Women in Films

astrid, 27 this is a blog reviewing films, tv shows, and books featuring wlw

[womeninfilms]

The Favourite

Year: 2018

Length: 1h 59min

Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama

Language: English

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Starring: Olivia Coleman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult, Mark Gatiss, Joe Alwyn, James Smith

Story: At the beginning of the 18th century, Queen Anne (Olivia Coleman) is Queen of Great Britain. She is in poor health and relies on her companion and best friend, Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz). Sarah not only is Anne’s friend, the two women are also having an affair. When Sarah’s cousin Abigail Masham (Emma Stone) joins them at court and discovers their secret, she begins working on taking Sarah’s place.

Pros:

The costumes: I have probably never seen costumes that are more beautiful. Every detail fits perfectly, from Queen Anne’s nightgowns to Sarah’s riding outfits. If Sandy Powell doesn’t win an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, I’ll be very surprised. 

Incredible detail: The historical details in the film are so accurate that when you read up on Queen Anne it feels like reading a summary of the movie’s plot. It is even a historical fact that Anne and Sarah were in a relationship. Moreover, Queen Anne is one of the lesser known queens. She’s not as famous as, for example, Queen Elizabeth I, and it’s nice to have a movie about a queen and a time period that’s not constantly being made into a film.

The ambiguity: I’ve talked to a couple of people about who they were rooting for, Sarah or Abigail. This question is not easily answered, which makes the film so great. There is no black and white, no good and evil. At the beginning of the movie, Sarah is unnecessarily cruel towards Abigail, who is, after all, related to her, and you are rooting for Abigail to triumph over Sarah. As time passes, Abigail gains more and more power (also by literally seducing Anne), and even tries to poison Sarah. From then on, it’s much easier to root for Sarah, since Abigail also becomes mean towards Anne when she gains power. This ambiguity helps to keep the film entertaining until the last minute.

Sexual orientation isn’t an issue: The main plot of the movie is not the love story between Anne and Sarah and/or Anne and Abigail. Instead, it tells the story of these three women and the intrigues and betrayals that connect them. When Abigail tears Sarah and Anne apart, she doesn’t do it because she’s homophobic, but because she sees an opportunity to gain power. Homophobia, generally, isn’t an issue in the movie and it’s refreshing to watch a historical drama where the women aren’t separated under the pretense of religion or because it was punishable by law to be in a same-sex relationship.

Cons:

It’s a bit disgusting: This isn’t a negative thing per se, it’s not like the movie relies on fart jokes to make it work. But there is a lot of vomiting going on throughout the whole movie, so if that’s something you cannot see, then please be cautious of that when watching The Favourite.

Homophobia: 0/10 – There is no homophobia in this movie.

Violence: 0/10 – There is no physical violence against characters because of their sexual orientation.

Ending: Abigail manages to take Sarah’s position next to Anne. In the end, she convinces Anne that Sarah stole money from her and Anne has Sarah banished. However, Anne realises Abigail’s cruelty and begins treating her like a servant.

Sexual orientation: This isn’t a topic in the movie at all. Anne’s husband is already dead when the movie starts. Of course, there cannot be made any judgement concerning her sexual orientation, since women during that time had to marry men. Sarah is married to John Churchill (Mark Gatiss) and she is in love with him. But she is also in love with Anne. It doesn’t seem as if she is only sleeping with her to remain in her powerful position at court. Abigail, on the other hand, is also very sure in her attraction to men, but seems to be pretending to be in love with Anne to advance at court.

[womeninfilms]

Colette

Year: 2018

Length: 1h 51min

Genre: Biography, Drama, History

Language: English

Director: Wash Westmoreland

Starring: Keira Knightley, Fiona Shaw, Dominic West, Robert Pugh, Eleanor Tomlinson, Denise Gough, Aiysha Hart

Story: The film tells the story of French writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Keira Knightley), starting with her marriage to fellow writer Henry Gauthier-Villars, known as Willy (Dominic West). Willy soon discovers Colette’s talent and has her write the stories of Claudine, a young schoolgirl, then passes the books off as his invention. The novels, based on Colette’s life, are an immediate success and Willy gets all the praise for them. Stifled by this arrangement, Colette turns to Mathilde de Morny, called Missy (Denise Gough), a noblewoman who begins identifying as a man.

Pros:

19th century Paris: The movie is set at the turn of the century in Paris, the perfect setting for a sapphic love story. Of course, there is no straightforward love story, but the set design and the costumes are all very beautiful. Colette’s outfits in particular are very memorable.

Colette: It is a joy to watch Colette free herself from her husband. She doesn’t have a sudden awakening that makes her turn around and not tolerate her husband’s abuse any longer, but she is a headstrong character from the get-go. Willy is much older than she is (he used to be in the army at the same time her father was), but she has set her mind on marrying him. When she starts to realise her attraction to women, she doesn’t hesitate and tells her husband the truth. Finally, she sues Willy to gain back ownership of the Claudine novels.

Missy: Missy’s story is handled incredibly well. When Colette meets Missy, Missy identifies as a woman. The film follows their story over several years. During that time, Missy starts identifying as a man. Colette is not bothered by this, she starts calling Missy by her preferred pronouns (he/him) immediately and corrects everyone who doesn’t. How Missy identifies is never an issue for Colette or a problem in their relationship.

Cons:

Colette and Missy’s love story: The movie spends a lot of time on Colette and Willy. We don’t see their initial meeting. However, the film spends time building up their relationship: There are scenes before they get married and the first part is mostly about them trying to navigate their lives. Colette also only sleeps with a woman after Willy gives his permission. In contrast, there is hardly any time spent on developing the love story between Colette and Missy. We are supposed to believe that they love each other very much, but there are hardly any scenes showing that they do.

Willy’s abuse: Willy is not outright abusive to Colette (i.e. he doesn’t hit her), but watching this movie gives you the feeling that they tried to make him as unlikeable as possible. He spends all his money on alcohol and prostitutes, he doesn’t want to have sex with Colette because he had sex all day with other women, and when Colette sees another woman (with his permission), he immediately seduces this woman. It is actually surprising that it takes Colette as long as it does to leave him and sue him for the rights to the books he forced her to write.

It’s quite slow: This isn’t a bad thing, but please keep in mind that this is a biography more than it is a sapphic love story. Colette and Missy meet about halfway through the film (although Colette sleeps with another woman before that), and then their relationship isn’t really developed. However, it is a beautifully shot historical drama, so if you’re into these kinds of movies, I would definitely recommend checking out this one.

Homophobia: 4/10 – Even though the Parisian society shown in this movie seems to be more tolerant and open than the society we live in today, there are still some homophobic scenes. Missy used to be married to a Russian and when Missy and Colette put on a show at the Moulin Rouge, they are attacked by friends of Missy’s ex-husband, who throw stuff at them and use slurs to insult them.

Violence: 4/10 – Apart from the incident mentioned above, there isn’t much violence in the movie, if you don’t count Willy oppressing his wife for years.

Ending: Willy loses the legal battle with Colette and has to give her the rights to the Claudine novels. Colette and Missy stay a couple and Missy travels with her while Colette tours the country as a dancer.

Sexual orientation: Colette can be read as bisexual. She is definitely attracted to men (she is in love with Willy at the beginning of the movie and she also enjoys having sex with him very much), but she also recognises her attraction to women for what it is and acts on it without going through the five stages of grief first. Missy, even though having been married to a man, seems to be exclusively attracted to women.

[womeninfilms]

Tell it to the Bees

Year: 2009

Length: ~ 340 pages

Language: English

Written by: Fiona Shaw

Story: Lydia Weekes lives with her husband Robert and her son Charlie in a small British village during the 1950s. After her husband leaves her for another woman, she starts to befriend one of the village’s doctors, Jean Markham. The two women fall in love, but Robert tries to prevent that by taking Charlie away from Lydia.

Pros:

Historical fiction: The book is set during the 1950s and deals with the topic of what it was like for women to be in love with each other. I’m a big fan of historical fiction, so I loved this book a lot. It’s not written with as much detail as Sarah Waters’ novels, but it gives you a good feeling of the time. Lydia, for example, works in a factory where she has to build radios because after WWII they became more and more popular.

