50 of the best LGBTQ+ movies 🏳️🌈
There are plenty to enjoy!
Last updated 7th Jun 2022
June is Pride Month and to celebrate we're taking a look at the best LGBTQ+ movies. Throughout the history of cinema, there have been gripping and ground-breaking LGBTQ+ films – stories taking in the lives, history, and experiences of people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, pansexual and beyond.
And with every passing year, the rich tapestry of bold, funny and fearless queer cinema grows: we’re living a golden age of LGBTQ+ filmmakers having increasing opportunities to tell their own stories – whether specifically about the LGBTQ+ experience or not – resulting in greater on-screen representation, and allowing more people than ever before to see themselves in the movies they love.
Our friends at Empire have hand-picked a selection of the greatest films that tell LGBTQ+ stories, or that come from LGBTQ+ filmmakers – contemporary, historical, factual, fictional, fantastical, or futuristic.
Take a look at our 50 favourite LGBTQ+ films:
50) The Living End (1992)
"Fuck The World." The motto of The Living End's protagonists might stand as a slogan for the whole of filmmaker Greg Araki's career. A key shitkicker in the early '90s New Queer Cinema movement, Araki took a baseball bat to hetero-normative culture and explored gay life on the margins during Bush's administration in films by turns funny, frank and anguished. The Living End is his best picture, a so-called 'gay Thelma & Louise', as film critic Jon (Craig Gilmore) and drifter Luke (Mike Dytri), both diagnosed as HIV-positive ("the Neo-Nazi Republican final solution," says Jon about AIDS), kill a homophobic cop and go on the lam, offing any bigot who stand in their way. Rather than pity themselves, these characters unleash their nihilism on the world, tempered by a kind of freewheeling anarchy and enhanced by Araki's eye-catching images and jump cuts. As the film's dedication puts it, it's a punch in the gut to "a Big White House full of Republican fuckheads".
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49) Go Fish (1994)
Made in 1994 – the same year as Clerks – Rose Troche's sweet, sexy, perceptive look at the love lives of Gen X lesbians in Chicago sees Guinevere Turner play Max, who begins dating Ely (V.S. Brodie), an older, more reserved vet's assistant. In many ways, Go Fish's importance lies in what it doesn't show. It's a rare early '90s gay film in which no-one dies or traumatically comes out. Instead, these women – plus Max's mate Kia (T. Wendy McMillan), her divorced lover Evy (Migdalia Melendez) and Daria (Anastasia Sharp), Ely's thirsty roommate – are well-adjusted and funny as hell. But don't just marginalise Go Fish's impact on queer cinema – it's also a key film in the then-burgeoning US indie scene, grossing $2.4 million from a paltry budget of $15,000.
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48) Beach Rats (2017)
Eliza Hittman's second film is an intimate portrait of internalised homophobia and toxic masculinity, the combined force of which sends Frankie (a brilliant breakout from future star Harris Dickinson) into a tailspin. By day, he stalks the sun-drenched Coney Island boardwalk with his group of toned, tank-top-wearing, tough-guy friends, swimming, playing ballgames, and smoking weed. By night he finds himself drawn to the BrooklynBoys website, looking for men to hook up with – something he can't reconcile with the life and the friends he currently has. It's a hypnotic and complex work that expertly externalises the conflict and confusion in Frankie's head, with an ambiguous ending that offers plenty to ponder come the credits. It's all lensed in gorgeously grainy photography that not only captures Frankie and friends' honed male bodies, but the raging turmoil hiding under that idealised surface.
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47) But I'm A Cheerleader (1999)
A queer cult classic that has continued to grow in significance since its 1999 release, Jamie Babbit's satirical romantic comedy But I'm A Cheerleader is a joyfully bold, bitingly clever examination of heternormativity. Natasha Lyonne burst onto the scene as Megan, a seemingly perfect teenager and closeted lesbian sent to conversion camp, when her parents figure out her sexuality before she does. The camp is ineffective, as it becomes a place for Megan to surround herself with other kids figuring out their identities, and to get together with edgy, proud lesbian Graham (Clea Duvall). Babbit's use of lurid pinks and blues are a cartoonish backdrop for the film's hilarious interrogation of gender norms, the on-the-nose nature making its point about how ridiculous society's expectations are around sexuality all the more salient. Over two decades on, as the effort to ban conversion therapy drags its feet, But I'm A Cheerleader is still as relevant as ever.
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46) Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
Perhaps the peak of the 'McConaissance', which saw Matthew McConaughey shed his romcom persona in lieu of far more hard-hitting roles, Dallas Buyers Club is inspired by the real life story of Ron Woodroof. Given a surprise diagnosis of AIDS and just thirty days to live, Ron begins trafficking an unapproved but more effective drug from Mexico, clashing with the US government and the FDA along the way. Pitched very much as an antihero, Woodroof is shown as toxically homophobic before his illness, developing empathy for fellow gay and trans patients across the film. McConaughey and supporting actor Jared Leto swept the boards during awards season for their performances – and while it falls into the trap of centering its story on a straight male character and casting a cis male actor in a trans role, the film itself sensitively portrays a key story within the wider AIDS crisis.
