a revival of the play that made her famous, but this time playing the elder woman rather than the young ingénue. Retreating to the Sils Maria settlement in the Alps, she prepares for the role with her assistant Valentine (Stewart), and in the process, the boundaries of their relationship and the one in the play begin to blur. Rich and sharp, the film becomes a surprising two-hander that gives both Binoche and Stewart space to create brilliant chemistry together. —WC
31. “The Favourite” (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos, 2018)
A bold vision set within the grotesquely aristocratic spectacle of early 18th century English royalty, “The Favourite” is a dark yet comedic tale of three dominant women competing for love and power with reckless abandon. Director Yorgos Lanthimos creates an incredibly lively, though insular, universe, toying with real events to serve as support and motivation for the interiority and conflicts of the film’s characters. Unfolding like a bedroom farce, mostly within the walls of a Royal Palace that’s cut-off from the realities of the era’s expansive history, it’s a world ruled by strategic maneuvers, seductions, even pineapple eating and the occasional duck race. It is through the tangled ties of a frail Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) with two other scheming and ambitious women — her close friend and advisor Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz), and Sarah’s indigent cousin turned status-seeking chambermaid Abigail (Emma Stone) — that the story plunges into a maelstrom of unscrupulous behavior and unpredictability, that epitomizes the expression “palace intrigue,” as a nation’s fate lies within the relations among women who’ve succumbed to the excruciating complications of love. —JD
30. “Kissing Jessica Stein” (dir. Charles Herman-Wurmfeld, 2001)
Before she was known as Jon Hamm’s (ex-)partner, Jennifer Westfeldt was the plucky writer and star of this indie romantic comedy about a neurotic Jew who, like a bisexual Woody Allen, just can’t make up her mind. Westfeldt plays the titular, Jessica, who comes across a pre-Craigslist personal ad so perfectly written it leaves her speechless (a rarity for her). When the person on the other end turns out to be a woman named Helen, played by co-writer Heather Jeurgenson, Jessica embarks on the slowest-moving lesbian love affair in history. It’s the kind of New York romance that rarely gets made anymore: There’s charming montages to Ella Fitzgerald’s version of “Manhattan,” a “where did she come from?” hilarious best friend (Jackie Hoffman), and a lovably overbearing Jewish mother (Tovah Feldshuh). Without spoiling the ending (if you haven’t seen it, you really should), there are valid reasons to wish “Kissing Jessica Stein” were a little bit gayer. But the film is a lot like its protagonist; so damn lovely, it’s no wonder everyone wants to kiss it. —JD
29. “D.E.B.S.” (dir. Angela Robinson, 2004)
A clever action parody that was much smarter than its mainstream marketing campaign understood, “D.E.B.S.” is like a queer “Charlie’s Angels” set at the school from “But I’m a Cheerleader,” with broader commercial appeal. A forbidden love story between a teen spy and an evil but hot international diamond thief, the movie features early performances by Jimmi Simpson (“Westworld”) and Jordana Brewster (“The Fast and the Furious”). Set at an underground government academy for teen super spies, the D.E.B.S. are chosen by their answers to questions hidden in an SAT-like test. It’s stupidly fun, sweetly romantic, and a lot more subversive than it gets credit for. —JD
28. “I Can’t Think Straight” (dir. Shamim Sarif, 2008)
Comphet looms larger over this British romance about a betrothed heiress (Lisa Ray) who falls for a sensitive young writer (Sheetal Sheth) while preparing for her lavish wedding to a wealthy man (Daud Shah). On her fourth heterosexual engagement, Tala probably should have realized that she was finding fault in every man that looked her way because she is simply…not attracted to men. But when the pressure of pursuing real love with a woman proves too much for her strict understanding of societal acceptability, the duty-bound beauty abandons her Leyla to sprint back to a life she doesn’t want.
