Besides reading lesbian fiction I love to watch lesbians on screen, preferably in a decent movie or TV show 😉. I’ve been fortunate to have been able to watch some great examples in that regard. Although, I mean great in the sense that I like it personally. There aren’t that many examples where the majority of the audience agrees that the effort was that of a high standard 🤷‍♀️.

Anyway, on that note. I thought it would be nice to sum up all the lesbian movies and TV shows I enjoyed and would watch again. There’s no particular order, just what comes to mind. There’s also a section for podcasts that I enjoy.

Movies

Desert Hearts

Desert Hearts is the one that always comes to mind first when I think of lesbian movies I watched and enjoyed. I saw this in the theater when it came out (yes, I am that old 😁). Just my luck that I was watching it with a girl I had a secret crush on. During the sex-scene I could crawl under the seat 😂. But I loved the movie, still do. And so daring for that time. I mean, even now!

Claire of the Moon

Claire of the Moon was the first of many movies I saw which tried to instill lesbian romance. This sounds a bit cryptic, but what I mean is that usually lesbian themed stories or movies were ‘troubled’. I was looking for movies with romance, you know girl meets girl and whatever happens, they end up with each other. Desert Hearts seemed an exception. But now there was Nicole Conn, and she had a vision and a purpose with her movies, exactly what I was looking for. This was the first one I saw of her.

When Night is Falling

My god, this movie ❤️! When Night is Falling is a movie by Patricia Rozema. It is the most beautiful lesbian movie I’ve seen to date. It’s gorgeous in every way. If you haven’t seen it already, go find it. Everyone has their own preference of course, but this is a must see in my lesbian book 😏.

La Vie d’Adèle\Blue is the Warmest Color

La Vie d’Adèle is a movie adaption of the graphic novel by Julie Maroh (which is beautiful by the way, not exactly the same story though). There was a lot of commotion about the director and his absurd method of directing. Maybe because of that, a lot of people find that there is too much sex in it or that it is even pornographic. I just do not agree. Yes, there is graphic sex but never gratuitous in my opinion. I watched it in awe, the story was good, the acting on point, heartwarming, heart wrenching, hot, all of it. This movie was personal to me too, it reminded me so much of my own coming out period, being with my first girlfriend, and the awkwardness of just growing up. Just magnificent this one.

Kyss mig\Kiss Me

Oh my, Kiss Me! This Swedish movie is actually the lesbian romance that I am always looking for in a movie. I mean, the daughters of a man and a woman getting married later in life, fall in love with each other. They have never met but when they finally meet each other at the engagement party of their parents, there is an immediate attraction. Mia’s fiancee Tim is about to be suddenly forgotten when Mia and Frida get to know each other better during a short stay away from the others. It’s, it’s, well perfect 😂❤️.

Imagine Me &You

Another swoon worthy lesbian movie. Imagine Me & You is so sweet, romantic and well everything you’d look for in a romcom. And this one is with a love story between two gorgeous women. I can’t imagine you don’t know this one but if you don’t, go watch it. Especially if you’re a sucker for romance like I am.

I Can’t Think Straight

The title is a bit bland and the pun is intended I guess 😏. But beyond that, I Can’t Think Straight is a really nice romantic lesbian movie. With Lisa Ray in a leading role as Tala, who is engaged to be married to a man appropriate to her tradition. But when she meets Leyla everything goes astray and Tala just can’t think straight anymore 😂. Ok, I’m sorry. It’s better than it sounds, I promise. Plus, it’s Lisa Ray 😍!

Carol

I had read The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith and it was such a beautiful novel. I still intend to reread this book and post about it. But I digress. Anyway, this movie came out and Cate Blanchett would play the part of Carol! Be still, my heart. So I couldn’t wait to watch it. I must confess, it took me several times watching the movie before I warmed up to Rooney Mara as Therese. When I did though, man oh man, what a stylish movie this is. And the chemistry between the two, it’s so palpable. Yes, this one is a classic ❤️.

Disobedience

I love controversial themes. So this love story between Ronit and Esti is one that grabbed me and swallowed me whole. They are both from an Orthodox Jewish community, very strict, which Ronit ‘escaped’ from. She returns for the funeral of her estranged father. Esti, meanwhile, has married their common friend Dovid. You can feel the tension between the MC’s, good and bad. I loved the build-up between Ronit and Esti because even though their love could never be, you feel that it also can never be denied.