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45) I Am Divine (2013)
Immortalised in the films of John Waters and beyond, Divine was a drag icon – an outrageous, confrontational, boundary-breaking star with an indelible impact on pop culture. Jeffrey Schwarz's documentary tells the story of the man behind the make-up – Harris Glenn Milstead, who went from a religious upbringing to become the face of self-proclaimed 'trash cinema'. It's a glorious celebration of Divine's life, from her early days watching Bergman movies on LSD and walking the drag balls of Washington, before going on to shock the world in the likes of Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble, become a recording artist (who even appeared on Top Of The Pops, to much controversy), and eventually desire more mainstream acclaim and approval in Hairspray. All that, and it frames Divine as a pioneer who preceded the trends of punk, disco and techno before they hit big, and reveals the very human vulnerability behind the scandalous persona.
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44) The Miseducation Of Cameron Post (2018)
Conversion therapy isn't new ground for LGBTQ+ cinema, but Desiree Akhavan's take on one of the most insidious forms of homophobia blends drama, comedy, and an intimate indie sensibility in a film that wittily raises a cocked eyebrow at their ridiculous practices, without undermining the pain and harm they cause to those forced to enter them. After being caught making out with a girl on prom night, Cameron (Chloë Grace Moretz, at her very best) is shipped off to conversion camp 'God's Promise', where she meets all kinds of teens – some trying to 'recover', some in denial, and some who do what they need to in the hope they'll get to go home one day. Co-stars Sasha Lane and Forrest Goodluck are exceptional, and whilst there are plenty of moments of levity, it's horrifying to realise that this incredibly damaging practise still hasn't yet been banned in the UK, as well as many US states.
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43) Happiest Season (2020)
Films with LGBTQ+ protagonists still feel few and far between – but a Christmas movie with queer leads? Even rarer. Clea Duvall corrected that in 2020 with the funny and festive Happiest Season, which follows couple Harper (Mackenzie Davis) and Abby (Kristen Stewart) as they visit Harper's family home for the holidays. The only problem? They don't know she's gay. Stewart is magnetic, putting her jumpy energy to perfect use in the romcom setting, and an excellent supporting cast including Daniel Levy as Abby's friend John, Alison Brie as Harper's sister and Aubrey Plaza as an ex-girlfriend mean every plot strand is engaging and entertaining. Though it centres on a reluctant coming out story – a trope we've seen a lot of – it does so in a particularly uplifting way, and a scene where John reassures Abby about Harper's struggle with being honest is one for the ages.
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42) The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert (1994)
One of the quintessential drag queen movies, Stephan Elliott's Australian road flick became an international crossover hit – a hilarious and heartfelt comedy-drama about a trans woman and two drag performers travelling across the Outback in a tour bus. It's the bus, in fact, that is the Priscilla of the title – a vehicle which needs regular repainting (most strikingly an all-pink makeover) to cover up the homophobic abuse scrawled on its side, as the gang encounter friendly Aboriginals and some less-friendly townsfolk as they travel from Sydney to Alice Springs. If you wouldn't cast Terence Stamp as trans woman Bernadette today, Priscilla boasts great performances from Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce – the trio absolutely turning it out in their iconic lip sync performance of CeCe Peniston's 'Finally', and hitting all the dramatic beats as the story uncovers revelations about their personal lives and relationships.
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41) Stranger By The Lake (2013)
The winner of the Queer Palm award in 2014, Alain Guiraudie's elegant, incredibly watchable film is a provocative combination of Hitchcock thriller, doomed love story, and perhaps the best-acted gay porn flick ever made. It all takes place at an out-of-the-way cruising spot on the stony shores of a lake and charts the relationship between Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) and Michel (Christophe Paou). Franck observes Michel drowning a man, but is so consumed with him that he lies to the cops. Smart, explicit (the skin on skin action is unsimulated but used body doubles) and wickedly funny, it's a film about the darker end of desire and the impulses we just can't resist. A fixture in most critics' top tens of that year, it's a taut piece of storytelling that has the unique quality of being at once cold and heart-breaking at the finale. A must see.
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40) The Boys In The Band (1970)
Based on Matt Crowley's 1968 off-Broadway play, The Boys In The Band is a landmark in LGBTQIA cinema (co-incidentally it is also perhaps the first mainstream American film to drop the c-bomb). Populated by the original stage production cast, the action is set in the apartment of Michael (Kenneth Nelson) who is throwing a bash for friend Harold (Leonard Frey). As they await the arrival of the birthday boy, Michael's straight college buddy Alan (Peter White) unexpectedly turns up and creates a fissure in the group. Directed by William Friedkin, who later directed a more questionable depiction of gay life in Cruising, the film's place in history is ensured as the first major studio picture to tackle homosexuality head on. If it subsequently divided the community for its characters' sense of self-loathing and repression, it sails by on top flight bitchery, fluid filmmaking and serves as an important time capsule capturing what it meant to be gay in late '60s America. No The Boys In The Band, no Brokeback Mountain, no Milk. It's that important.