Based on Shamim Sarif’s novel of the same name, “I Can’t Think Straight” sees the filmmaker and author adapt her own work to create a culturally distinct consideration of familial obligation. The 2008 film won’t resonate with all audiences — it’s stilted at times, awkward more often, and can’t pick a perspective on religious homophobia — but it offers a compelling enough rom-com, two leads with crackling chemistry, and some of the best sapphic lover letters in cinematic history. “Every night I empty my heart, but by morning it’s full again…” —AF
27. “All Over Me” (dir. Alex Sichel, 1997)
Angst-ridden teenagers come in all shapes and predilections, a fact this prettily gritty coming-of-age film celebrates. Two years after Larry Clark’s controversial “Kids” came out, “All Over Me” properly queered up New York’s counterculture as seen through the eyes of Claude (Allison Folland), a gentle loner who follows her wild best friend, Ellen (Tara Subkoff), around like a sad puppy. She has a chance at breaking free when she meets pink-haired cutie Lucy (Leisha Hailey), but gets pulled back in when Ellen’s boyfriend drama becomes dire. By Hollywood standards, Claude’s status as an unconventional lead only adds to the film’s rebellious charm. Like “Desperately Seeking Susan” with kissing, or “Kids” without homophobia, “All Over Me” borrowed from the greats and yet feels wholly original. —JD
26. “The Kids Are All Right” (dir. Lisa Cholodenko, 2010)
In many respects, “The Kids Are All Right” feels like an extreme product of the Obama-era, resting itself on the question of the complications and tensions that can spark in a long-lasting queer union. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore star as Nic and Jules, a couple with kids whose relationship get tested when their son tracks down his biological father, charming restaurant owner Paul (Mark Ruffalo). While Lisa Cholodenko’s keeps the ensuing drama relatively light, the emotions are charred and painful, as Paul’s presence opens up resentments buried underneath Nic and Jules’ picturesque LA life. Bening and Moore are terrific, bringing all the history needed to understand these two women, and all the love and grievances they have for each other. —WC
25. “Bodies Bodies Bodies” (dir. Halina Rejin, 2022)
You know, I went to a “Bodies Bodies Bodies” party once… and none of those people really talk anymore. With a blistering script by Sarah DeLappe, based on a story by viral “Cat Person” author Kristen Roupenian, this incisive dissection of aesthetic queerness asks a question sure to make your group chat shake: Are we really friends — or was this just for the photos?
A24’s uber-stylish slasher deconstruction works well enough as a take on the horror genre, but it does more as a tribute to toxic #wlw friendships and dog whistling in the digital age. Directed by Halina Reijn, Amandla Stenberg leads a cohort of cunty frenemies as they prepare to party at a mansion in the middle of a hurricane. When the power goes out and the group’s premiere fuckboy (oh, hey, Pete Davidson) turns up dead, it takes next to nothing for the supposedly far-left cool kids to turn on each other like narcissistic jackals.
Rachell Sennnott is bi-coded as ever in her unforgettable turn as the hysterical Alice, but there’s a particularly fine point put on the thorny nature of lesbian situation-ships. Here, Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, and Myha’la Herrold act out a love triangle that could shake even the women of “The L Word,” with the heel-turn abandonment that often betrays fake queer friendships in full view. As allegations of gaslighting and breadcrumbing splatter the walls, and the bodies(bodies)(bodies) mount, the massacre’s survivors endeavor to unmask a killer in a lineup of people they don’t really like. —AF
24. “Kajillionaire” (dir. Miranda July, 2020)
A singular, odd little romance, “Kajillionaire” tells a story about familial estrangement and found community that marks it as queer even before Evan Rachel Wood and Gina Rodriguez lock lips. The family at the heart of the feature isn’t your typical unaccepting conservative clan, though; instead, Wood’s Old Dolio is raised by a pair of manipulative con artists (Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger) who molded her into an emotionally stunted mess whose only skill is the ability to pull off petty scams. When her parents rope Rodriguez’s Melanie into their schemes, Dolio is envious of the other woman, but soon finds in this stranger an opportunity for the love and affection she has never received before. The sparks that fly between the two are both surprising and moving and for all the surface-level quirk of Miranda July’s dramedy, its greatest feature is its wonderfully sincere beating heart. —WC
23. “Rafiki” (dir. Wanuri Kahiu, 2018)
Initially banned in its home country of Kenya, this tender queer romance pulses with bright colors and the electric butterflies of young love. The star-crossed romance follows two teens, Kena (Samantha Mugatsia) and Ziki (Sheila Munyiva), who fall in love despite their families’ political rivalry. Stepping lightly into fraught territory, they must contend with small-town busybodies and the judgment of their conservative society. Boasting nuanced performances from the two charismatic newcomers, Wanuri Kahiu’s assured debut feature is an important reminder of the struggle many still face to live out and proud. The first Kenyan film to play Cannes, Kahiu won a landmark court case that earned the film an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run, chipping away at Kenyan anti-LGBT legislation in the process. —JD
