Movies are one of the easiest and accessible ways to to understand and empathise with the LGBTQIA+ community. A lot of movies are criticised for an extremely cliched and inorganic portrayal of the community. However, there are some that are beautiful and inspiring. Here’s a list of films that might help you understand the community and their challenges a little better.
Love, Simon
This romantic teen-comedy drama starring Nick Robinson, Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Garner follows the life of a closeted high school boy and is attempts on balancing his friends and family and making sense of his sexuality, trying to deal with a blackmailer on the quest of outing him all while figuring out who his anonymous classmate that he has fallen in love with online is. This film is an extremely honest, normalised and adorable story that will keep you smiling.
Call me by your name
This coming-of-age film starring Timothee Chalamet (17 year old) and Armie Hammer (24 year old) showcases a love affair between their characters. With an enchanting cinematography, this film is emotional, overwhelming and portrays desire, love and heartbreak with expertise.
Brokeback Mountain
A film considered to be extremely ahead of its time, Brokeback mountain has incredible performances by Jake Gylenhall and Heath Ledger as two two cowboys and the forbidden love between them. A story of love, longing and unsanctioned emotions, this film is exceedingly impactful. The film makes no attempts politicise homosexuality and rather shows the raw and heart-wrenchingly sweet depictions of their feelings.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Set in the 18th-century in France, the film is about the heartfelt and wonderful love story between aristocrat Heloise (Adele Haenel) and painter Marianne (Noemie Merlant). Released in 2019, this film is a classic that handles moments of tenderness with utmost dignity and portrays the pain of forbidden love with power. Replete with equal parts pain and pleasure, this film is poetic and liberating.
The Danish Girl
Starring Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander as Einar and Gerda Wegenar is the story of Lili Elbe’s emergence out of the suppressed identification of Einar. While the film was considerably controversial due to the casting and portrayals, it is graphical representations of the story of one of the earliest recipients of sex-reassignments surgeries. The film also has a very beautiful portrayal of unconditional love and acceptance between Lili and Gerda.
About the Author
Prishita is a recent graduate from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. She majored in Psychology and was an honors student. She is working on getting her master’s in Industrial Psychology. She has worked on multiple research papers and articles throughout her undergraduate career and worked with content creation companies.