Movies for and about WLW (short for women-loving women) have become less and less scarce in recent years. More than just bait-and-switch lesbians or psychotic sapphics, WLW characters today are no longer as flat nor as few and far between, deservedly stepping out of subtext and into the limelight. It’s an on-screen trend that I’m hoping to see more of alongside growing off-screen support.
But even as we prep the popcorn and enjoy the WLW movies listed below, it’s important to remember how it took us a while to get here — and why.
A Brief History of WLW Movies
To better understand just how far WLW movies have come, it’s important to note that queer women (and queer people in general) have been present in films since the medium was invented over 100 years ago.
But between then and the 1980s, prejudice and censorship meant that many early WLW movies no longer exist today, and those that did survive had to hide WLW characters and themes in subtext. Others, unfortunately, used queer women as cautionary tales for a straight audience.
For instance, cinema’s first lesbian character appeared on the big screen back in 1929 with Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s Pandora’s Box. The German silent film told the story of Lulu, a woman whose sexuality leads to trouble for herself and those around her — including one Countess Geschwitz, Lulu’s tuxedo-wearing lesbian admirer.
Her existence meant that the film was heavily censored in different countries. In France, for example, the film was edited to make the Countess one of Lulu’s childhood friends instead of a romantic interest.
Josef von Sternberg’s Morocco premiered in America a year later, and featured what’s regarded as the first scene where a lead actress kisses another woman in film. The lead actress was Marlene Dietrich, herself a bisexual woman, who played a cabaret singer named Amy Jolly. Dressed in a man’s tailcoat and a top hat, Dietrich’s Amy Jolly kissed a woman in the cabaret audience — to the latter’s embarrassment.
But it wasn’t until the year after that, in 1931, when we see cinema’s first explicitly lesbian story in Leontine Sagan’s German drama Mädchen in Uniform. In this early WLW movie, Manuela is enrolled at an all-girls boarding school run by an iron-fisted headmistress. There, she falls in love with one of her female teachers.
Local authorities initially banned the movie for viewing among young audiences, but later Nazi leaders tried to destroy copies of it, though this was more because of its anti-authoritarianism than the lesbianism.
After these early examples, it would be decades before WLW characters could happily make it back on the big screen. By 1934, Hollywood imposed a set of industry guidelines known as the Hays Code, which stayed in effect until 1968.
Aside from profanity and graphic violence, the Code also forbade explicit depictions of homosexuality. During this time — and arguably, for some of the years that followed — the only LGBT representations in film were heavily coded to avoid being censored. Many queer characters were also straightwashed.
Why WLW Movies Typically Don’t Have Happy Endings
A side effect of the censorship imposed by the Hays Code was that the queer characters who did manage to make it on the silver screen were often subjected to tragic storylines. “Look what being homosexual will get you,” the films seemed to say, “death.”
(And I mean this literally: In the 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet, there is a whole montage of queer characters dying on screen throughout the 20th century, including a scene where a lesbian is crushed by a falling oak.)
For the longest time, there were simply no happy endings for lesbians and WLW, as we see most clearly in 1961’s The Children’s Hour. Directed by William Wyler and featuring Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine, the film centers on two teachers accused of being in a lesbian relationship — except only one of them is really a lesbian, and (spoiler alert!) she dies here, too.
By the 1960s, support for the Hays Code waned with the rise of the sexual revolution, and the Code was officially lifted in 1968. It was replaced by the new Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) film rating system. This new system has received some well-deserved criticism, but it is, at the very least, not as explicitly homophobic as its predecessor.
Despite the change in self-regulation systems, however, Hollywood still needed a couple of decades to come up with its first film featuring a lesbian happy ending and to truly start producing WLW movies. Part of it is probably because producers were afraid to test the waters too much following decades of censorship. The other part is that, as with LGBT rights in real life, LGBT representation in film is primarily focused on gay men.
Fortunately, much has changed in the years since. Today, we can create a pretty long and ever-growing list of great WLW movies to watch on your next cozy night in.