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39) Rafiki (2018)
Tales of star-crossed lovers from opposing families are as old as time, but Wanuri Kahiu's Rafiki is unique – groundbreaking, even – in transporting the story to a lesbian romance in Nairobi. It's an even more powerful statement considering homosexuality is still currently illegal in Kenya, and Rafiki was banned there due to its "clear intent to promote lesbianism". Audiences elsewhere were treated to the simple but sweet story of Kena (Samantha Mugatsia) and Ziki (Sheila Munyiva), who catch each other's eye during an election in which their fathers are rivals. What Rafiki lacks in screenplay finesse, it more than makes up for in striking visuals – Christopher Wessels' cinematography is one of the standout elements, capturing a Kenya doused in pinks and purples, with pops of colour everywhere from Ziki's braids, to bright blankets on a washing line, to shelves of aubergines at a market.
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38) Power Of The Dog (2021)
This is Benedict Cumberbatch as you've never seen him before. He stars as Phil, a rancher who grows apart from his brother George (Jesse Plemons) when he falls for the sweet, melancholy Rose (Kirsten Dunst, on incredible form). Tension builds when Rose's son Peter (a mesmerising Kodi Smit-McPhee) moves in, as Phil's masculinity is tested and secrets uncovered. With this simmering, slow-burn Western, Jane Campion retains her status as one of our finest directors, her inimitable skill in depicting tactile sensuality unmatched. The queer themes here take their time to be revealed, but they do so in a third act that will leave you reeling.
37) Appropriate Behaviour (2014)
It can be rare to find examples of explicitly bisexual characters in LGBTQ+ cinema, which is why Desiree Akhavan as a filmmaker, and particularly in her debut feature, offers such vital representation. Appropriate Behavior follows Brooklyn-dwelling Shirin (Akhavan herself) through a series of sexual encounters with both men and women, sometimes even simultaneously, as she tries to get over her breakup with ex-girlfriend Maxine (Rebecca Henderson). Coming from a traditional Persian family, Shirin keeps her bisexuality hidden from her parents, though perhaps not successfully. As she says, "they know that I know they know". Fairly plotless – more like a snapshot of a life – Akhavan's bone-dry humour, understated acting, and razor-sharp writing here showcases her as a queer auteur for the future.
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36) Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
Based on the tragic story of the death of transgender man Brandon Teena, Kimberly Peirce's Boys Don't Cry is a vital but difficult watch. It charts Brandon's (played here by a short-haired, androgynous Hilary Swank) move to small town Falls City, where he connects with beautiful karaoke singer Lana (Chloë Sevigny) and finds a small group of friends – the only problem is, they don't know that Brandon was born in a female body. As he says, using the language of the day, he is going through a 'sexual identity crisis'. The film has faced criticism for using a cisgender actor and for its depiction of transphobic violence – but Swank's Oscar-winning performance is extraordinary, and the most harrowing moments serve as reminder of the danger and persecution transgender people still face today.
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35) Philadelphia (1993)
Jonathan Demme's drama was a landmark – the first mainstream Hollywood movie to depict the AIDS crisis. Tom Hanks delivers an Oscar-winning turn as Andrew Beckett, a high-flying gay lawyer who's abruptly discarded from his law firm when the senior partners discover he has AIDS. He teams up with Denzel Washington's homophobic attorney Joe Miller to fight back, taking the firm to court over his dismissal. Screenwriter Ron Nyswaner is himself a gay rights activist, which permeates through his work – and in Philadelphia, he delivers a deeply affecting story that at the time served to put a human face (and, in Hanks, a major household name at that) to the harrowing headlines. Watching today, it's hard to stomach Miller's unpalatable homophobia, but Demme's film also offers a beautiful portrayal of Beckett's extended family who love and support him unconditionally.
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34) The Death And Life Of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)
When Marsha P. Johnson, a black trans woman, was found dead in July 1992, the police ruled it as suicide with minimal investigating. Except, among the LGBTQ community of which she was such a significant member, her friends and chosen family say there's no way she took her own life. As its title suggests, David France's documentary is partly a celebration of Marsha's life – being one of the key leaders of the original Gay Rights movement and the foundation of Pride in the wake of the Stonewall riots – and also an investigation of her death, as activist Victoria Cruz sets out in the present day on a renewed mission to dig further into the circumstances of her passing. It's often a tough watch, but packed with rich history that should be more widely-known – a powerful document that attests to the fact that Black trans lives matter.
Watch now on Netflix
33) Weekend (2011)
Romantic moments with real staying power aren't always the big, bombastic ones. Smaller moments can be just as effective – drunken revelling, or pillowtalk at sunrise. Andrew Haigh's Weekend understands that – it's a small film on an even smaller budget, but the dent it leaves on the heart is sizable. Tom Cullen is Russell, an introverted gay man struggling to be open about his sexuality. He takes the far more confident Glen (Chris New) home one night; then, despite only having two days before Glen moves away, they spend the weekend together. Filmed in long takes, subjective close ups, and in guerilla style on trams and in crowds, Weekend is an incredibly intimate look at the politics of gay relationships, and how even the most brief interactions can change your life for the better.