22. “Drive-Away Dolls” (dir. Ethan Coen, 2024)
When his creative partnership with his brother Joel went on an indefinite hiatus, Ethan Coen was freed up to explore his true passion: making shaggy, sapphic b-movie-inspired comedies with his lesbian wife, Tricia Cooke. Who knew! The duo’s first in a planned informal trilogy (that also includes the upcoming “Honey Don’t”), “Drive-Away Dolls” is a slight but sweet buddy comedy starring Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan as two Philadelphia lesbians who embark on a road trip to Tallahassee, uninentionally taking a car with some criminal cargo in the process. At 84 minutes, it’s a cheerfully unserious film, one that delights in placing a pair of thirsty queers in a context many grizzled straight guys have gone before. The script by Cooke and Coen nails the small details of the queer world it inhibits, and has a winning duo in Qualley and Viswanathan. It’s a dynamic you’ve seen a thousand times before (Qualley’s the free-spirit horndog, Viswanathan is the more reserved responsible one) but the actor’s make it sweet, fun, and a little sexy. —WC
21. “Come See Me in the Good Light” (dir. Ryan White, 2025)
A genderqueer poet and their partner battle advanced ovarian cancer in director Ryan White’s “Come See Me in the Good Light” — a life-affirming documentary that came to Sundance at a critical time for LGBTQ people in American media. This intimate portrait of Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley (also a writer and poet) brings audiences into a soulful romance between two artists grappling with life’s most harrowing questions. The love seen here suggests how you live your life and care for the people in it can be its own kind of art form.
As complex conversations about impermanence spill into increasingly difficult medical appointments, Gibson and Falley engage with each other and White’s lens to challenge how we see identity in the face of an all-consuming and transformative illness. The well-spoken and likable subjects foster a generous tone that could earnestly inspire compassion from some less tolerant viewers, and the project overall helps boost their voices and platform in a difficult cultural moment. —AF
20. “Blue Jean” (dir. Georgia Oakley, 2022)
There are many coming-out films and dramas about internalized homophobia in the queer film canon, but few feel as immediate and painful as “Blue Jean.” Georgia Oakley’s directorial debut grounds its personal story in the history of Thatcher-era Britain, foregrounding the life of high school athletics teacher Jean (a riveting Rosy McEwan) as Section 28 — regressive legislation that closed LGBT advocacy organizations and restricted discussion of homosexuality in schools — is passed by the government in the background. These events weigh heavily on Jean, who presents as straight at work before heading to the gay bar with her girlfriend at night. It’s especially awful when an incident at school forces her to choose between doing the right thing and keeping herself safe. It’s a thorny, emotionally complex work that delves into the pain of a compartmentalized life without ever casting judgment on its lead for her actions. —WC
19. “The Incredibly True Adventures of 2 Girls in Love” (dir. Maria Maggenti, 1995)
Featuring an interracial romance across class lines, Maria Maggenti’s 1995 classic was years ahead of its time. Inverting the conventions of the day, the story follows an affluent Black teenager named Evie (Nicole Parker) who falls in love with scrappy white tomboy who is swooningly named Randy Dean (Laurel Holloman). “The L Word” fans may be surprised by Holloman’s kinetic performance as the brooding gas station worker from the wrong side of the tracks, and her smoldering looks keep the chemistry palpably sweet. A charming teen romance laced with incisive commentary on class and race, this queer classic does more than hold up, it ripens with age. —JD
18. “Set It Off” (dir. F. Gary Gray, 1996)
In the great tradition of “9 to 5” or “Thelma & Louise,” but with three of the most popular Black actresses of the time, “Set It Off” remains unrivaled today. It stars Vivica A. Fox, Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, and Kimberly Elise as four friends who become bank robbers, each for their own reasons. While lesbians claimed “Thelma & Louise” as their own from subtext alone, “Set It Off” gave audiences the Queen Latifah of their dreams. Cleo was a cocky, loud, swaggering butch — and she gets laid. Finally, a story about badass women fighting the system that kept them down, and no one could say anyone was reading too much into it by calling it queer. “Set It Off” killed at the box office, grossing $41 million on a budget of $9 million. This is one remake no one would question. —JD
17. “Tár” (dir. Todd Field, 2022)
The subtextual controversies plaguing Todd Field’s 2023 Best Picture nominee feel borderline silly when you consider what “Tár” is actually about. A cancel culture allegory starring “Carol” icon Cate Blanchett as a world-famous conductor on the brink of self-made collapse, this spiritual “Black Swan” successor chronicles the downfall of the titular Lydia Tár. She’s predatory and a lesbian, yes, but Field doesn’t go so far as to suggest that she is predatory because she is a lesbian — instead examining the inside of a MeToo-era investigation through an atypical character setup that still manages to pluck at universal themes for lesbians of a certain success level.