The Best WLW Movies (And Which Streaming Service to Watch Them In)
Desert Hearts (1985) – HBO Max and YouTube
- IMDb: 7.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
In 1985, director Donna Deitch changed cinema forever when she released Desert Hearts, the first mainstream movie with a positive portrayal of lesbianism and a happy ending for its WLW characters. The film features Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver), an English professor and soon-to-be divorcee who moves to Reno and falls in love with free-spirited Cay Rivers (Patricia Charbonneau).
Bound (1996) – Prime Video
- IMDb: 7.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
The Wachowskis may be best known for their work on The Matrix (1999) and its sequels, but the trans sisters made their debut three years earlier with the neo-noir crime thriller Bound. The film stars Jennifer Tilly as Violet, who hatches a plot to escape her mafioso boyfriend Caesar alongside Gina Gershon’s Corky, an ex-con and (very cute) handywoman.
The Watermelon Woman (1996) – Hulu
- IMDb: 7.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Cheryl Dunye’s The Watermelon Woman is the first feature-length film focusing on Black lesbians directed by a Black lesbian. It’s also an insightful commentary on race, women, and film history. In the film, Dunye plays Cheryl, an aspiring filmmaker looking into the history of a Black actress known only as “The Watermelon Woman.”
But I’m a Cheerleader! (1999) – Prime Video
- IMDb: 6.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 42%
A fun and campy rom-com, Jamie Babbit’s But I’m a Cheerleader! follows Megan (Natahsa Lyonne), a cheerleader who is sent to a conversion camp because her parents suspect that she is a lesbian. Megan doesn’t think she’s a lesbian at all, but when she meets fellow camper Graham (Clea Duvall), she realizes her parents might just be right. RuPaul (yes, Mama Ru herself) also plays Mike, an “ex-gay” who helps run the camp.
Saving Face (2004) – Prime Video
- IMDb: 7.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 87%
In writer-director Alice Wu’s debut film Saving Face, Wil (Michelle Krusiec) is a closeted lesbian in a budding romance with her boss’ daughter, a dancer named Vivian (Lynn Chen). Wil can’t tell her widowed mother, Hwei-lan (Joan Chen) about any of it, but she does have to live with her when her conservative grandparents kick her mother out for being pregnant at 48.
Cloudburst (2011) – Prime Video and Hulu
- IMDb: 7.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
Starring Academy Award Winners Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker, Thom Fitzgerald’s Cloudburst follows elderly lesbians Stella and Dotty, who are on a road trip to Canada after Stella helps Dotty escape from her nursing home. The film has garnered plenty of accolades, with Fricker, who plays Dotty, describing Cloudburst as a highlight in a long and successful career.
Carol (2015) – Prime Video
- IMDb: 7.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
The quintessential Christmas film for queer women, Todd Haynes’ Carol is a period drama based on the novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith. Set in Manhattan in the 1950s, the film is an achingly gorgeous romance led by Rooney Mara, who plays aspiring photographer Therese, and Cate Blanchett, who plays the older, glamorous, and, unfortunately, married Carol.
The Handmaiden (2016) – Prime Video
- IMDb: 8.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
In this lush and gripping film, director Park Chan-Wook transports Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith from Victorian-era Britain to Japanese-occupied Korea. The film follows the story of Sook-Hee (Kim Tae-ri), a pickpocket involved in a scheme to defraud a lonely Japanese heiress named Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee). But trouble brews when she falls in love with her instead.
Disobedience (2017) – Hulu
- IMDb: 6.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 84%
Most queer women — especially those of us coming from religious backgrounds, like the protagonists of Sebastián Lelio’s Disobedience — are familiar with forbidden love. But Rachel McAdams and Rachel Weisz, who play Esti and Ronit, respectively, embody it with such delicious tension that it’s hard to look away.
The Favourite (2018) – Prime Video
- IMDb: 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite is another 2018 film starring Rachel Weisz, this time as part of a fiercely funny trio with Emma Stone and Olivia Colman. The darkly comedic period film explores the competitive relationship between cousins Sarah Churchill (Weisz) and Abigail Masham (Stone), as they jockey to be the favorite of Queen Anne (Colman).