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32) Orlando (1992)
There are few depictions of gender fluidity on screen both as somewhat abstract and completely literal as in Sally Potter's Orlando. In her adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel, the titular protagonist lives for over 400 years, never ageing a day, beginning life as a man of nobility, and becoming a woman somewhere along the way. And who better to play that role than Tilda Swinton, bringing her ethereal androgyny to a person who evolves with the times while retaining their core identity, no matter how they present on the outside. "Same person. No difference at all," says Orlando, having just woken up with a female body. "Just a different sex." Potter's film is both sumptuous costume drama and slyly modern subversive comedy, Orlando regularly breaking the fourth wall to lock eyes with the audience – particularly in the piercing final shot, which sees Swinton stare straight down the lens, unblinking, for 20 solid seconds. Breathtaking.
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31) Milk (2008)
If it bears all the hallmarks of Oscar-friendly awards-bait, Gus Van Sant's biopic of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, is still a highly effective piece of work. Sean Penn won Best Actor for his lead performance, and deservedly so – the physicality, charm, and passion he brings to the role are utterly convincing of Milk's ability to lead a San Francisco revolution. Protests and activism appear often in gay cinema, but the stakes feel particularly big here as Harvey challenges the religious fervour and overt homophobia of the 1970s to protect LGBTQ+ people in their homes and jobs. One of the most striking lines comes at the close, after – spoiler for well-documented history – the chilling scene of his assassination: "If a bullet should enter my brain, let it destroy every closet door".
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30) Disclosure (2020)
Executive produced by Laverne Cox, Netflix's documentary about the history of trans representation on screen is an eye-opening watch – not only for revealing how pervasively trans and gender-fluid people have been depicted on film and TV as psychos, murderers, and objects of ridicule, but for showing that they've been on screen for as long as cinema has existed. Featuring interviews with the likes of Cox herself, Trace Lysette, Candis Cayne, Tiq Milan, Lilly Wachowski and more, it offers a comprehensive overview of the deeply damaging and dehumanizing portrayals of trans people in the media through time – not as a means of cancelling the past, but in reconciling what's gone wrong, and pushing for a more understanding and representative future. And in the likes of Pose and Orange Is The New Black, it reveals, that change is already underway. A must-watch.
Watch now on Netflix
29) Hedwig And The Angry Inch (2001)
After originating the story on the stage (co-created with Stephen Trask), John Cameron Mitchell brought his rock musical to the screen as writer, director, and lead star. Hedwig is a German singer trying to survive and make it as a musician, while the 'Angry Inch' of the title refers to the flesh that's leftover from her bungled gender confirmation surgery. A talented musician, Hedwig's songs are hits – but they're stolen by her ex-partner Tommy, leaving her and her band (The Angry Inch) to tour rundown restaurants instead. If the film was a commercial flop at the time, it's now a cult favourite for its stirring punk-rock musical numbers, its thoughtful navigation of gender, sex, and identity, and its unique human creation myth, as sung in 'The Origin Of Love'.
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28) Supernova
If there's two actors you can rely on to deliver the kind of soulful, heart-wrenching performances that leave you completely bereft when the credits roll, it's Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci. In Harry Macqueen's Supernova they play Sam (Firth) and Tusker (Tucci), a couple who go on a road trip to visit family ahead of Sam's upcoming piano recital. Tusker is suffering from early onset dementia – the pair's shared history that Macqueen so impeccably weaves through the script is beginning to fade from memory, leading to a devastating decision. Set against beautiful autumnal landscapes of the Lake District setting, and with two of the lead actors' best turns yet, Supernova is a quiet, tender, extremely moving drama that always stays on the right side of sentimentality.
Buy now on Amazon UK.
27) Pariah (2011)
Alike (Adepero Oduye) is a poet. She is also living a double life. She spends her nights out at gay clubs with her friend Laura (Pernell Walker) wearing masculine clothing and trying out strap-ons. She takes it all off on the bus home, donning earrings and transforming into an acceptable form of femininity so that her devoutly religious parents can maintain their sense of denial and ignorance regarding her sexuality. The debut film from director Dee Rees, Pariah is semi-autobiographical, with Rees drawing from her own experience of coming out to her parents – though she did so later in life than her protagonist. It was a standout hit when it premiered at Sundance in 2011, and its quiet, realist style makes it feel all the more intimate and intoxicating.
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26) And Then We Danced (2020)
"There's no sexuality in Georgian dance," teacher Aliko (Kakha Gogidze) tells his class in the opening moments of Levan Akin's glorious debut. It's met with sniggers; this is a group of young people with sex on their minds. Merab (a remarkably engaging Levan Gelbakhiani) is one of them – after dancing with partner and almost-girlfriend Mary (Ana Javakishvilli) for a decade, he is unnerved by the arrival of handsome rogue Irakli (Bachi Valishvili). Realising he's competing against Irakli for a place in the National Ensemble, Merab also develops feelings for him – something especially challenging to deal with against the backdrop of a toxically straight Tbilisi. Fairly conventional in its plot, it's the explosive dance scenes and interrogation of masculinity in Georgian culture that makes And Then We Danced so powerful.