Class differences: The book also addresses the topic of class differences. Lydia is from the working class, albeit a wealthier part. Her father wanted her to marry a somewhat wealthy man who would be able to provide for her, but she married Robert instead. Jean is from the middle class. She was able to go to university and get a degree as a doctor, she lives in a big house, and even drives a car. When Jean offers Lydia the possibility to live with her and look after the house, Lydia is very unhappy because she is well aware that people will never see her as Jean’s partner, only her maid.

The aesthetic: There is a lot to love about the book where the aesthetic is concerned. Jean lives in this big house, she keeps bees, she makes honey, she takes Lydia and Charlie to a small cottage at the sea side. Lydia cycles everywhere she goes and she loves to read. After finishing the book, you will want to move to a small cottage in the English countryside where you keep bees and maybe a cow in the garden. It just feels very comfortable.

Cons:

The ending: The big finale of the book is about Robert taking Charlie away from Lydia after he finds out that she is in love with another woman. He doesn’t do this because he wants the best for Charlie but because he wants to hurt Lydia. There is nothing Lydia and Jean can do because although a relationship between two women wasn’t punishable by law – a relationship between two men was – they would still lose everything if Robert were to tell the public about their relationship. In the end, they are only saved because Robert’s niece needs a doctor after performing an abortion and Jean is the one who looks after her. This seems like the easy way out. Without the abortion, Lydia would have lost her son.

Charlie’s point of view: About one fourth of the book is told from Charlie’s point of view, especially in the beginning. This makes it hard to get into the book, especially because he is a ten-year-old boy and his train of thought isn’t always easy to follow. 

Homophobia: 3/10 – There isn’t a lot of homophobia in the book. Both Lydia and Jean wonder sometimes if what they are doing is wrong and they try to keep their relationship a secret, which is especially hard for Lydia. Robert’s sister also spreads rumours about the two, which causes Jean to lose a lot of patients. But when Robert takes Charlie away, he doesn’t do it because he’s homophobic but because he wants to hurt his ex-wife.

Violence: 0/10 – There is no physical violence against characters because of their sexual orientation.

Ending: Jean and Lydia get Charlie back and the three of them move to Italy to start a new life there. The last chapter is set 20 years later: Charlie comes back to the village to visit his father and tells him that Jean and Lydia are still a couple and still live happily in Italy.

Sexual orientation: Jean, most likely, is a lesbian. She was engaged to a man once, but she wasn’t in love with him or attracted to him, so she broke off the engagement. Until she meets Lydia and falls in love with her, she never considers that she could be attracted to women. She definitely isn’t interested in men though. Lydia is bisexual. She had a boyfriend before meeting Robert and she was also in love with Robert at the beginning of their marriage. She is attracted to men, but when she meets Jean, she also recognises her attraction to another woman. It is even Lydia who initiates their first kiss.

[womeninfilms]

Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?

Year: 2016

Length: 1h 26min

Genre: Thriller

Language: English

Director: Melanie Aitkenhead

Starring: Emily Meade, Leila George, Nick Eversman, Ivan Sergei, Tori Spelling, James Franco, Amber Coney

Story: Leah (Leila George) is a young woman in college, who is interested in acting and spending time with her girlfriend Pearl (Emily Meade). When Leah is cast as the titular character in Macbeth, she becomes more confident and decides to introduce Pearl to her mother Julie (Tori Spelling). Julie isn’t too happy about Leah having a girlfriend and tries to sabotage the relationship when Bob (Nick Eversman), a guy who is obsessed with Leah, starts feeding her lies about Pearl. What no one knows, however, is that Pearl is actually a vampire.

Pros:

Sapphic vampires: Of all the mythical creatures I like vampires best, so a movie about sapphic vampires is the best thing that can happen to me. This movie is exactly about that. It’s about Pearl falling in love with a human and not wanting to bite her because she doesn’t want to condemn her to lead a cursed life as a vampire. It’s a similar story to all the straight vampire stories out there, which makes it such a great asset to the canon of vampire movies.

Reversal of roles: Leah is in a literature class where they discuss monsters in books and films and how the monster is often seen as “queer” and has to be killed to establish heterosexuality. The movie takes this notion and turns it around. The monster (Pearl) is the good person in this story, while those who deviate from the norm and have to be punished are men who abuse and rape women. Pearl only kills abusive men who deserve it while saving innocent women from a horrible fate. This is an exact reversal of stories such as Dracula.

Cons:

It might be a porn film: The first thing I noticed that was off with this movie is the music. Even when it tries to be suspenseful it still sounds like something straight out of a bad porn film. Which brings me to the sex scenes and what leads up to them. Pearl is a photographer and she takes lots of sexy pictures of Leah, and these pictures often lead to sex. However, there are no explicit sex scenes until the last third of the movie when Leah and Pearl make up after Pearl tells Leah she’s a vampire. They have sex in a cemetery and this scene looks and feels a lot like a porn film. A couple of things could have been handled better in this regard.

The whole James Franco thing: The story is by James Franco and he also plays the theatre director in the film. Every scene with him is just incredibly weird. When Leah auditions for the role of Macbeth, he is on the fence at first, but when he sees her interacting with another woman (who touches Leah’s stomach and chest), he is suddenly on board with the idea. Later during rehearsals, they go through the scene with the three witches and the director plays music, which sounds exactly like the soundtrack, and has the three witches sexily dance around Leah, obviously enjoying the whole scene in front of him. What makes it even weirder is that Leah doesn’t feel uncomfortable with having her sexuality exploited like this.

Over the top violence: There isn’t a lack of violence in this movie. There are two attempted rape scenes, you see in great detail how a man’s wrists are slit with a razor blade, Bob drugs Leah’s drink and then tries to rape her, you see lots of bitten necks, Bob’s head is smashed with a statue and so on. The movie is quite cheaply produced, but they made sure to include lots of violent scenes with vast amounts of blood, so please don’t watch it if you’re not a fan of violent movies.

It’s not a good movie: I hardly ever write about a movie’s overall performance on this blog, but I have to say that this isn’t a good movie. The acting is average, the music, as mentioned, would be better placed if this was a porn film, the script could have used some editing, there is no character development apart from characters doing something contrary to what they did the whole movie, and the ending doesn’t make sense at all.

Homophobia: 3/10 – Leah’s mother struggles to accept her daughter’s sexuality. It’s mentioned that she is quite conservative, so this fits with her characters description. She’s not outright homophobic, but she often mentions she wishes Leah would bring home a boyfriend instead. Bob, who is obsessed with Leah, can’t deal with the fact that Leah is in love with someone else and even calls her a freak for being in love with a woman.

Violence: 4/10 – There is no outright violence against characters because of their sexual orientation, there are no homophobic attacks, for example, but Bob, who knows that Leah will never like him because she loves a woman, drugs her and then tries to rape her. He also tries to sabotage Leah’s relationship for the same reasons. And, as mentioned above, the movie is just violent in general.

Ending: The ending is inconclusive. Julie is killed by Bob and Leah smashes Bob’s head in return while Pearl takes care of three vampires who bullied her the whole movie. Then Leah convinces Pearl to bite her. Pearl mentions once that if a vampire bites their one true love, they are saved from being damned and will stay with this person for eternity. Leah wants Pearl to bite her for that reason, hoping she can save Pearl. But the audience never learns if Pearl is saved. Instead, there is a cut to a scene one year later which shows that the three vampires and Bob are still alive and then the movie is over.

Sexual orientation: Both Leah and Pearl only show interest in women. Their sexual orientation is never discussed. However, Pearl is most likely a lesbian because she had another relationship before Leah with the vampire who turned her, and this vampire was also a woman. Leah is aware that Bob has a crush on her, but she would never return his feelings. It’s not clear if she’s just not interested in Bob or in men in general, but it can be assumed that she is also a lesbian.

[lgbtqwriting-moved]

lgbtq+ writing blog recommendations

@bi-any-chance - I haven’t read his stories yet, but they both look very promising!

@bibliosapphic - lots of great book recommendations!

@gayprompts - if you follow this blog, you’re in for a wild ride of lgbt prompts in fantasy and fiction

@jamjarsthebook - the author of a book about two adorkable girls who fall in love. give her your support if you can!!

@lgbtqreads - looking for a nice book to settle down with? check out their archive!

