It has been very visible in the media that the sexualities of men are more represented compared to females. The celluloid did not have many portrayals of the L in LGBT. However, in a report by GLAAD, there is a growing improvement in the representation of lesbian characters. It is reported that there is a six percent surge in the broadcast of lesbian characters on television. With cinema, it has proved to be an important tool to portray and document the struggles and triumphs of the community. Recently, Helma in a new Scooby-Doo film has been sketched as a lesbian character, who gets dumbstruck meeting Coco Diablo, a female designer.
Animated projects like these can help children and adults to get sensitized about sexual orientations. Off the screen, there are many out-and-proud lesbians like Ellen DeGeneres and her better half Portia de Rossi, Holland Taylor, Jodie Foster, activist Angela Davis, and more. Apart from the off-screen presence of these firebrand lesbians, there have had been an exploration of lesbian relationships on screen. We have curated the Top 10 films that explore female love:
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10) Desert Hearts (1985)
The 1985 Donna Deitch-directed ‘Desert Hearts’Â did not center itself on the non-acceptance and politics of love aspect, but it goes ahead and prioritizes the love between the protagonists. The story is adapted from 1964 Jane Rule’s ‘Desert of the Heart.’
The film is about Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver), a prim and poised English professor from New York who comes to Reno, Nevada to find respite till her divorce. She is a guest at her friend’s ranch where she gets infatuated with Cay Rivvers (Patricia Charbonneau), an out lesbian, casino girl. Unlike many post-Stonewall films, it has a happy ending.
9) The Miseducation Of Cameron Post (2018)
In 1973, American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses. However, the conservatives see it as an illness. This has led to numerous cases of conversion therapy episodes that were gruesome. One such experience is portrayed in Desiree Akhavan’s ‘The Miseducation Of Cameron Post.’
The film stars Chloë Grace Mortez in the titular role, who is sent to a conversion therapy center called ‘God’s Promise’ for getting caught kissing a girl. In the center, she comes to terms with the person she is not. It is a pre-coming-of-age story where you are treated as an ill person for something very intimate and personal at a vulnerable point in life.
8) Heavenly Creatures (1994)
Another film based on a real-life incident, ‘Heavenly Creatures’ is dark in its treatment of this lesbian crime drama. Peter Jackson helms this psychological thriller with unbelievably brilliant performances of Kate Winslet as Juliet Hume and Melanie Lynskey as Pauline Parker.
The story follows the murder of Pauline’s mother when she prevents her to go to South Africa with Juliet. But the establishment of the premise is intricate and put forward in a better manner. The emotionally unstable girls glee over the similarities they share. Both of them create an imaginary world for themselves with their dreary fictional characters in it.
7) The Kids Are Alright (2010)
Lisa Cholodenko’s ‘The Kids Are Alright’ is a humorous take on the reoccurrence of the biological dad’s post-insemination process. Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Bening) are an LA lesbian couple with a dysfunctional family. They have a daughter, Joni conceived via artificial insemination, and a son Laser.
The conflict point comes in the story when Joni is insistent on knowing her biological father when she comes to legal age. This leads to the entry of Paul (Mark Ruffalo), who creates chaos in the already chaotic household. After this, the film explores the change in the arc of Paul’s character and the turbulence it causes in Nic-Jules’ relationship.
6) Mulholland Drive (2001)
This David Lynch film explores realms of realities and dreams. The director placed the lesbian arc perfectly in this flick of desires, lust, love, and fame. The film is centered around a struggling actor Betty Elms (Naomi Watts), who meets Rita (Laura Harring). Fate or maybe a ‘fatal’ accident brings them together.
Betty is a blonde who has arrived in town living in her aunt Ruth’s apartment. Rita is a sumptuous brunette who gets into an accident after she suspects of her murder. After the accident at Mullholland Drive, Rita and Betty meet. The audience and the actors forget the lines between the dream and reality.
5) Pariah (2012)
One of the most important films for the community, ‘Pariah’ explores the dichotomy of the coming out process. It is the story of Alike (Adepero Oduye), a girl belonging to a humble and church-going family, who comes to terms with her sexuality. The parents are aware of their being lesbian, but they have shrugged the reality under the carpet.
She meets a butch lesbian named Laura. Alike’s mother does not like Laura and desires her daughter to be with Bina, a child of church-going parents. However, things take turns that validate Alike’s sexuality.
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4) My Summer Of Love (2004)
A delicate tale of teenage love over one summer, ‘My Summer of Love’ is a story exploring religion, class, and lesbian relationships. Mona (Natalie Press), a 16-year-old girl, has to overlook the pub which is an heirloom from her parents to her and her brother, Phil. He comes back from prison and decides to turn the pub into a religious center.
Mona, frustrated, leaves the place and reaches Yorkshire town and meets Tamsin (Emily Blunt). The film revolves around the girls finding refuge in each other’s company and arms away from the family struggles. The director perfectly paced the film whilst their attraction.
3) Carol (2015)
The 1952 Patricia Highsmith novel ‘The Price of Salt’ is the inspiration behind the film. In ‘Carol’, emotion triumphs and the story explores the process of falling in love. It is a story about a recent divorcee Carol (Cate Blanchett) and a young shop assistant who is aspiring to be a photographer, Therese(Rooney Mara).
What follows is the deepening of connections and Carol’s present, unhappy marriage problems surfaces.
2) Blue Is The Warmest Colour (2013)
This French film directed by Kechiche won a Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. ‘Blue Is The Warmest Colour’ is an intimate account of two young girls with different personalities falling in love. This lesbian love story involves an introverted young girl Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and the blue-haired girl she falls for Emma (Léa Seydoux).
This detailed tale does not miss any emotion of the actresses right from a frown to a smile to their intimate moments. The film has mounted the story of two individuals in such a manner that when the two come together none of their social or economical backgrounds matter. What matter is just the love and intimacy captured in this lesbian drama!
1) Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2020)
People and critics praised the film for its aesthetics and slow-burning love between the leads. This Cannes film explores the relationship between Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) and Marianne (Noémie Merlant). Héloïse is to get married to a Milanese nobleman. Her mother commissions an artist, Marianne to draw her portrait for it to be sent to Milan.
‘Portrait Of A Lady On Fire’ is set in the 18th century that follows the journey of self-discovery, the acknowledgment of someone’s attraction. The delicate and early-stage story of love turns out to be a tale of aching and longing.
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