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25) Bound (1996)
Before they made The Matrix, the Wachowski sisters wrote and directed their calling-card film, Bound – a slick and stylish crime thriller built around an empowering lesbian relationship. Gina Gershon's Corky is the just-out-of-prison ex-con who falls into the orbit of Jennifer Tilly's seductive Violet, who's desperate to be free from the clutches of Joe Pantoliano's tempestuous mob affiliate Caesar. Together they hatch a plot to frame Caesar and escape with a caseload of cash – but pulling it off won't be so simple. It's a twisty and entertaining ride that leans playfully into the erotic thriller milieu, steeped in as deep a knowledge and love of genre as the rest of the Wachowskis' filmography, and featuring an iconic and indelible heroic duo in Violet and Corky.
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24) Fox And His Friends (1975)
Fox (played by director and co-writer Reiner Werner Fassbinder) is broke, but about to win 500,000 German marks on the lottery and enter the world of the snobby elite. Charming but naive, he falls for Eugen (Peter Chatel), a slimy sophisticate who sees an opportunity to fleece Fox of his fortune by getting him to invest in his father's business. Brazen in its rampant male nudity and with no homophobia in sight, Fox And His Friends feels ahead of its time in its sharp dissection of social mobility and complex gay characters, whose sexuality is important to the story in some ways, but doesn't define them or the film.
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23) Pink Flamingos (1972)
The partnership of John Waters and Divine resulted in a string of shocking, taboo-busting, cult classics gleefully designed to provoke maximum outrage. Pink Flamingos, made on a $10,00 budget, was their break-out after a string of even lower-fi productions like Mondo Trasho and Multiple Maniacs – and revels in its own deification of all things deplorable. Divine (aka Harris Glenn Milstead) plays Babs Johnson, labelled as the 'filthiest person alive' by a tabloid paper. But her title is soon jeopardised when couple Connie and Raymond Marble indulge in a slew of despicable acts to try and take the mantle. Cue a contest to see who can be the 'filthiest' in a film that pitches itself as 'an exercise in poor taste', a towering inferno of trash bursting with murder, mutilation, masturbation and more, all culminating in an infamous incident of real-life coprophagia (don't Google it).
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22) Love, Simon (2018)
American teen rom-coms have occasionally featured LGBTQ+ characters in supporting roles – but it wasn't until Greg Berlanti's Love, Simon that they got to be the protagonist. Nick Robinson is Simon, a closeted teen who comes out as gay via email to anonymous fellow student 'Blue'. When it leaks to the school, Simon is forced to navigate the emotional fallout. What's so special about Love, Simon is how utterly mainstream it is – all the beloved high school movie tropes are here, but finally viewed through a non-straight lens. It's an incredibly charming, loveable film, buoyed along on a heart-pumping soundtrack from Jack Antonoff. There are still significant leaps to be taken – including having an openly LGBTQ+ actor take on a lead role in a gay love story. But for here and now, Love, Simon is a bold, big-hearted step forward. As Simon says: "I deserve a great love story."
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21) A Single Man (2009)
With fashion designer Tom Ford in the director's chair, it's unsurprising that A Single Man oozes style from every shot. Based on Christopher Isherwood's novel, it features Colin Firth as George Falconer, a lecturer left grief-stricken after losing his partner Jim (Matthew Goode) in a car accident. The films spends the day with him as he contemplates suicide, meeting a range of characters along the way; Julianne Moore evokes gin-fuelled glamour as best friend Charley, and Nicholas Hoult is blue-eyed and baby-faced as enamoured student Kenny. Lit primarily in dreary sepia tones, it's only when George feels something that colour floods back in, matching the warm flashbacks to his memories of Jim – the tanned orange skin and full red lips of handsome men remind him that there is much left to live for.
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20) The Hours (2002)
Spanning three different time periods, The Hours uses Virginia Woolf's story of Mrs Dalloway to link three female characters: Woolf herself (Nicole Kidman), as she writes the novel; Laura (Julianne Moore), a depressed wife and mother struggling with domestic life; and Clarissa (Meryl Streep), a lesbian woman struggling to prepare a party for old friend Richard (Ed Harris), who is dying of AIDS. The three are linked by a fluid sexuality, but it's the notion of keeping up appearances whilst unravelling inside that truly binds them. Each is grappling with how to live a life they actually want, even if it is found outside of the ones they're currently locked within. A challenging watch at times, it still feels rare to see the dark side of women's internal experiences given such room to be explored.