The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) – Hulu
- IMDb: 6.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
Desiree Akhavan’s coming-of-age film The Miseducation of Cameron Post features Chloë Grace Moretz in one of her best performances as the titular Cameron, a young woman forcefully sent to a Christian conversion camp after she’s caught making out with her school’s prom queen. The story is set in the ‘90s, but given the fact that conversion therapy remains legal in many countries today, the film’s message of quiet defiance, kinship, and hope are still very much needed.
Booksmart (2019) – Netflix
- IMDb: 7.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
In Olivia Wilde’s fantastic directorial debut, best friends Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) are hoping to end their high school experience with a bang — cramming four years of missed opportunities to have fun with their peers into one night. They’re also trying to be braver and finally talk to their respective crushes, with Amy pining after a girl named Ryan.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) – Hulu
- IMDb: 8.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Portrait of a Lady on Fire, written and directed by Céline Sciamma, is a two-hour feast for the eyes. This absolute treat of a lesbian film is also wonderfully acted by Noémie Merlant, who plays the painter Marianne, and Adèle Haenel, who gives life to Héloïse, a woman about to be married off to an Italian nobleman. As the audience, we know this romance is doomed to fail, and the characters know it, too — but their love is no less special for it.
The Half of It (2020) – Netflix
- IMDb: 6.9/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
It took Alice Wu 16 years to make her sophomore film after Saving Face, and Netflix’s The Half of It was definitely worth the wait. It has most of what you’d expect from a high school movie: the jock, the geek, and the popular girl. But when footballer Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer) asks introverted writer Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) to ghostwrite love letters to Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire) in a modern-day queer version of Cyrano de Bergerac, chaos ensues.
The Happiest Season (2020) – Hulu
- IMDb: 6.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Part of the growing genre of queer Christmas films, Clea DuVall’s The Happiest Season tells the story of happy couple Abby (Kristen Stewart) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis), who are heading to Harper’s family home for the holidays. There’s just one problem: Harper’s family members have no idea she’s a lesbian. Co-stars Aubrey Plaza and Dan Levy also periodically — and delightfully — steal the scene.
Anaïs in Love (2021) – Hulu
- IMDb: 6.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
In Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s Anaïs in Love, the titular Anaïs (Anaïs Demoustier) meets and starts an affair with Daniel (Denis Podalydès), a man old enough to be her father. But soon, she also meets — and eventually falls for — Daniel’s wife Emilie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), a novelist whose work draws her in. Though Anaïs herself is a little hard to like, the film is still very entertaining.
Do Revenge (2022) – Netflix
- IMDb: 6.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 84%
High school is hard enough as it is, but for Drea (Camila Mendes) and Eleanor (Maya Hawke), it’s vicious — and they’re out to get revenge on each other’s tormentors. The premise of Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s Do Revenge is a lot of fun, but the movie is also chock-full of hilarious line deliveries from its leads and the scene-stealing Sophie Turner.
Crush (2022) – Hulu
- IMDb: 6.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 76%
In Sammi Cohen’s high school rom-com Crush, aspiring artist Paige (Rowan Blanchard) is forced to join the track team to avoid being suspended for painting murals on campus. She didn’t actually paint the murals, but the punishment helps her get closer to Gabriela (Isabella Ferreira), her long-time crush, as well as Gabriela’s sister AJ (Auliʻi Cravalho), whom she finds herself falling for.
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) – Prime Video
- IMDb: 6.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
A stormy night, a power outage, a remote mansion, and a sensational ensemble cast — Halina Reijn’s Bodies Bodies Bodies is a smart black comedy slasher film that manages to explore issues of class, gender, age, and the perils of the digital age, all while entertaining us in a thrilling survive-the-night whodunit. The film centers around girlfriends Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) and Bee (Maria Bakalova), who attend a lavish and deadly party hosted by Sophie’s friend David (Pete Davidson).
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) – Hulu and Prime Video
- IMDb: 8.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
It may not be something everyone would consider a lesbian movie per se, but Everything Everywhere All At Once is very likely the movie of 2022, and it’s about a Chinese-American immigrant named Evelyn (the fantastic Michelle Yeoh) and her angsty gay daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu). Written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the film deftly blends genres and themes like existentialism, absurdism, nihilism, family, and Asian-American identity.