If These Walls Could Talk 2

In If These Walls Could Talk 2 you see three stories about lesbian couples in three different decades (this is basically the summary on imdb 😏). I loved this because of the segments 1961 and 1972. The ’61 is about what a fucked up situation it was when you were gay back then and your spouse of decades died. You didn’t have any rights in the whole situation. Heartbreaking this one 😭. The ’72 segment is about butch Amy and lesbian femme Linda. This was just hot. But also an eye-opener for me. And for Linda too 😍. The 2000 segment is with Ellen DeGeneres and Sharon Stone. I keep forgetting what it’s about. I remember that I felt awkward with the sex scene 🫣.

It’s In The Water

This movie does not stand out for the greatest directing ever, but I don’t care. It’s In The Water is just so romantic and it includes tropes I adore: Gay for You, Friends to Lovers, Return to Hometown, Small Town, (*sigh). Anyway, check out the poster left hand upper corner, and right hand lower corner. That’s it, that’s the movie 😂. Oh, and the two in the middle of course 🥵. There’s just something in the water in Azalea Springs that turns everybody gay 🌈.

Kissing Jessica Stein

I think I really like Kissing Jessica Stein because it’s the only movie that I know where a straight woman turns gay, turns bi and was not awkward or unbelievable. In fact, it was all done very tastefully, and funny, and of course romantic. Yeah, this one’s alright. Oh, a gentle warning: when trying to find an image I googled ‘Kissing Jessica Stein’ and I cannot fathom why, but I got a lot of porn images as a result 🤷‍♀️.

Fucking Åmål/Show Me Love

Why I like this is easy. Fucking Åmål is about coming of age, identifying your sexuality, having a crush on the hot girl in school, making out with the hot girl, getting the hot girl in the end in a bad ass way. It’s basically my youth, except for the ‘getting the hot girl…. etc. That was later in life 😬😇. I love this movie.

D.E.B.S.

What’s not to like about D.E.B.S.? Pretty schoolgirls, trained to be members of the elite national defense group D.E.B.S., trying to catch the bad criminal Lucy Diamond. Lucy turns out to be a very hot criminal. One of the D.E.B.S., Amy, falls for Lucy and that leads to all kinds of problems. If this isn’t a nice lesbian romcom, I don’t know what is.

Below Her Mouth

Weeeeeellll, this one is tricky. Some (or most maybe) would say that Below Her Mouth is just porn without plot. The title doesn’t help in that regard 😂. But I thought it was a hot, romantic movie. That being said, I sometimes did feel a bit awkward during the sex scenes. I felt like a fly on the wall watching these two women fall in love and have a lot of very explicit sex (that does sound like pwp 😏). But hey, what do you do when you’ve just fallen in love…. Right. So, it was just verrrry realistic.

Elena Undone

Elena Undone is another Nicole Conn movie. The movie has gotten some notoriety because of the longest kiss in a movie, 3 minutes and 24 seconds. It’s cleverly done, but it doesn’t really help. A lot of the movie is cringe worthy, like the guy on happy pills who keeps interrupting our ladies’ love story. And the horrible husband 🤨. What does help is the good acting from the (gorgeous) leading actresses and the chemistry between them! I liked their story as well.

A Perfect Ending

I must admit that I really liked A Perfect Ending, another Nicole Conn movie. It was a very moving story and Barbara Niven was excellent. The artsy fartsy bits with Paris (and her weird slow voice) were less moving for me, but her backstory was. A rarely seen premise of this unlikely love story between a rich, frigid, middle-aged woman and a beautiful, young escort.

Een Vrouw Als Eva

Being Dutch I cannot forget to mention Een Vrouw als Eva or A Woman like Eve. Or even without being Dutch, this is a great movie. Ahead of it’s time, if you ask me. The movie is telling the story of Eva, a wife and mother. She is restless and stressed out. To relax, her husband sends her to a commune in France. There she meets Liliane, a lesbian. Soon Eva falls for her and her whole world is turned upside down. How far will she go for her new love? Her love for a woman. I remember watching this on a black and white tv-set, with a crappy signal. But it was the best and most beautiful thing I had seen in my life then.

Concussion

I waited a long time before I dared to watch Concussion. I feared this was a movie that could trigger some unwanted emotions. And it did, but not necessarily in a bad way. This movie raises some questions that few dare to ask. Like, what happens when you’re not satisfied sexually in your marriage? What do you do? Maybe nothing. In this movie it is even more interesting that it is a lesbian couple that experiences and addresses this problem. In a very onorthodox way, I might add. This is not an easy movie to watch, but I was very impressed by it ❤️.