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19) Beautiful Thing (1996)
As the initial devastating wave of the AIDS crisis began to subside, Hettie MacDonald's warm-hearted Brit-flick showed a more open and positive side to gay life in London that didn't end in death or tears. Jonathan Harvey's warm and witty script follows closeted young men Jamie (Glen Berry) and Ste (Scott Neal) living on a council estate in Thamesmead, slowly coming to terms with and acting upon their feelings for one another – backed by a cast of colourful characters, including Jamie's loving mum Sandra, and hard-partying neighbour Leah (Tameka Empson), whose obsession with the music of Mama Cass and The Mamas And The Papas lends a sweet soulful soundtrack to the whole affair. Beautiful Thing coincided with a new era of acceptance and openness around sexuality, a time capsule of a film that still stands up today.
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18) Pain And Glory (2019)
It's common for films about LGBTQ+ characters to slot into the 'coming of age' category; to feature young people getting to grips with their sexuality, often for the first time. Legendary director Pedro Almodóvar's Pain And Glory takes a different approach – this is a gay man looking back at his life, rather than about to embark upon it. Antonio Banderas delivers a career-best performance as Almodóvar alter-ego Salvador Molla, an aging filmmaker reconciling with the work, love, and family relationships of his past, and driven to retirement by the severe health issues that plague his body. The carefully coordinated, colourful visuals are a signature of the auteur director, and the script ambles on at a gentle pace, delivering tension, wit and drama in equal measure. Plus, the final shot is a genius rug-pull that adds a whole new meaning to an already masterful piece of auto-fiction.
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17) Water Lilies (2007)
Or, 'Portrait Of A Synchronised Swimmer On Fire'. The feature debut of writer-director Celine Sciamma follows tomboyish teen Marie (Pauline Acquart) who becomes transfixed by the older, seemingly more experienced Floriane (Portrait's Adele Haenel, terrific), the team captain of The Stade Francais Swimmers. It turns out what is great about Sciamma now was all present and correct from the get-go – she invests what could have been a trite coming-of-age tale with sensitivity yet intensity, evoking a tangible desire as these adolescents find out who they really are. Like Portrait, Water Lilies is a film of beautifully judged restraint, both in the attraction of its leads – it's all about snatched glances and oblique conversations – and its perfect painterly palette. And the synchronised swimming metaphor – perfectly poised on the surface, all tumult and churning underneath – couldn't be more apt. A minor masterpiece and an essential insight into one of the most exciting filmmakers working today.
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16) The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
At the intersection of punk, glam, and kitsch you'll find The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jim Sharman's screen adaptation of the stage show that gave us Tim Curry's none-more-iconic performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania. A cult hit that became the benchmark for audience-participation screenings, Rocky Horror is a parodic homage to '50s sci-fi horror B-movies, drenched in a punky spirit, glorious camp, and undeniably queer visuals. Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) and Barry Bostwick (Brad Majors) are the innocent lovers who find themselves stranded on a dark, rainy night, taking shelter in a castle which holds the very opposite of straight, white, uptight America. 45 years later its riotous legacy lives on, inspiring audiences to unleash their own inner camp in raucous sing-along screenings, leaving the crowds shivering with antici… … … …pation.
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15) My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
Class, capitalism and clean clothes are at the centre of Stephen Frears' My Beautiful Laundrette, the movie that announced Daniel Day-Lewis as an acting legend and received both a BAFTA and Oscar nomination for Hanif Kureishi's screenplay. Gordon Warnecke stars as Omar, a young London lad given a business opportunity in the form of a dingy laundrette by his Pakistani uncle Nasser (Saeed Jaffery). After running into old friend Johnny (Day-Lewis), the two rekindle their affair whilst working together to relaunch the place. There's tension everywhere – between racist white Brits that feel dismay at any sign of immigrant success, between Omar and his family's expectations of him, between the two lovers facing complications in their past – but it's all delivered in a kind of mischievous, screwball manner that comes together to form an innately British classic.
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14) A Fantastic Woman (2017)
Mirrors are inescapable in Sebastian Lelio's Oscar-winning A Fantastic Woman; protagonist Marina (Daniela Vega) is a trans woman, and she is confronted with her own reflection time and time again. Following the sudden death of her partner Orlando (Francisco Reyes), Marina is forced to deal with violence and transphobia from the family he had before her. In one terse encounter, Orlando's ex-wife Sonia (Aline Küppenheim) says that when she looks at Marina, she sees "an illusion. That's it". Leilo uses illusions and magical realism to enhance the storytelling throughout – a gravity-defying sequinned dance number in a nightclub, and a sequence in which Marina battles to walk against gale force winds. Most memorable is a mirror propped between her legs, showing us her face rather than what lies underneath – a reminder that how Marina sees herself in her reflection is what matters most.
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13) The Watermelon Woman (1996)
The first film by a Black lesbian director, The Watermelon Woman is all about telling your own story and defining your own history when there are no existing examples to be found. Written, directed, and also starring Cheryl Dunye as a version of herself, the film blends a standard narrative with faux documentary segments, invented archival material, and interviews with talking heads – a style dubbed hereafter as the 'Dunyementary'. It chronicles Cheryl's attempt to make her first feature film, where she uncovers the identity of Fae Richards. A fictionalised Black actress from 1930s Hollywood, Fae too was gay, and had only ever been credited as the 'Watermelon Woman' of the film's title. Funny, sexy, intelligently crafted and with beautifully authentic performances, Dunye's debut feels urgent, timely and timeless, even decades after it was made.