@lgbtqwritingprompts - one of my personal favorites! I love all the creative and collaborative submissions people send in!

@nbwriting - good advice for if you’re looking to write a nonbinary character into your story

@sapphicauthor - what are you doing on lgbtq+ writblr if you’re not following this absolute sweetheart?? fix that right now!

@sapphicwords - adorably heartwarming prompts, quotes, and stories you won’t want to miss

@sensitivesapphic - some very cute, sweet, relatable posts about girls who like other girls that are very informative

@write-the-galaxy - a lovely gay and trans writer!

@zpstorywriting - oh lord, SO much relatable content it’s not even funny 

non-lgbtq-specific recommendations:

@writingwithcolor - amazing advice on how to respectfully write people of color into your stories

@writing-prompt-s - half of their prompts are on t-shirts. need I say more? 

@the-modern-typewriter - just all around classic writblr goodness

@womeninfilms - an archive of incredibly important information

well, that’s that! thank you for reading this post!

[womeninfilms]

The Passion

Year: 1987

Length: ~ 180 pages

Language: English

Written by: Jeanette Winterson

Story: Set at the beginning of the 19th century, the story focuses on two characters: Henri, who is a soldier in Napoleon’s army, and Villanelle, a woman in Venice who works at a casino. The first part of the book tells their separate stories, only to pick up the threat eight years later when they both meet in Russia and flee Napoleon’s army.

Pros:

The Queen of Spades: The book is split into four parts. While the first one focuses on Henri, the second tells the story of Villanelle and her life in Venice. This was my favourite part of the book, since it also includes the sapphic love story. Villanelle meets a mysterious woman and later has an affair with her while the woman’s husband is away on a business trip. Even though Villanelle enjoys her time with this woman, she also laments the fact that they are only having an affair.

Villanelle’s heart: Once Henri and Villanelle manage to escape from Napoleon’s army and return to Venice, Villanelle asks Henri to get her heart back from the woman she had an affair with. This part of the story is the most mystical, since Henri quickly realises that Villanelle is literally talking about her heart. When he breaks into the woman’s house, he finds a tapestry of Villanelle which is almost finished and later learns that, if the woman had finished it on time and embedded the heart in it, Villanelle would have been trapped by her forever. This element of the story adds a nice touch to a seemingly historical novel.

The depiction of gender: Villanelle dresses as both a man and a woman in the course of the story. When she first meets the woman she later has an affair with, she is dressed as a boy, but when she meets Henri she is dressed as a woman. She manages to fill out and is equally comfortable with both gender roles. The novel toys with the notion that gender is a construct, similar to Tipping the Velvet.

Real-life background: The book was inspired by Winterson’s affair with her literary agent Pat Kavanagh. Reading the book while keeping this bit of information in mind makes the story about Villanelle’s affair easier to understand. Kavanagh, who was married to an author, left him for Winterson, but later returned to him, inspiring Winterson to write this book about an older woman stealing the heart of a younger woman and trying to trap her while still being married to a man.

Cons:

Difficult to read: The book, even though quite short, definitely isn’t an easy read. I read the first 25 pages and then put it down for half a year before finishing it because it’s quite hard to get into. The story isn’t straightforward and heavily relies on imagery, often skipping whole months only to return to the original point in time in the next paragraph. This isn’t a negative thing as such, but keep in mind that the novel isn’t easy to read.

Not just a sapphic story: You also shouldn’t expect the main focus to be on the affair between Villanelle and the woman. It is a big part of the novel, but Henri’s story is equally prominent. So if you are looking for a novel focusing on the love story between two women, this book isn’t for you.

Homophobia: 0/10 – There is no homophobia in this book.

Violence: 0/10 – There is no violence against characters because of their sexual orientation.

Ending: Henri is locked up for murdering Villanelle’s husband. Villanelle tries to get him out of prison, but doesn’t want to be with him, even though she is expecting his child, so he refuses to leave. Meanwhile, Villanelle meets the woman again – she tells Villanelle that her husband might never return from searching for the Holy Grail and offers to pick up where they left off, but Villanelle refuses.

Sexual orientation: Villanelle is bisexual. She talks about having sex with men and women and enjoying both. The woman is also bisexual, since she chooses to have an affair with Villanelle, fully aware that she is a woman even though she is dressed up as a man when they first meet, but she also loves her husband and doesn’t want to leave him.  

[womeninfilms]

What Keeps You Alive

Year: 2018

Length: 1h 38min

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Language: English

Director: Colin Minihan

Starring: Hannah Emily Anderson, Brittany Allen, Martha MacIsaac, Joey Klein, Charlotte Lindsay Marron

Story: Jackie (Hannah Emily Anderson) and Jules (Brittany Allen) travel to a remote lake where Jackie’s family has a house. They want to celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary. However, things start to get weird when Jackie’s neighbour Sarah (Martha MacIsaac) appears and Jules finds out that her wife’s real name is Megan. Later, they go for a hike and Jackie pushes Jules off a cliff. Jules survives and tries to outwit Jackie who starts hunting her down.

Pros:

It’s a horror movie: The focus of the movie isn’t about Jackie and Jules being lesbians, but about Jackie’s attempts to kill her wife. It’s quite a good slasher movie and it would also have worked if they were a straight couple. There is nothing specific to the story which demands for them to be two women. Also, Jackie’s neighbours Sarah and her husband Daniel (Joey Klein) do not treat them any differently for being two women. However, the fact that they are two women sets the movie apart from similar horror films out there and is a welcome change.

It doesn’t take itself too seriously: The plot of the movie is very sinister. Jackie wants to kill Jules because their prenup promises Jackie a lot of money when Jules dies. Later, Jules also discovers that she isn’t the first woman Jackie is doing this to. Jackie is incredibly cruel to Jules (she tries to drown her, she threatens her, she ties her to the bed, she blames her for killing the neighbours) and Jules struggles to find a way out, often remembering how much in love they were. However, the movie is also quite funny sometimes, which takes the edge off it. In one scene, Jules hides from Jackie in the woods and Jackie calls out for her, tears running down her face. The next moment her face is stoic, and she curses before pretending to be crying again. Jules’ face journeys in that scene alone make the movie a must-see.

Nature vs Nurture: Jules is determined to find out why her wife is a psychopath. The most obvious solution is that she was mistreated by her father, also because Jackie mentions her father for the first time when they are on holiday. However, Jackie reveals to Jules that her parents were very loving people. It is in her nature to kill “what keeps her alive” (an idea her father put into her head while teaching her to hunt) – and killing Jules will keep her alive because she gets a lot of money. This is also a welcome change from other horror movies, which often take past abuse as an excuse for the evil characters to kill their victims.

Cons:

It’s really violent: As always, this isn’t negative as such, I’m just putting it here because people might not want to watch the film because of this. There isn’t a happy love story in this movie. Jackie and Jules are a cute couple for about 15 minutes before trying to kill each other. There is a scene where Jackie slits Daniel’s throat before cutting Sarah open and stabbing her multiple times. If you’re not a fan of horror movies, then you definitely shouldn’t watch this one. I’m quite squeamish and often close my eyes when I watch horror movies – I didn’t have to look away once during this one, so it’s not too bad, but Jackie’s treatment of Jules makes this movie hard to watch.

Homophobia: 0/10 – There is no homophobia in this movie.

Violence: 0/10 –  There is no violence against characters because of their sexual orientation (but a lot of other violence).

Ending: Jackie pushes Jules off the same cliff again and goes back home. She has diabetes and injects herself with what she thinks is insulin before realising Jules tempered with the bottle. Shortly afterwards, she dies of a heart attack. The movie ends with showing Jules’ broken body – the last shot is of trees swaying in the wind before you hear someone sharply breathing in. This could mean that Jules survived again.

Sexual orientation: Jackie mentions numerous times that she is a lesbian and there is no reason to doubt that. She only marries and kills women and even though she doesn’t love them, she still chooses to pretend to be their girlfriend/wife for a couple of years. Jules’ sexual orientation is never discussed, but because the focus of the movie lies somewhere else entirely, this topic isn’t important.

[womeninfilms]

Mulholland Dr.