The Best WLW Short Films
If you don’t have the time or energy to sit through the feature-length films above (and some do run for over 2 hours!), then that’s okay. Here are some short films featuring WLW characters and stories that you can enjoy instead.
Together Forever (2014) – YouTube
Written and directed by Kris and Lindy Boustedt, Together Forever is a simple short film about a lesbian couple, marriage equality, and creating special moments in the everyday.
March (2018) – YouTube
“What if you weren’t allowed to go outside anymore?” asks one woman to her lover at the start of Valerie Bisscheroux’s March. For those of us on the other side of 2020, it feels like a reminder or a vague threat, but she means it as an adventure, as the film was shot back in 2018. The sweet short film featuring partners Flo and Daan in their home in Amsterdam was created in just two days for the 48-Hour Pink Film Project.
Two of Us (2019) – YouTube
In Franck Tabouring’s Two of Us, Amanda (Zoey Moses) and Sophia (Marlies Bauer Bell) are at a crossroads. The two have been enjoying their relationship in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, but now it’s time to go back to their everyday lives, and Amanda is not quite ready to be seen as her true self.
Night Drive (2019) – YouTube
Canadian actor, YouTuber, and singer Keara Kristen Graves created this film as a follow-up to the music video of her song “Break up with your boyfriend, I’m bored.” In Night Drive, we catch up with Heidi and Maia two years later, when Heidi finally breaks up with her boyfriend Travis and pays a visit to Maia.
Searching for the Wave (2022) – YouTube
In Chelsea Muscat’s Searching for a Wave, Faye is reeling from the sudden disappearance of her partner Ava, who leaves her without a trace. The film is shot gorgeously and explores themes of queer love, heartbreak, and trauma.
Second Team (2022) – YouTube
Ria Pavia’s Second Team is a hilarious and unexpected short film about recent exes Jackie and Molly, who still have to spend time together on set as stand-in actors for a sitcom where they play best friends.
Frequently Asked Questions about WLW Movies
Where Can I Watch Good Lesbian Movies?
Most streaming services include LGBT and lesbian movies in their roster. Though Netflix has a few WLW movies you might enjoy, we find that Hulu and Prime Video tend to have more WLW films available to stream.
What’s the Best Lesbian Movie?
The answer to this question is pretty subjective, and the final choice of the best lesbian movie is really up to you and what you think is important in WLW movies — whether it’s a breathtaking sapphic romance, a study of raw queer heartbreak, or an adventure that just so happened to have girls kissing in it.
Sure, you can base your answer on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes ratings, or decide with your friends or a partner. But the best way to figure it out is to try and watch as many WLW movies as you can, and the list above is definitely a good place to start.
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An engaging article that takes us on a nostalgic journey through the history of WLW movies and the enduring impact they have had on our hearts. It’s remarkable to see how these films have captured the essence of love and resonated with audiences over time. While we reminisce about beloved WLW movies, it’s fascinating to consider how technology has evolved, shaping the way we consume and connect with cinematic experiences. Speaking of technology, it’s worth noting that in today’s digital era, Laravel web development has become a go-to choice for building dynamic and efficient web applications. With its elegant architecture and extensive ecosystem, Laravel empowers developers to create captivating user experiences while ensuring scalability and maintainability. As we celebrate the cherished history of WLW movies, let’s also appreciate the advancements in technologies like Laravel web development that enable us to bring our stories to life in new and exciting ways.
WLW movies have a rich history spanning decades. From coded subtexts in the 1930s to more explicit portrayals in the 1990s, these films have challenged stereotypes and promoted inclusivity. Recent standout films include “Pariah,” “The Handmaiden,” and “Rafiki,” which have made a significant cultural impact. The rise of video streaming apps like Netflix and Hulu has provided a platform for WLW movies, increasing accessibility and amplifying marginalized voices. As streaming app development continues, the future of WLW movies looks promising, with even more diverse and authentic storytelling on the horizon.