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12) The Handmaiden (2016)
For a film that is, in part, about finding the person who turns your entire world upside down, it's fitting that Park Chan-wook's epic erotic thriller features multiple massive rug-pulls and mid-narrative twists, revealing that everything that came before was not quite what it seemed. Based on Sarah Waters' British-set novel Fingersmith, the initial plot sees orphaned pickpocket Sookhee (Kim Tae-ri) hired by conman Count Fujiwara (Ha Jung-woo) to act as handmaiden to the Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee), and convince her to marry the Count so that he can claim her wealth. What starts as just a job for Sookhee becomes much more complicated as she falls in love and lust with their target – and, as it turns out, her and the Count are not the only ones with a secret agenda. Highly sensual, with dreamy visuals and the signature dry wit of Korean cinema, The Handmaiden is an epic example of a film where the lesbian romance is just one cog in a wildly entertaining machine.
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11) Call Me By Your Name (2017)
It launched the Timothée Chalamet standom. It made everyone want to book an Italian holiday. And it made sure audiences never looked at peaches in quite the same way ever again. Luca Guadagnino's story of teenage longing stars Chalamet as Elio, who falls for research assistant Oliver (Armie Hammer) when the latter comes to work with his father (Michael Stuhlbarg). Their relationship is fractured at first, with Elio harbouring a crush and struggling to speak his mind, but sparks soon fly as it becomes clear that Oliver feels the same way. Full of iconic imagery, heart-wrenching needle drops from Sufjan Stevens, and chemistry so tangible you can almost feel it radiating heat from the screen, this coming-of-age story charts the whole cycle of young love, all the way from initial infatuation to tearful grief. Such a shame that the summer, inevitably, had to end.
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10) Tangerine (2015)
Few films in recent years have been as vital and vibrant as Sean Baker's raucous comedy-drama, set across a sun-drenched Christmas Eve in Hollywood. Fresh out of a short prison stint, Sin-Dee (a riotous performance from Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) learns from her friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor) that her boyfriend-slash-pimp Chester (James Ransone) has been cheating on her. Cue a madcap, near-mythical odyssey through the streets of Hollywood to track him down and confront him. Baker's much-vaunted method of shooting entirely on the iPhone 5S (albeit with specialist lenses) adds a vérité feel to proceedings – but his approach is also totally cinematic and stylised, with a blaring synth soundtrack and colourful aesthetic that lends a heightened feel to the whole thing. Rodriguez is an endlessly entertaining lead, while the film's third-greatest character is LA itself – Baker conjuring a sense of place that perfectly complements Sin-Dee's story. A total ride.
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9) Rebel Dykes (2021)
At one point in Harri Shanahan and Siân A. Williams' documentary, one of their subjects says "You know… we were very naughty." With antics including BDSM club nights, abseiling into the House of Lords and chaining themselves to the BBC news desk – yeah, "naughty" just about covers it. Rebel Dykes is a powerful, riotous portrait of the activists fighting for queer women's rights in London in the 1980s, pushing back against Thatcher's anti-LGBTQ+ policies and homophobia spurred on by the AIDS epidemic. Told through brilliantly frank interviews, grainy raw footage and scrawling illustrations, it excellently captures the punk spirit of a much-underseen, extremely significant subculture in British queer history. A must-watch.
8) Pride (2014)
A significant number of LGBTQ+ stories on screen culminate in tragedy. If not a total fairytale, Brit-flick Pride is not only incredibly uplifting – it's also about people going out of their way to uplift each other. Writer Stephen Beresford adapts the true story of Mark Ashton (here played by Ben Schnetzer) and the Lesbians And Gays Support The Miners campaign – a political movement that saw a London-based group of LGBTQ+ activists throw their weight behind a small Welsh mining town facing the plight of the miners' strikes in Thatcher's Britain. Their presence and determination wins over a formerly-sheltered community, who reciprocates in backing the fight for gay rights. While there are moments of hardship through the story, it's ultimately heartwarming and frequently hilarious, preaching the power of organising and collaborating to fight for what's right – all bolstered by an incredible ensemble cast, featuring George MacKay, Andrew Scott, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy, and more.
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7) 120 BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017)
Music pounds at a nightclub in Paris. Strobe lights flicker, turning the revellers into stop motion dancers. The camera focuses on dust particles floating in the air; it zooms closer until they morph into spiky molecules of the virus that devastated LGBTQ+ communities throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. 120 BPM follows AIDS activist group ACT UP! as they pressure government and medical companies alike to take action against the virus, as well as educating young gay people about how to protect themselves. Director Robin Campillo was a member, and it shows – the group meeting scenes are particularly exceptional, with the unrelenting dialogue providing insight into what it takes to enact change. Full of life, death and pure euphoria, 120 BPM is a vital reminder of the power of the protest.