Year: 2001

Length: 2h 27min

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Language: English, Spanish

Director: David Lynch

Starring: Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Robert Forster, Billy Rae Cyrus, Lori Heuring

Story: Betty (Naomi Watts) moves to Los Angeles to become an actress. She stays in her aunt’s flat while her aunt is shooting a movie in Canada. When she arrives there, she meets Rita (Laura Elena Harring) who was in a car accident and lost her memory. Betty offers to help Rita discover who she is and together they embark on a journey full of strange characters and hidden dangers.

Note: The movie is not as straightforward as it sounds. After about 4/5 of the runtime, Betty and Rita vanish and are replaced by Diane Selwyn and Camilla Rhodes, played by Watts and Harring as well. Diane and Camilla are in a relationship, until Camilla leaves Diane for a man and Diane hires a hitman to get rid of Camilla. There are many theories (parallel universes, the last part of the movie actually being the beginning, …), but I’m subscribing to the theory that the Betty/Rita story is Diane’s dream (either a real dream or a fantasy about how she wants her life to be) and the Diane/Camilla story is reality. Of course, this isn’t the only explanation but the easiest one when writing this review.

Pros:

Betty/Rita story: If you only watch the first part about Betty and Rita, you get a suspenseful, exciting story about two women trying to uncover a mystery while falling in love. Of course, there are a couple of scenes that don’t fit into this plot, like a whole subplot about a director (Justin Theroux) being forced by a mysterious shadow organisation to cast a certain actress as the leading role in his film, but the part about Betty and Rita trying to discover Rita’s real identity is a well-done, fun-to-watch piece of (murder mystery), which includes a sapphic love story. And even though the story is set in modern day, so around the same period as the movie was released, the setting often feels older. This is due to the fact that the movie is a neo-noir thriller, which makes it feel like being set in the 1950s or early 1960s.

Camera: I hardly ever write about technical aspects on this blog, but I have to mention how well camera is used in this film to convey suspense. For example, there is a scene where Betty and Rita go to a night club/theatre. They arrive there by taxi and the camera is placed far away when they get out of the car. As soon as they make to enter, the camera speeds towards them until the name of the night club is displayed and the door is shut in your face. There is also another scene when Betty goes to an audition and has to play opposite an actor who could easily be her father. The camera constantly shows their faces in a close-up without there being a cut for minutes, which makes it uncomfortable to watch after some time, but you are also drawn in.

Open to interpretation: You cannot go into this movie and expect anything to be resolved. Nothing is resolved; by the end you don’t even know if any of the plot elements were “real” or if everything was just a dream by a random person. David Lynch actually wrote this story as the pilot for a TV show which never got made, which is the reason for why you are left with so many unanswered questions. However, this also leaves lots of room for interpretation and you can basically choose for yourself what the plot of the movie is. You can also add lots of plot elements without having to rewrite any of the actual movie, which makes for an interesting experiment.

It’s actually quite funny at times: There is a lot of humorous elements to the story. As mentioned above, some part is dedicated to Adam (Justin Theroux), a director who is living through the worst day of his life. During the Diane/Camilla part of the story it is revealed that Camilla leaves Diane for Adam, so it would make sense for Diane to punish Adam in her fantasy. Another humorous element is about a man trying to kill an acquaintance and killing two more people in the process. This plot element doesn’t fit into the overall narrative at all but works as a weirdly twisted comic relief.

Cons:

It doesn’t make any sense: You spend the last part of the movie hoping that the story will be resolved, but nothing is resolved. If you want answers, then you cannot watch this movie. I spent half-an-hour after it was over reading through Wikipedia, hoping there was an explanation for what I had just watched (spoiler: there isn’t). But as mentioned above, this also works in favour of the movie, but it can be frustrating for some people.

Gore and violence: Apart from being suspenseful, the movie is also quite violent (including people being shot and beaten up) as well as gory. The gory part includes Betty and Rita finding a corpse which is already half-rotten, and the corpse is shown in great detail, so if you can’t watch something like this, then the movie isn’t for you.

Abusive relationship: If you consider the explanation that the Diane/Camilla part is reality, then both of them are in an abusive relationship. Camilla leaves Diane for a man, then makes her watch as she makes out with him. Later, she wants Diane to forgive her and invites her to a party where she picks her up and shows her a secret, romantic path to the house, only to be all over Adam again the next minute. She even makes out with another woman while sitting next to him before announcing her engagement to Adam. She does all this to hurt Diane without apparent reason. In Diane’s fantasy, Rita is helpless and lost and dependent on Betty, which is also not a healthy relationship, but Diane wants Camilla to not be able to do anything alone, while Diane protects her.

Homophobia: 0/10 – There is no homophobia in this movie.

Violence: 0/10 –  There is no violence against characters because of their sexual orientation.

Ending: Well, there is no real ending. The Betty/Rita part ends with Betty vanishing while Rita opens a mysterious box, which then drops out of her hand, landing on a carpet soaked in blood. The Diane/Camilla part probably ends with Camilla being assassinated and Diane committing suicide because she cannot deal with this. However, everything is up to interpretation, so you could also say that the women live in parallel universes and while Diane and Camilla’s story did not have a happy ending, Betty and Rita get to live happily in another universe.

Sexual orientation: Rita/Camilla is probably bisexual, while Betty/Diane is probably a lesbian. It’s harder to determine when it comes to Betty and Rita’s story because when they kiss for the first time, Betty asks Rita if she has ever done this before, but Rita doesn’t remember. Betty says she wants to have sex with Rita, meaning this is her first sexual experience with a woman, but she is an innocent girl from the countryside and might not ever have kissed anyone. However, Betty also doesn’t have a problem with acting very seductive opposite the older actor she auditions with, even taking his hand and placing it on her hip. Apart from Betty and Rita’s exchange, the topic of sexual orientation is never really discussed.

[womeninfilms]

Affinity

Year: 2008

Length: 1h 34min

Genre: Drama, Romance

Language: English

Director: Tim Fywell

Starring: Zoë Tapper, Anna Madeley, Domini Blythe, Amanda Plummer, Mary Jo Randle, Caroline Loncq, Ferelith Young

Story: The daughter of an upper-class family, Margaret Prior (Anna Madeley), who has recently lost her father, starts going to a prison to visit the women there. This way, she meets Selina Dawes (Zoë Tapper), who claims she is a medium and can communicate with the spirit world. Margaret is sceptical at first, but after small incidents surrounding Selina happen to her, she starts to believe Selina and decides to help her escape, all the while falling in love with her.

Pros:

Ghost story: The movie is based on the book of the same name by Sarah Waters. It was her second novel, and after the success of Tipping the Velvet, she decided to try something different and write a darker story about ghosts and the supernatural. These supernatural elements as well as the topic of spiritualism make this an interesting story. Although not as scary as the book, the movie still tries to convey these elements of suspense and the format departs from a classic love story. Instead of telling the story of two women falling in love and one of them trying to rescue the other from prison, the idea of Selina being able to communicate with ghosts makes the story interesting

Margaret/Helen: Margaret has a brother who is married to her former best friend, Helen (Ferelith Young). During the course of the story it is revealed that Margaret and Helen were girlfriends until Helen broke Margaret’s heart by choosing her brother. The story is set at the end of the 19th century and Helen wants to have a “normal” life by society’s standards. Still, the love story between Margaret and Helen is one of the more positive storylines, even though they are no longer together and Margaret is still heartbroken and suffering when she sees Helen and her brother together.

Cons:

Editing and camera: The film was produced for TV and didn’t have the budget of a big cinema production, so some of its faults can be forgiven. But the editing is quite weird and nervous and abrupt, and the camera movements are sometimes hard to follow, making the film look even more low-budget than it is.

Acting: The acting is stiff and rigid, giving the movie the feel of a school play sometimes. This might be harsh, but there are some scenes where it looks as if none of the actors can act.

Different ending: The book ends with Selina betraying Margaret and running away with her girlfriend Ruth. It becomes obvious that Selina had only been using Margaret to get money and new clothes, acting as if she was in love with her. When she finds out about this betrayal, Margaret kills herself. The same thing happens here, but the movie makes it look as if Selina is in an abusive relationship and somehow belongs to Ruth (Caroline Loncq); she has to do whatever Ruth wants of her. It looks as if she regrets betraying Margaret and has feelings for her after all. This might have been done to take some of the darkness out of the story, but it also makes the plot twist less surprising than it should have been. Selina ruthlessly exploiting Margaret’s vulnerability makes the story much more interesting than her regretting her action in the end.