Calculating in her climb and weaponized by her own brilliance, the prodigious Lydia Tár wields her power much like a man. She gives professional favors to those who return them sexually and tosses out her toys with the trash when she’s done. That’s behavior that can and has been exhibited by queer women, but again, not because they are queer. Field doesn’t address that homophobic perspective on screen because he never seemed to entertain it in his construction of the character. What “Tár” might lack in authentic lesbian authorship it instead makes up for with a radically agender approach to portraiture that inserts a toxic gay woman as its patriarchal monster: an elitist automaton who never bothered to kill the man in her own head. If you’re still wondering if this movie about a lesbian is a lesbian movie, maybe you need to have a word with the one living in yours. —AF
16. “Love Lies Bleeding” (dir. Rose Glass, 2024)
You know what they say: Behind every magnetic masc managing an Albuquerque gym there’s a femme bodybuilder heading for Vegas with some serious rage issues. In director Rose Glass’ hyperviolent sophomore effort, Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian will make you believe in love at first sight with the unforgettable lesbian leads of Lou and Jackie. Our desert love birds, swept up in a storm of steroid abuse, domestic abuse, and hair-trigger coffee table beatings, are easy to love when the action slows down. Unfortunately, you’ll spend the majority of A24’s romantic and sometimes surreal crime thriller focused less on the pair’s super-hot chemistry (brace yourself for a fisting scene!) and more on their spectacularly screwed up circumstance.
Ed Harris terrifies as Lou’s father, also named Lou, and Dave Franco embodies the “all men are dogs” ethos as her remarkably shitty brother-in-law J.J. It’s Jena Malone as Lou’s sister Beth who truly bewilders, though. You’ll be begging Lou and Jackie to get outta dodge way before they even think about skipping town. Will it be too late to run off into the sunset when they’re finally ready to go? —AF
15. “Disobedience” (dir. Sebastián Lelio, 2017)
Sebastián Lelio’s burning-yet-elegant “Disobedience” is more than the familiar feminist rebellion you might think. In the exquisitely melancholic lesbian romance, Rachel Weisz plays Ronit, an excommunicated Jewish woman who unexpectedly returns home after the death of her father. She’s soon reunited with her old friend Dovid, a conflicted Alessandro Nivola, and Esti, David’s wife and Ronit’s secret childhood sweetheart as played by a shapeshifting Rachel McAdams.