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6) Brokeback Mountain (2005)
It should have been the first LGBTQ+ love story to win Best Picture at the Oscars. But if the much-maligned Crash (which won out instead) has largely faded from memory, Ang Lee's sumptuous, heartbreaking, achingly beautiful romance has only grown in stature. Jake Gyllenhaal and the late, great Heath Ledger are at their best as Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar – sheep herders working on Brokeback Mountain, Wyoming who develop a romantic and physical connection in the early '60s. When they go their separate ways, each pursues a heterosexual relationship, but their love for each other lasts for decades, always bubbling away under (and sometimes over) the surface. Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana's screenplay is deeply emotional, while Lee perfectly pitches Jack and Ennis' tempestuous feelings against the ravishing rural landscape. The result is an unforgettable gay love story that captured the hearts and minds of the world at large, where the mere sight of a shirt can provoke floods of tears.
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5) Carol (2015)
After locking eyes from across a department store, soon-to-be divorcee Carol (Cate Blanchett) and aspiring photographer Therese (Rooney Mara) develop an intense connection that blooms into a forbidden romance. Todd Haynes' adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel The Price Of Salt is a sensory delight; full of the tactile touches of leather gloves and woolly hats, its warm colour palette and smooth, melancholic score thoroughly embodying the vintage time setting. The two lead actresses are magnetic, and feel at once like equals and opposites – Carol is more assured when it comes to life and her sexuality, whereas Therese seems to be discovering everything for the first time. Though she didn't actually win the Best Actress Oscar in 2015, Carol stands as one of Blanchett's most mesmerising performances.
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4) God’s Own Country (2017)
Set in rural Yorkshire, the stark, rugged landscape of God's Own Country acts like a third lead character in Francis Lee's debut – you can practically feel the blistering cold on your fingertips, the squelching soil underneath your feet. Johnny (Josh O'Connor) is a farmer used to numbing his emotions with alcohol and casual sex, and is feeling under pressure to maintain the family business as his father (Ian Hart) falls into ill health. When Romanian migrant worker Gheorghe (Alex Secareanu) arrives, Johnny struggles to accept his attraction to him – but as they grow closer, Gheorghe gets past Johnny's defences, and their relationship grows into one of quiet acts of kindness. Providing respite from the typically tragic end to stories like this, the film's visceral exterior of farming life and repressed masculinity eventually gives way to a tender hopefulness underneath.
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3) Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2020)
"Do all lovers feel as though they are inventing something?", Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) asks Marianne (Noémie Merlant), as she delicately turns Marianne's face towards her own. With Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, it certainly feels as though writer-director Céline Sciamma has invented a cinematic love language unlike anything seen before. Sent to paint Héloïse without her knowing so that she can be married off to a Milanese gentleman, Marianne ends up falling for the mysterious subject of her work herself. Their romance builds quietly, expressed through stolen glances and the Greek tale of Eurydice; like him, they choose to look at the one they love, no matter the cost. With a faultless screenplay, dazzling cinematography from Claire Mathon, and a final shot that leaves you gasping for air, Portrait is nothing short of a masterpiece.
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2) Paris Is Burning (1990)
The impact and legacy of Paris Is Burning and the scene it depicts cannot be understated. Jennie Livingston's documentary is an indelible document capturing the height of the New York underground ballroom scene – a world of glamour, trophies, drama, and community, where on the one hand there are rules, and on the other anything goes. Paris Is Burning contains the voices and stories of pioneering members of the LGBTQ+ community – the likes of Pepper LaBeija, Angie Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey, Willi Ninja, and more – who created their own form of family, culture, and celebration of self in a world that largely rejected them, and while facing the height of the AIDS crisis. The result is both an absolute snapshot in time, but also something immortal – the essence of Paris Is Burning lives on today in the likes of Pose and RuPaul's Drag Race, TV shows which in turn are bringing more LGBTQ+ stories to audiences worldwide. Vogueing, walking categories, drag houses, shade, reading – it all began in the ballrooms, and it's all there in Paris Is Burning.
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1) Moonlight (2017)
For all that Barry Jenkins' stunning Oscar-winning drama is deeply cinematic, Moonlight is perhaps as close as narrative film comes to poetry – incredibly lyrical in its imagery, dialogue, and characterisation. Told across three distinct time periods, it tells the story of Chiron – a young, black, gay kid growing up in Miami with a crack-addicted mother, referred to as 'Little' as a child, then as 'Chiron' as a teen, and eventually as 'Black' when he's an adult – charting his development, his sexual awakening, his search for a father figure, his first sexual encounter, and beyond. Jenkins never sensationalises the drama, but as each chapter gives way to another, the audience sees Chiron change considerably, quietly revealing how those deeply impactful moments reverberate through his life and manifest in his ever-changing identity. For all the moments of toughness, Moonlight is an incredibly tender work – deeply emotive, deftly navigating the intersecting forces of masculinity, Black identity, and sexuality that shape Chiron over the course of his young life. It's gorgeously shot by James Laxton, and boasts a trio of brilliant performances from Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Travante Rhodes as the three incarnations of Chiron. Moonlight is not only a masterpiece – it's a Hollywood game-changer too, becoming the first LGBTQ+ film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. It couldn't have deserved it more.
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