TV shows

The L Word

I couldn’t believe it when The L Word came out in 2004. The whole world had to stop and go away when we watched a new episode of this fabulously lesbian, lesbian show. Wow, it’s still unbelievable this even happened. So many (beautiful) women, so gay for each other. With all the stories, all the relatable stories. It was just out of this world. I even liked Jenny. I am probably one of the four people in the world who did, but there you go. Anyway, this is a must see for every lesbian. It’s like a handbook. I’m kidding. But it’s good!

Fingersmith

Oh my word, Fingersmith. I’ve watched this mini series, an adaptation of Sarah Waters classic novel Fingersmith, so many times. It’s absolutely fantastic. I just fell in love with everything; the brilliant story, the characters, the amazing love story between Maud and Sue, the twists and turns. Goosebumps here, goosebumps!

Sugar Rush

This delightful series tells the story of 15-year-old Kim who just moved to Brighton. She develops a HUGE crush on her best friend Sugar. It’s again a coming of age, coming out, best friends to lovers story, but not quite. And it’s British, seriously funny, and original. Love, love, love this ❤️.

Tipping The Velvet

Tipping The Velvet is based on a book by Sarah Waters, Tipping The Velvet. And it’s fabuleus. Nan falls in love with Kitty, and her real life begins. Her life loving women, falling in and out of love and stretching her limits in order to survive. It’s a crude story and I felt for Nan. She has to go through it all to finally live and love. Beautiful! But it is no light fare.

Carmilla

I haven’t seen all of it yet, but Carmilla cannot be missed. This is such a fun and original show. And it’s available on YouTube.

Stupid Wife (online series)

So, I find the title of this online series quite unappealing. The series is based on the book Lembre-se de Nós by Brazilian Nathália Sodré. Unfortunately I can’t read or write Portuguese. But the English subtitles of the series are quite good. I think 🙃.

It’s a nice story. Luíza and Valentina are students and classmates. Luíza doesn’t like Valentina at all. She represents everything she doesn’t like about another and hates her. Valentina finds the opposite of Luíza. But it will never work out between them.

Apparently something has changed because Luíza wakes up one day, 10 years older, married to Valentina and they have a son together. She appears to suffer from dissociative amnesia and has forgotten the last 10 years of het life. Including falling in love and marrying Valntina. She must rediscover herself, who she has become. And Valentina, she’s trying to do everything she can to win her wife back.

Hmmm, this is nice. I haven’t seen everything yet, but it reminds me a bit of the Mexican series Juliantina , and that was definitely fun 😍🥰. Check out Ponto Ação Produções for more telenovelas.

Dates (one episode (1×04) because it’s Katie McGrath)

Katie McGrath who plays an angry lesbian on a first date with another beautiful woman, played by Gemma Chang. I mean, this was kinda my dream come true 😅. As a Supercorp/Lena Luthor fan this is a must see 😍🔥. I also understand where the Supercorp chemistry originated from 😏. The YT clip is the whole episode!

Lip Service

Oeh, Lip Service. The Scottish answer to The L Word. Or maybe it wasn’t, but that is what I always thought. With Frankie as the Scottish Shane, although maybe even more glum than Shane was. But just as good with the ladies 😎. Kidding aside, this is a good show!

Podcasts

Don’t Ask Tig with Tig Notaro

Tig and Cheryl: True Story

This is hilariously funny! My favorite podcast for months now (01/12/23). Every episode Tig and Cheryl discuss a documentary they’d watched. Weeeeeeeell (as Cheryl would say), do they though?! I mean, they talk about everything, except the doc 😂! Ok, sometimes they do, a bit. Anyway, Tig and Cheryl are great friends and it shows. There is a lot of fun and respect for each other. And lots and lots of laughter. Best laugh therapy ever!

Down The Fandom Hole: Conversations w/ Ayaka Spencer

I couldn’t believe it when I found this. Ayaka chats for instance with Ekingston and Aspidities, two of my favorite fanfic authors, about their writing and fandom. The pod has stopped, but I saw on her Tumblr that she will start up again soon 🤞.

We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle

The Sapphic Book Review with Laura

Lesbians Who Write with Clare Lydon and T.B. Markinson

The Lesbian Review Podcast

To L and Back

The podcast now includes The L Word – Generation Q. I don’t watch that show anymore, I didn’t enjoy the storylines after a while.