The trio’s impromptu exploration of freedom, intimacy, and the conflicts inherent therein offers not just a compelling LGBTQ love story, but a powerful reflection on the rules we choose to follow and those we fight to defy. It also spurs the pièce de résistance of spit kink cinema in a sex scene between Ronit and Esti that’s deeply authentic in its consideration of lesbian connection: a frantic flurry of impassioned embraces and fingers sliding into mouths. The scene was something of A Moment in 2017, and remains the subject of playful debate among sapphic cinephiles to this day. —AF
14. “Born In Flames” (dir. Lizzie Borden, 1983)
Set in a post-revolutionary America, Lizzie Borden’s feminist agitprop film remains as bracingly radical as the day it was made. Shot guerilla style in 1980s New York City, the film is an inventive mash-up of energizing original musical numbers, free-wheeling handheld action shots, and news footage of actual demonstrations and police violence. The story is told through two underground feminist radio hosts who mobilize their factions after the Black radical founder of the Woman’s Army is suspiciously killed in police custody. Though this wildly inventive film defies categorization, it is best described as an afro-futurist political sci-fi comedy — the only one of its kind. Featuring performances from a young Kathryn Bigelow, Eric Bogosian, and civil rights activist Florynce Kennedy, “Born in Flames” is a vital affirmation of lesbian political power. —JD
13. “Go Fish” (dir. Rose Troche, 1994)
Inspired by the success of Todd Haynes’ “Poison” and frustrated by lesbian films that looked nothing like their actual lesbian lives, Rose Troche and Guinevere Turner decided to take matters into their own hands by shooting a tiny little indie called “Go Fish” in 1994. Filmed in black and white in Chicago for an estimated $15,000, “Go Fish” went on to make roughly $2.4 million, proving Indies could make a profit. Turner played Max, a headstrong writer who begins dating the older and quieter Ely (V.S. Brodie) despite initial reservations. Max’s friends, a jovial lesbian peanut gallery, offer unsolicited advice and plenty of laughs. No one dies, and no one comes out: a novelty for gay films at the time. “Go Fish” not only changed the game for queer cinema, but for indie film of all kinds. —JD
12. “High Art” (dir. Lisa Cholodenko, 1998)
The debut effort from “The Kids Are All Right” director traced a less controversial love story (no switching teams here), and still sparkles with that first-feature charm. Syd (Radha Mitchell) is a young art critic assigned to a big profile on notorious photographer Lucy Berliner (Ally Sheedy). Difficult and mysterious, Lucy is Syd’s window into her glamorous world of eccentric bohemian artists. That includes Lucy’s heroin-addicted German girlfriend, Greta (Patricia Clarkson, who steals every scene she’s in). Syd and Lucy find themselves equal to each other, and a dangerous affair begins. Using photography as both flirtation and cinematic device, “High Art” sometimes feels like a contemporary “Carol.” Of course, it was filmed nearly two decades before. —JD
11. “Bottoms” (dir. Emma Seligman, 2023)
At last, a raunchy, mean high school comedy for the gays! From “Shiva Baby” director Emma Seligman, “Bottoms” plays like a queer parody of classic sex comedies like “American Pie” or “Superbad,” except far weirder and more relevant than those films could ever hope to be. Seligman creates a demented, surreal cracked mirror of the typical movie high school for the film’s “ugly, untalented gays” to play around in, where football games are fights to the death and classes last two minutes before the bell rings. Rachel Sennot and Ayo Edebiri, as the selfish lesbian losers who start a phony fight club as a half-baked scheme to make out with cheerleaders, are the perfect actresses for Seligman’s vision. They bring a singular comedic wit that makes their frequently frustrating characters deeply entertaining. Sure, the two eventually atone for their actions, but part of what makes “Bottoms” so much fun is that it lets its lesbian leads behave so, so terribly. —WC
10. “Saving Face” (dir. Alice Wu, 2004)
Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2004, Alice Wu’s buoyantly charming romantic comedy became an instant queer classic, seamlessly balancing cinematic artistry with heartfelt comedy. A satisfying blend of heart-fluttering romance and familial woes, Wu’s film is loosely based on her own experiences coming out to her traditional Chinese family. Featuring a performance from “Twin Peaks” icon Joan Chen, the film follows Wil (Michelle Krusiec), a surgeon who meets and falls for ballet dancer Vivian (Lynn Chen). Accustomed to prioritizing work and family over romantic bliss, she must learn not to let love pass her by. —JD
9. “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” (dir. Céline Sciamma, 2019)
Celine Sciamma’s luscious tour-de-force practically demands to be seen on the big screen, but its subtle glances and rich performances offer plenty to unpack on repeat viewings. There are only four characters in the film, all women: a painter, her elusive subject, her mother, and their maid. The setting is a damp and nearly empty manor house on an island in Brittany, the part of France that bears the closest resemblance to England.