Dubious consent: Before Selina goes to prison, she lives with a rich woman and holds séances for her in her house. For these, Ruth dresses up as the ghost Peter Quick and the two fool their audience into believing that the spirit world is real. One part of these séances involves private session where Selina “helps” young women to get in touch with the spirit world. In fact, Ruth and Selina trick these women into having sex with them. They do not rape them, at least not the first one, but the second one puts up a struggle and Ruth almost rapes her. However, none of these women consent to sexual acts, no matter how much they might enjoy them in the end.

Homophobia: 0.5/10 – There is almost no homophobia in the movie, except for a matron at the prison warning Margaret of becoming the “pal” of one of the women there because some of the prisoners are in relationships with each other and she thinks that Selina is getting too close to Margaret.

Violence: 0/10 –  There is no violence against characters because of their sexual orientation, but there are two attempted rape scenes, one mentioned above. The other one happens when Margaret refuses to have sex with her almost-fiancé Theophilus (Vincent Leclerc) and he tries to rape her, but they are interrupted by a maid.

Ending: As mentioned above, Selina manages to escape from prison and to flee the country with Ruth, while Margaret commits suicide by drowning herself in the Thames. So even though the story doesn’t have a happy ending for Margaret and Selina, Selina gets what she wants in the end.

Sexual orientation: Sexual orientation is never addressed explicitly in the film. Margaret is, most likely, a lesbian, since she is only interested in women and refuses to marry Theophilus (or any man) at several occasions throughout the movie. Selina is also only shown in a relationship with a woman, so it can be assumed that she, too, is a lesbian.

[womeninfilms]

Dirty Computer [Emotion Picture]

Year: 2018

Length: 49 min

Genre: Music

Language: English

Director: Chuck Lightning, Andrew Donoho

Starring: Janelle Monaé, Tessa Thompson, Jayson Aaron, Michele Hart, Dyson Posey, Jonah Lee, Jannica Olin

Story: In a post-apocalyptic future, a woman referred to as Jane 57821 (Janelle Monaé) is captured by the law and forced to undergo a cleaning process, which will rid her of all the memories of the free life she’s been leading. During that process, she is reunited with Zen (Tessa Thompson) who used to be her girlfriend, but she doesn’t seem to recognise Jane, as she, too, had her memory deleted and altered.  

Pros:

Janelle Monaé’s music: The film doesn’t tell a straightforward story. Instead, elements of dialogue are interwoven with music videos from Janelle Monaé’s recent album Dirty Computer. However, it is also not a musical. Instead, music videos are often presented as memories of Jane’s past life, showing how freely she lived before she was captured. Monaé’s music fits the narrative perfectly; she not only presents catchy songs, they also transport the message of freedom of choice and free will. Videos included in the film are I Like That, PYNK, Make Me Feel, and Django Jane. Other songs included but not shown in their entirety are Crazy, Classic, Life, Take a Byte, and Screwed.

Polyamorous relationship and bisexuality: It becomes clear from Jane’s memories that she had a girlfriend in her previous life, Zen. Zen was taken before Jane and already underwent the cleaning process when Jane meets her again. However, Jane also had a boyfriend, Ché (Jayson Aaron), and even though Zen appears to be jealous at first, they later have a polyamorous relationship. Jane’s bisexuality is never demonised, there is even a song, Make Me Feel, dedicated to this topic.

Mix of scenes and music videos: As mentioned above, the film consists of a mix of scenes with dialogue and music videos. This isn’t an entirely new concept, but instead of just stringing music videos together, Dirty Computer tells a story, almost like a “real” movie. The plot could easily be expanded into a full-length feature film and it would make for an interesting dystopian version of Western society. 

Homophobia: 0/10 – There is no homophobia in this movie. However, Jane, Zen, and Ché having to undergo this cleaning process because they do not fit in with societal norms could be interpreted as them living in a homophobic society. Jane having to repeat that she is a “dirty computer” could mean that she had to undergo a kind of conversion therapy so she “turns” straight.

Violence: 0/10 –  There is no violence against characters because of their sexual orientation, but there are brief scenes of police brutality when Jane, Zen, and Ché are arrested.

Ending: Jane retains all of her memories, despite the authority’s best efforts, and manages to convince Zen that they know each other. Zen also remembers her previous life and together they find Ché and escape from the facility where they were kept.

Sexual orientation: Jane is bisexual, but nothing is said or shown about Zen’s or Ché’s sexual orientation. The three live in a polyamorous relationship, however.

[womeninfilms]

Tipping the Velvet

First aired: 09 October 2002 – 23 October 2002

Number of episodes: 3

Length: ~ 1 h per episode

Genre: Drama, Romance

Language: English

Director: Geoffrey Sax

Script: Andrew Davies

Starring: Rachael Stirling, Keeley Hawes, Anna Chancellor, Jodhi May, John Bowe, Sally Hawkins, Alexei Sayle

Story: Tipping the Velvet, based on Sarah Waters’ book of the same name, tells the story of Nan Astley (Rachael Stirling), a young woman from Kent, who falls in love with the singer Kitty Butler (Keeley Hawes) and follows her to London. There, Kitty breaks her heart and Nan tries to find a new home, first as a sex slave to Diana Lethaby (Anna Chancellor), later as a housekeeper to Florence Banner (Jodhi May).

Pros:

BBC miniseries: Tipping the Velvet is a BBC miniseries consisting of three episodes, like so many famous series of the same format, most famously adaptions of Jane Austen novels. It is quite similar to the three-hour long versions of Price and Prejudice or Emma, but it’s about sapphic women. Growing up loving those Jane Austen adaptions, I also fell in love with Tipping the Velvet immediately. This three-part structure also works perfectly for this story since the novel also is structured into three parts. It’s also nice to watch a BBC miniseries which is not about the upper class, but working-class people, as is the case with this story.

Internalised homophobia (sort of): One part of the story is concerned with Nan trying to find out who she is. When the story starts, she is dating Freddy (Benedict Cumberbatch), a young man from her village. However, she doesn’t feel any attraction towards him and only does what is expected of her. She thinks there is something wrong with her for not loving Freddy. Later, she realises she has the feelings she is supposed to be having for men for a woman and accepts this as something completely normal almost right away. It becomes clear that she never even considered being in love with a woman was possible, but once she learns that, she only wants to be around people who accept her. She also doesn’t see any difference between Freddy’s attraction to her and her attraction to Kitty, thinking if these feelings are similar then she has to be normal, even though she feels them for a woman.

Gender is a construct: The book puts a lot of emphasis on the fact that gender is constructed by society and works this into the story. This is also done in the miniseries, and this transfer from book to TV works well because you can see people’s looks and clothes instead of just reading about them.

Faithful to the book: The miniseries takes its time (it’s three hours long in total), so it’s also really faithful to the book; there aren’t any major cuts or changes. The ending is a bit different than it is in the book, the finale is set in a theatre instead of in a tent and Nan returns home to introduce Florence to her family, but apart from that the miniseries almost tells the exact same story. They even kept parts which could have been controversial: The most important sex scenes are shown, including Diana Lethaby’s dildo.

Three separate love stories: Due to the structure of the book, the miniseries consists of three different love stories. Nan is shown falling in love with Kitty, then being sucked into the world of Diana Lethaby, and finally discovering her feelings for Florence. This way you get three different love stories for the price of one.

Domestic lesbians: If you watch the miniseries for nothing else, watch it for the third episode, in which Nan works as Florence’s housekeeper before falling in love with her. Then Nan is happy with a simple life, raising a child together with Florence and her brother Ralph (Hugh Bonneville), settling for a life full of domestic bliss.

Cons:

Artsy miniseries: Even though Tipping the Velvet is quite similar to other (straight) BBC miniseries, there is one major difference: It’s much more artsy and over-the-top. For example, there are lots of images insinuating sex, like a shot of Nan having oral sex with a man intercut by a close-up of a horse having a carrot inserted into its mouth and biting it. There is nothing wrong with taking a more artsy approach to the subject, but it can be off-putting if you were expecting a classical, conservative BBC miniseries.

Self-pity: Especially during the second episode, Nan suffers from self-pity, often saying she belongs in the gutter or that her life is very horrible, and she is very unhappy. Even though this is done to keep the audience feeling for Nan, it gets a bit annoying after some time because Nan moans about her life but never does anything to change it.

Homophobia: 3/10 – There are some instances of homophobia in this miniseries, mostly during the first episode. Nan’s sister Alice (Monica Dolan) warns her from getting to close to Kitty because she thinks that people like her aren’t normal. When Nan confesses to her she is in love with Kitty, Alice calls Nan disgusting and her life dirty. Kitty and Nan’s manager Walter Bliss (John Bowe) says that their relationship cannot be real because two women can’t have sex with each other – you always need a man for that. In the third episode, Nan and Florence are verbally assaulted in front of a pub, but Nan fights back.

Violence: 0/10 – There is no (physical) violence against characters because of their sexual orientation.

Ending: In the end, Nan has to decide between Florence and Kitty and chooses Florence. They lead a life of domestic bliss, raising a child together. The final scene shows them getting ready to meet Nan’s parents.

Sexual orientation: The story mostly focuses on Nan discovering that she is a lesbian. Bisexuality is mentioned and Kitty can be read as either bisexual or suffering from internalised homophobia (at least she chooses Walter over Nan). Florence is also a lesbian because she never even so much as mentions men.

[womeninfilms]

La Luciérnaga (The Firefly)

Year: 2013

Length: 1h 25min

Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance

Language: Spanish

Director: Ana Maria Hermida

Starring: Carolina Guerra, Olga Segura, Manuel José Chaves, Luis Fernando Orozco, Álvaro Rodríguez, Pedro Luis Falla, Andrés Aranburo

Story: Mariana (Olga Segura) and Andres (Manuel José Chaves) are about to get married when Andres has a car accident and dies on the day of their wedding. Andres’ sister Lucia (Carolina Guerra), with whom he wasn’t on speaking terms, discovers that her brother was engaged. The two women help each other to deal with their grief, becoming friends and then lovers along the way.

Pros:

New approach to a well-known story: As is the case with a lot of movies about sapphic women, this movie is actually about a man at its core. However, it takes a new approach to this kind of story. Instead of one of the women being in a relationship with a man, it tells the story about a sister and a fiancée trying to deal with the death of someone who was very close to them. Even though Lucia is married to Adrian (Andrés Aranburo), this is only shown briefly, and it doesn’t even become clear if Adrian learns that Lucia leaves him for a woman. Instead, the focus is on Andres and how he brought Lucia and Mariana together.

Slow burn: The relationship between Lucia and Mariana develops slowly, which is also very refreshing. The first part of the movie is about them getting to know each other and working through their grief together. It’s only in the second part that they start holding hands or looking at the moon together. Even their first kiss is postponed, first by them being interrupted, then by neither of them daring to take the first step.

Flirting: This movie is right at the top of my list of wholesome sapphic movies. Lucia and Mariana flirt a lot, they are very happy in each other’s company. It ticks all the right boxes, starting by holding hands secretly beneath the dinner table, then going away together and ending with them taking a midnight bath in a deserted pool. Nothing is rushed, and it is shown clearly and in full length how they fall in love.

It’s not a weird story: The movie could have been a lot weirder than it is. In fact, it never feels weird at all, despite being pre-destined for it. One likely problem could have been that Mariana only falls in love with Lucia because she reminds her of Andres so much. In the beginning, Mariana mentions frequently that Lucia reminds her of Andres a lot. But it never feels like Lucia is only a substitute for her brother. Even when Mariana discovers she is pregnant and they decide to raise the child together it is made clear that they have a separate relationship from the one Mariana had with Andres.

Colombian movie: It’s also a great movie if you’re looking for a story that is set outside of the US or Western Europe. The movie is set in Bogotá and it’s about the lives of two Colombian women. It’s refreshing to watch a sapphic story being told from a completely different perspective than usual.

Cons:

It’s very depressing: As mentioned above, the first part of the movie mostly deals with Andres’ death and how Lucia and Mariana react to it. Both women cry a lot and try to find ways how to deal with the loss of someone who was so important to them. Mariana is grief-stricken by the fact that she lost her fiancé and best friend on the day of their wedding, while Lucia is haunted by how she treated Andres in the past. Andres thought his sister was angry with him because their mother died while giving birth to him and they hadn’t been in contact for years because Andres couldn’t deal with their father’s death and Lucia never forgave him for that. So on top of losing her brother, Lucia also has to deal with her guilt. This isn’t really something that’s negative about this movie, but it might be difficult to watch.

Homophobia: 0.5/10 – There is almost no homophobia in this movie. The only scene which goes in this direction is when Lucia and Mariana visit a supermarket, even before they first try to kiss, and cuddle a lot, which causes a cashier to glare at them. But despite that, there is no homophobia in this move

Violence: 0/10 –  There is no violence against characters because of their sexual orientation.

Ending: Lucia decides to leave her husband to be together with Mariana and Mariana discovers she is pregnant. They move in together and it looks as if they will raise the child together, so despite this being a sad movie it has a very happy ending.

Sexual orientation: This isn’t an important topic. After they have sex for the first time, Lucia is very confused and tries to distance herself from Mariana, but Mariana is very understanding and doesn’t push her. Both women can be read as bi since both had longer relationships with men and were happy in those.

[womeninfilms]

Kyss Mig (Kiss Me/With Every Heartbeat)

Year: 2011

Length: 1h 45min

Genre: Drama, Romance

Language: Swedish

Director: Alexandra-Therese Keining

Starring: Ruth Vega Fernandez, Liv Mjönes, Krister Henriksson, Lena Endre, Joakim Nätterqvist, Josefine Tengblad, Tom Ljungman

Story: Mia (Ruth Vega Fernandez), who has just gotten engaged to her boyfriend Tim (Joakim Nätterqvist), travels home for her father’s (Krister Henriksson) 60th birthday party. There, she meets Frida (Liv Mjönes), the daughter of her father’s fiancée (Lena Endre). After spending a couple of days together, Mia and Frida fall in love; Mia, however, doesn’t want to leave her boyfriend, and Frida is in a relationship as well.

Pros:

Mia’s struggle: Her struggle is portrayed really well. Of course, it’s the usual story about a woman who is in a relationship with a man but falls in love with another woman (I will write more about this later), but it spends much more time on the question what it does to you when you’ve been in a relationship for seven years and suddenly fall in love with another person. Mia often says that she loves her boyfriend and she doesn’t want to leave him, and the movie actually shows her journey to realising she loves Frida more than Tim.

Adds a new twist to a classic story: In movies with a similar story, the woman who is surer of her sexuality is single, for example in Below Her Mouth, Imagine Me & You, and When Night Is Falling. In this movie, Frida isn’t single but has a girlfriend (Josefine Tengblad). The story also deals with this. Frida used to be in a relationship with a woman who cheated on her and left her and now she does the same to her girlfriend. The movie shows the implications of this and spends time on Frida’s relationship ending. This helps to add more depth to the character who “seduces” the woman away from her boyfriend or husband.

The movie is soft and pure: If you don’t look at the difficult themes the movie deals with, then it’s actually quite soft. A lot of time is spent on Frida and Mia and their relationship. They talk about their options and you get the feeling that they are truly in love with each other.

Bisexuality: Frida realises soon that Mia must be bisexual and she uses this term when talking about it. Bisexuality is portrayed as something completely normal; Mia isn’t judged for it and Frida doesn’t assume she’ll be unfaithful. None of the stereotypes associated with bisexuality are mentioned. This is still such a rare thing in movies and TV shows about sapphic women that this movie is one of the few examples of positive portrayal of bisexuality.

Cons:

Same old story: As mentioned above, it’s the same old story about a woman who is in a relationship with a man falling in love with another woman. I’m getting tired of watching sapphic relationships start by one of them cheating on their partner. It’s also annoying because those stories then always make it about the feelings of a man as well. However, this movie spends more time on developing the implications of cheating, which definitely works in its favour.