A British austerity permeates the film’s first act, all cold shoulders and sidelong glances between the women, but Sciamma delivers the French passion by the film’s fiery conclusion — and then some. While the romance is undoubtedly the heart of “Portrait,” Sciamma also seamlessly infuses the film with evidence of women’s limited options, or rather, the endlessly creative ways they learned to skirt the rules. Shut out by a home country that stubbornly refuses to honor its great women filmmakers, this movie itself stands ablaze in defiance of and in glaring contradiction to the dominance of men. Burn it down. —JD
8. “Mulholland Drive” (dir. David Lynch, 2001)
Is “Mulholland Drive” a real lesbian movie? More like compulsorily heterosexual, maybe. And yet, in the wake of David Lynch’s passing, the surrealist mystery from 2001 — about an amnesiac woman (Laura Harring) and a young actress (Naomi Watts) who fall prey to the fickle dreams of Los Angeles — captures the most sapphic side of the late visionary director audiences ever knew. It can also be read as offering a layered lesbian perspective on the allure of fame, weaving an iconic blonde wig and one of the chilliest neck kisses ever performed on film into the eerie question, “Do I want to be with her… or do I want to become her?”
That predatory narrative would be more problematic if its rough edges weren’t ensnared in the threads of a messy psychological thriller. Blurring the lines between more than sex and affection, the relationship between Betty and the self-proclaimed Rita is more spiritually satisfying than something like “The Talented Mr. Ripley” by its viery nature. Still, the depth you see in Lynch’s female characters here will impact how serious of a “lesbian film you consider “Mulholland Drive” to be. There’s a girlishness to the tragedy that unfolds between Harring and Watts that recalls a sleepover gone sideways, a deep and personal pain that suggests the kind of bed death some heartbroken lesbians can never come back from. —AF
7. “The Watermelon Woman” (dir. Cheryl Dunye, 1996)
In 1996, there were only so many images of Black women onscreen, fewer of Black lesbians. That’s exactly why, when Cheryl Dunye cast herself as a documentarian in her feature debut, this clever meta-theatrical device added another layer to what still would have been a charming micro-budget love story. Cheryl is a young Black lesbian living in Philadelphia who becomes obsessed with learning about a Black actress from the 1930s, whom she dubs The Watermelon Woman. Based on Dunye’s experience hitting wall after wall while researching Black actresses, she invented the character as a fantasy and reclamation. The oh-so-90s-it-hurts aesthetic extends to Cheryl’s plum job as a video store clerk, where she picks up Diana (Guinevere Turner) and takes dating advice from her hilarious butch buddy, Tamara (Valarie Walker). With cameos from Camille Paglia, Toshi Reagon, and Sarah Schulman, this movie has lesbian icons coming out of its… wherever. —JD
6. “Desert Hearts” (dir. Donna Deitch, 1986)
This groundbreaking classic was among the first times lesbians got to sit in a movie theater with popcorn and see a little piece of themselves on the silver screen. Set in the 1950s and in Reno, Nevada, it follows English professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) as she awaits a divorce and starts a new life. Buttoned up and fragile, Vivian is immediately drawn to firecracker Cay Rivers (Patricia Charbonneau), a young sculptor who is not afraid to go after what she wants. “Desert Hearts” may very well have been the first lesbian movie to not involve a love triangle with a man or end in a tragedy. With sweeping visuals and multiple complex female characters, the staying power of this historic film cannot be denied. —JD
5. “Pariah” (dir. Dee Rees, 2011)
Every filmmaker gets her crack at a coming-of-age story that mirrors her own, and those stories take on increasing significance when coming from rarely seen perspectives. Humming with the electricity of repressed sexuality finally breaking free, “Pariah” follows teenage Alike (Adepero Oduye) as she embraces her queerness and masculine gender expression. The camera practically aches as Alike changes out of her baseball hat and t-shirt on the train home to Brooklyn, donning a girly sweater in order to calm her parents’ suspicions (Kim Wayans and Charles Parnell). We melt alongside Alike as she lights up with the first tingles of love, seeing herself for the first time through the desiring eyes of Bina (Aasha Davis). Cinematographer Bradford Young (“Arrival”) films Alike’s first nights out at the club in rich, saturated colors. The movie pulses with the rhythm of first love and the cost of self-discovery. —JD
4. “Carol” (dir. Todd Haynes, 2015)
Whenever Todd Haynes’ unspeakably beautiful Patricia Highsmith adaptation comes to mind, it brings some of the novel’s last words along with it: “It would be Carol, in a thousand cities, a thousand houses, in foreign lands where they would go together, in heaven and hell.” In that light, a spot on a list of the decade’s best films hardly seems like much of a reach.