It moves too fast: This is probably just me being over-critical, but, like with so many other movies, the story moves too fast. The movie starts by showing how great the relationship between Mia and Tim is, and 48 hours later Mia initiates a kiss between her and Frida, which, eventually, leads to much more. But, again, the movie makes up for it by then spending a lot of time on developing their relationship.

Homophobia: 2/10 – There isn’t a lot of homophobia in the movie, but Mia’s father Lasse refers to homosexuality as being abnormal. There is, however, character development and in the end, he accepts his daughter for who she is.

Violence: 2/10 – Again, there is hardly any violence against characters because of their sexual orientation. There is one short scene, after Tim sees Mia kissing Frida, where Tim tries to rape her, most likely to “claim her back”, but he doesn’t go through with it.

Ending: The movie has a happy ending; after Mia and Frida fight because Frida feels like Mia doesn’t want to fight for their relationship, they are reunited in Barcelona. Because they are both single now, they can start a life together.

Sexual orientation: Frida is a lesbian and, as mentioned above, Mia is bisexual. She even had a girlfriend before she met Tim and she says she didn’t think she would feel like this again.

[womeninfilms]

Donaunebel

Year: 2015

Length: ~ 420 pages

Language: German

Written by: Stefanie Zesewitz

Story: The book covers the years 1914 to 1920 and tells the story of two women. One is Theo(dora) Brunner, who lives in Vienna and dresses like a man so she can work for an undertaker. The other is Aglaja Struzhanova, an aristocratic woman, who loses everything during the Russian Revolution and has to flee the country. Theo and Aglaja meet in Vienna and fall in love, but are separated by Aglaja’s violent brother Alexej.

Pros:

Theo: Theo is an amazing character. It’s revealed early on in the story that her mother always wished for a son and treated her like one, so Theo discovered relatively late in life that she’s actually a woman. Still, she feels most comfortable in men’s clothes and never corrects people who assume she’s a man. She is also only attracted to women and can even date women freely, since most of her acquaintances think she’s a man. Theo knows who she is, she is very brave, and is also not intimidated by having to undergo conversion therapy.

Set in Vienna: This is something I personally liked about this book because I actually know most of the streets and places that are mentioned, and I learned some historical facts about the city I didn’t know. There aren’t many sapphic stories that are set in Austria or Vienna, and I always love reading those.

Historical lesbian fiction: As I’ve mentioned in a couple of other reviews, I’m a big fan of historical lesbian fiction because, even though the books are still fictional, they give us an impression of what life for sapphic women might have been like during a time where being attracted to your own gender was considered a sickness at worst or something non-existent at best.

Cons:

Alexej: Aglaja’s brother Alexej is a very violent character. Aglaja meets him again by chance after he is admitted to a hospital Theo used to work in, and he soon becomes a part of their lives again. However, he thinks his sister is his maid and he doesn’t want to live with hardly any money (Theo’s family isn’t rich). He also doesn’t want to work and hates Theo. When he finds out that Theo is actually a woman, he goes to the police and Theo is arrested and put in prison. You spend a lot of the book worrying about what he is going to do next and once he reappears, the book isn’t really an enjoyable read. Of course, he’s the main antagonist and you’re not supposed to like him, but he hates Theo because of her sexual orientation and the actions he takes against her an Aglaja are because they are two women who are in a relationship with each other.

It demonises bisexuality: Before Theo meets Aglaja, she has two girlfriends. One, Annamaria, thinks Theo is a man and is disgusted when she finds out the truth. Later, however, they make up and become good friends. Annamaria is straight, and considering the times, her reaction to Theo being a woman is somewhat understandable. After Annamaria, however, Theo dates Vroni. Scarred from her relationship with Annamaria, Theo tells her soon that she is a woman. Vroni, who is also attracted to men, doesn’t mind and they start dating. Their relationship comes to an end when Theo meets Aglaja because Vroni is very jealous. She later even gives verdict against Theo and contributes to Theo having to go to prison. Zesewitz often only writes about gay or straight characters. But as soon as a bisexual character appears, she is demonised. This is something which could have been handled better.

Homophobia: 9/10 – In the first chapter it is mentioned that two women having sex was illegal in Austria during that time and that the punishment was prison. The premise of the book itself is that the characters will have problems because of their sexual orientation. Theo has to go to prison and later she has to undergo conversation therapy to cure her of her sickness. Lesbian is also used as a slur frequently.

Violence: 8/10 – There is a lot of violence against characters because of their sexual orientation, both physically and psychologically. Theo is arrested and put in prison for being a lesbian. Alexej wants to kill Theo because she is a lesbian, and he hits his sister (who is also a lesbian). There is also another type of violence in the book: the objectification of sapphic women. Alexej is turned on by the thought of his sister having sex with another woman. The same goes for a priest Theo meets in prison. There is also a woman Aglaja is in love with before she meets Theo. Alexej knows about this and rapes this woman. It is never revealed what happens to her, but it is likely she dies in childbirth.

Ending: Despite everything, the book has a happy ending. Alexej has a nervous breakdown and Theo uses that to be able to get married to Aglaja, pretending to be her best friend Franz while Aglaja pretends to be Theo. So, in the end, they even manage to get married.

Sexual orientation: Theo and Aglaja are both lesbians, Vroni is bisexual, but it’s not a positive portrayal of bisexual characters.

[womeninfilms]

Almost Adults

Year: 2016

Length: 1h 30min

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Language: English

Director: Sarah Rotella

Starring: Natasha Negovanlis, Elise Bauman, Justin Gerhard, Winny Clarke, Delphine Roussel, Meredith Heinrich, Pujaa Pandey

Story: Cassie (Natasha Negovanlis) and Mackenzie (Elise Bauman) are best friends. They’re in their last year at college where they share a flat and every aspect of their lives. When Mackenzie discovers she’s a lesbian and fails to come out to Cassie immediately, their relationship becomes strained.

Pros:

Story: It’s not a love story – despite appearances, Cassie and Mackenzie don’t end up together. Also, even though Mackenzie is afraid that Cassie might not accept her, it’s also not about that. Instead, the movie is about their friendship and what it means to grow up and finish college. Cassie has troubles with her ex and starting her career in social media, just like Mackenzie has girl-troubles and is unsure what she wants to do with her life. This does a lot towards normalising sapphic characters by showing a lesbian having problems apart from not being accepted by society, her friends, and/or her family.

Coming out: This whole topic is handled quite well. One of the movie’s first scenes is about Mackenzie coming out to her parents. Her parents react completely normal, telling her they already knew she was a lesbian. The movie, in general, is a cute coming out story, there is no homophobia, for example. Everyone Mackenzie knows reacts completely normal to her being a lesbian, her parents aren’t homophobic, and she has no trouble finding a girlfriend immediately.

Cons:

Tumblr: At the beginning of the movie, Mackenzie’s gay best friend Levi (Justin Gerhard) convinces her to get Tumblr, telling her it’s a sort of dating website for lesbians. Mackenzie then frequently uses it and even gets a “Tumblr girlfriend”, which isn’t a big deal to her. Her first girlfriend Elliot (Winny Clarke), however, leaves her because of that. It seems highly improbable that Mackenzie has no idea a Tumblr girlfriend is like a real girlfriend. She is 22 and on the verge of finishing college, so this seems like a weird plot twist. In general, the inclusion of Tumblr feels a lot like fan service.

Conflict: The conflict in the movie comes from Mackenzie being angry with Cassie for not realising she is a lesbian and Cassie being angry with Mackenzie for not coming out to her earlier. Mackenzie is a really bad friend to Cassie for most of the movie. She ignores her frequently and is obsessed with her girlfriend Elliot, making Cassie feel left out. All of this culminates in a big fight where Mackenzie tells Cassie that she’s not a very good friend because she never realised that Mackenzie is a lesbian. In the end, their fight is resolved by Cassie seeing that she’s made a mistake and should have seen her best friend is gay. Again, this feels like a very strange thing to do.

Homophobia: 0.5/10 – There is absolutely no homophobia in the movie, but Levi mentions that his parents didn’t take it well when he came out to them. There is also no internalised homophobia and Mackenzie immediately is very comfortable with being a lesbian.

Violence: 0/10 – There is no violence against characters because of their sexual orientation.