Brought to life by the careful genius of Phyllis Nagy’s script, the supple glow of Ed Lachmann’s 16mm cinematography, and two of the most extraordinary performances ever committed to celluloid (which isn’t to sweep old Harge under the rug where he belongs), Haynes’ Carol is more than just a bone-deep melodrama about a mutual infatuation during a repressive time. It’s more than a vessel for Carter Burwell’s swooning career-best score, or Sandy Powell’s seductive costumes, or the rare queer romance that gave its characters a happy ending — an ending that resonates through Cate Blanchett’s coy smile with the blunt force of every impossible dream Carol Aird has ever had for herself. It’s more than just an immaculate response to decades of “if only” dramas like David Lean’s “Brief Encounter,” or a heartstopping series of small gestures that build into the single most cathartic last shot of the 21st century. It’s all of those things (and more!), but most of all it’s an indivisibly pure distillation of what it feels like to fall in love alone and land somewhere together. —DE
3. “But I’m a Cheerleader” (dir. Jamie Babbit, 1999)
Many gay rom-coms try to replicate the gooey, heteronormative standards of their straight counterparts, just with gay people instead of a man and a woman. That makes Jamie Babbit’s triumph “But I’m a Cheerleader” all the more special, a truly queer film by all metrics that straight critics couldn’t get but the queers who saw it could see themselves in. Minting both Natasha Lyonne and Clea Duvall as queer icons — and including an existing gay icon in the form of RuPaul — the film takes the horrifying topic of conversion therapy camps and turns them into a joke, as Lyonne’s girly Megan gets shipped to True Directions to help her become straight, only to find herself and her sexuality. It’s campy, silly, and hilariously funny in its lampooning of gender roles and heteronormativity, but also deeply sincere and lovely, a gentle story of becoming your true self. It’s the holy grail of lesbian rom-coms — and queer rom-coms in general. —WC
2. “The Handmaiden” (dir. Park Chan-wook, 2016)
When South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook chose as source material the lesbian historical fiction novel “Fingersmith,” by Welsh author Sarah Waters, it seemed a little out of left field. But changing the setting from Victorian England to Japanese-occupied Korea was a brilliant move, and one that infused this cold mystery about a con man and the two women he embroils in his plot with untold beauty. Chan-wook elevates the book’s tawdry elements to fetishistic extremes, turning out an erotic thriller every bit as gorgeous as it is sinister. Min-hee Kim is prim and alluring as Lady Hideko, never fully dropping the facade even as she falls for her spirited handmaiden, Sook-Hee (Tae-ri Kim), who is tasked with conning her out of her inheritance. As both women make do with the hand life has dealt them, they discover passion in the shared struggle. —JD
1. “Bound” (dir. The Wachowskis, 1996)
Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly are still flooding basements as Corky and Violet in the lethally sexy “Bound.” The red-hot lovers are at the center of the sibling Wachowskis’ feature directorial debut from 1996 — a sleek and ferociously queer crime caper that bottled the filmmakers’ neo-noir aesthetic years before “The Matrix.” When a former inmate-turned-plumber outdoes as herself as the handywoman [wink] for a mafioso’s bored girlfriend, their explosive chemistry sparks an idea for a dangerous scheme.
The double-crossing of Caesar (Joe Pantoliano) may not be on wheels like the antics of Bonnie and Clyde, or even Thelma and Louise, but the suspense of the Wachowskis’ sharp script paired with the claustrophobia of a Chicago apartment winds up wonderfully oppressive. Spectacular bursts of passion and comedy — particularly from a revved-up henchman played by Christopher Meloni — pepper air that’s otherwise heavy with romance.
Effortlessly steamy, the film’s unforgettably lesbian leads and controversial use of full frontal nudity almost got it stuck with an NC-17 rating. That’s a testament to the talent of the Wachowskis, Gershon, and Tilly: a lightning-strike creative team that even being obvious about it make a exquisite sapphic art from the act of seducing you. —AF