Ending: The movie ends with Cassie moving to New York because of a job and Mackenzie staying in the apartment. They meet up a year later – Mackenzie has a new girlfriend with whom she shares the apartment, while Cassie seems to be successful in her job and has a new boyfriend as well.

Sexual orientation: Mackenzie is a lesbian – the movie starts with her coming out to the people closest to her and then diving right into watching lesbian porn, finding a girlfriend, and wanting to “ride her girlfriend’s face”. Despite her being 22 years old (and having had a boyfriend before), she seems a bit clueless when it comes to relationships, but she has lots of friends she can rely on. There is nothing negative associated with her sexual orientation.

[womeninfilms]

Q&A - other questions

Since I received so many questions that it would be too long for one post, I’m splitting them into three parts: [movies/TV shows] [books] [other questions].

1. Why do you think WLW haven't been getting as much representation as MLM?

I think there are many different reasons for that. One part is definitely historical – for many centuries people thought women don’t have sexual desires and needs, so they didn’t even consider that two women can be in love. If you compare Austria and Germany during WWII, for example, two women having sex was illegal in Austria, but not in Germany for that reason. Another part is definitely sexism; media by and about men still get more credit, sell more copies, and are better received than media by and about women. An example for that would be Carol winning nothing at the Academy Awards, despite being nominated in six categories, while Moonlight won three of the eight categories it was nominated in (including Best Picture), and Call Me By Your Name won one of four categories. It’s hard enough for movies for and about women to be enjoyed by a wider audience, and it’s even harder for a movie about WLW. I think people think there isn’t any money in it. Also, in general, men are represented more than women. For me, personally, it was easier to consume media about MLM when I first thought I might be a lesbian, but I have no idea if that has anything to do with it.

2. What motivates you to keep running this blog?

Sometimes I struggle with finding the motivation for it (if you check the publishing dates you’ll see that I don’t update it for months sometimes), but I keep going for several reasons: I love film and TV and I love writing about it (I took film studies for a couple of years at university), so that’s a big part of what keeps me motivated. I also love writing about WLW media. I have this idea of publishing a book that’s gonna be like the 100 best lesbian movies of all time (with a happy ending) because I think that would be a handy guide, so I might be able to transform the blog into a book someday. And I once even got a writing job because of the blog for an Austrian monthly magazine where I was paid to write a review. That also ties into my plans for becoming a journalist and it’s always good to run a blog when you’re planning on doing that, so you have something to show to potential employers.

3. How you you find new WLW media to watch/read?

I started with reviewing stuff I found through Tumblr or by googling lesbian movies. Two years ago, I got an almost complete guide of lesbian movies for my birthday (it even has documentaries in it), so I can always turn to that for inspiration. I also always scan the programmes of film festivals for movies about WLW (we have some really great festivals where I live) and I follow Autostraddle quite closely, they always publish updates on that.

With books it’s a bit more difficult for me. We have two bookshops in my city which have quite an extensive collection of WLW books, so I sometimes browse through their selection to find something. I discovered Jeanette Winterson, for example, because she did a reading in my city, so I always try to keep an eye out for events like that as well.

[womeninfilms]

Q&A - movies/TV shows

Since I received so many questions that it would be too long for one post, I’m splitting them into three parts: [movies/TV shows] [books] [other questions].

I only feel comfortable recommending movies I’ve seen, the list is incomplete of course

1. Wholesome WLW movie recs:

Almost Adults (2016): a comedy about a college student who discovers she’s a lesbian and struggles to maintain her friendship with her best friend, has a happy ending

But I’m a Cheerleader (1999): a comedy about a cheerleader who is sent to a conversion camp and falls in love with one of the girls there, has a happy ending

Carol (2015): a romance about a shop girl/photographer who falls in love with an older customer, set in 1950s New York, has a happy ending

D.E.B.S. (2004): a spy comedy about a special agent who falls in love with a thief, has a happy ending

Girltrash: All Night Long (2014): a musical about a college girl who falls in love with an actress, has a happy ending

Imagine Me & You (2005): a romantic comedy about a married woman who falls in love with the woman who did the flower arrangements at her wedding, has a happy ending

Kyss Mig (Kiss Me/With Every Heartbeat) (2011): a romance about an engaged woman who falls in love with her soon-to-be stepmother’s lesbian daughter, has a happy ending

2. Movies with WLW of colour:

A Perfect Ending (2012): drama about an older woman who falls in love with an escort, the older woman dies of cancer in the end

Ah-ga-ssi (The Handmaiden) (2016): Korean film version of Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith, very well done, highly stylised, but sexualises the two main characters a bit too much for my taste, has a happy ending though

Du Bunui Gyulhonsikgwa Han Bunui Jangryesik (Two Weddings and a Funeral) (2012): a Korean movie about two men and two women who pretend to be heterosexual couples for the sake of appearances, it’s mostly about the men, it’s marketed as a romantic comedy, but a gay man dies after a homophobic attack and it gets very dark towards the end

Les Filles du Botaniste (The Chinese Botanist’s Daughters) (2006): drama about two women in China who fall in love, they are executed at the end because of their love for each other

Frida (2002): biographical movie about Frida Kahlo who was bisexual, doesn’t really focus on that part of her life, but includes some scenes about that

I Can’t Think Straight (2008): comedy about a woman from Jordan with Palestinian ancestors who falls in love with a British Indian, has a happy ending, also very wholesome

Love My Life (2006): a romance about two students in Japan who are in a relationship and how their families deal with that, also wholesome (but includes some homophobic scenes)

Margarita (2012): comedy about an illegal immigrant from Mexico who faces deportation, has a happy ending

Mystère à la Tour Eiffel (2015): crime thriller about a woman trying to solve mysterious murders in Paris at the end of the 19th century with the help of a magician, also wholesome and has a happy ending

The World Unseen (2007): drama about two women from India who fall in love in South Africa during the apartheid era, includes some upsetting scenes but has a happy ending

3. What’s your favourite WLW movie and why?

My favourite is definitely Carol, it was the first WLW movie I watched at the cinema and it got me into watching other WLW movies, it’s beautifully shot, the story is amazing, I love both Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, I love the soundtrack, I love the set design, the costumes, basically everything, and I still feel it was robbed at the 2016 Academy Awards. I also love Tipping the Velvet (2002), the BBC miniseries based on Sarah Waters’ book of the same name because it was the first WLW story I watched on TV that didn’t make me feel bad about being a lesbian

4. What’s your least favourite WLW movie and why?

The “problem” with many WLW movies is that they have a tiny budget, so they appear to be less quality than many mainstream movies, but I don’t think that should be a reason to dislike a movie, so my least favourite one is called Gray Matters, which appears to have had an okay-ish budget, but which is just horrible, I wrote a long review about it, but some of the things that bothered me were problematic jokes, sexism, no respect for safe spaces, and homophobia.

5. TV shows with WLW (as leads or otherwise):

I’m including a couple of shows I haven’t seen yet, but heard good things about.

Carmilla (2014-2016): it’s a YouTube series based on the novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and it’s about a college student who has a vampire for a roommate and they fall in love with each other (there’s also a movie, but I haven’t seen that yet)

Different for Girls (2017-): it’s a YouTube series about a group of lesbian and bi women, there is one season out so far, but it’s quite a depressing show and all the story lines are left open, but I think they’re working on a second season

Féminin/Féminin (2014): I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s a web series about the lives of six lesbians living in Montreal

Hannibal (2013-2015): this only applies to the third season (which is probably also the best one) – Alana Bloom, a psychologist who’s a series regular from season 1, and Margot Verger, a very rich woman with an abusive brother, start dating, kill the abusive brother, have a son together, and escape Hannibal, who kills almost everyone, so it even has a happy ending for them

The L Word (2004-2009): this is a classic, I’m still on season 1 though, I only know that one of them dies and it’s more of a drama series, but it can be quite funny sometimes

One Day at a Time (2017-): I haven’t watched it yet, but it’s a comedy show about a Cuban-American family where the daughter is a lesbian

Orphan Black (2013-2017): I still have to finish it, so I don’t yet know how it ends, but it includes a WLW storyline, and the show is amazing in general

Sense8 (2015-): even though it was cancelled, there is still a movie coming out, also it has a really great WLW storyline, involving a WOC and a trans woman (apart from that, the show is gripping and includes difficult themes as well)