Celebrate Pride Month with the best movies celebrating lesbians

This Pride month, let’s leave heartbreak behind and watch some joyous lesbian movies! Enough with lesbian films created by pervy men that include violent & sorrowful endings! Let’s celebrate this Pride month with films focused on love, healing, and acceptance.

These movies range from heartfelt rom-coms to riveting thrillers. We also included several international works that’ll prove that lesbian love flourishes all over the world! Here are some of our favorite lesbian movies perfect for Pride!

Imagine Me & You (2005)

Don’t we all love a flower shop romance? Imagine Me & You follows the budding romance between a newly-wedded bride and her wedding’s florist. After Rachel marries her long-time boyfriend Heck, she begins to fall for Luce, who she has instant chemistry with.

This movie is special not only for its queer romance but for its seemingly simple elements rarely seen in lesbian cinema. Imagine Me & You includes a man who kindly & respectfully accepts his wife’s coming out. There is no abusive husband who traumatizes both protagonist & viewer. Most unique of all has to be the film’s cheesy yet heartwarming ending!

Saving Face (2004)

Saving Face provides much-needed Asian-American LGBT representation and stereotype-breaking storylines. The movie shows a lesbian daughter & her traditional mother both struggling with their love life in Manhattan. This rom-com is worthy of endless rewatches!

Saving Face was directed by a women of color who provided an authentic look into life as a Chinese-American lesbian. Director Alice Wu left behind her corporate job at Microsoft to create Saving Face!

The Handmaiden (2016)

Okay, so this thriller is for those looking for some serious intensity! The Handmaiden follows a thief who is hired to work as a handmaiden for a Japanese heiress. However, the thief is actually being hired to con the wealthy young woman. Yet, what will she do when she begins to fall for the lonely heiress?

This movie contains twists & turns that you’ll never expect! Beautifully shot & artistically composed, director Park Chan-Wook acquired the help of actual lesbians to revise the script for realism. We promise this movie is unlike any lesbian romance film you’ve ever seen!

Carol (2015)

Classically swoon-worthy & dizzyingly romantic, Carol shows the unexpected love story between two women from drastically different backgrounds in the 1950s. Therese is an aspiring photographer working at a department store where she meets the strikingly confident housewife Carol.

The chemistry between Cate Blanchett & Rooney Mara make the romantic tension deliciously palpable throughout the film! If you’re looking for a sweeping romantic drama with gorgeous visuals & impressive performances, then Carol is for you.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

Céline Sciamma shows the culmination of her previous work in the accomplished film Portrait of a Lady on Fire. This French film follows the story of a young painter sent to create the portrait of a soon-to-be bride. However, the relationship slowly burns into something more.

Any fan of Jane Austen novels or period dramas will fall in love with this romantic movie if they haven’t already! We shall warn you that Portrait of a Lady on Fire ends on a definitely bittersweet note. However, we promise that the film is worth the watch.

Desert Hearts (1985)

Desert Hearts has been credited as one of the first lesbian movies to have a happy ending. Therefore, this film has undoubtedly become a classic within LGBT cinema. The film follows an uptight & repressed literature professor who begins to fall for a carefree young lesbian after her divorce.

Director Donne Deitch stated she had longed to see a lesbian film which ended happily with no bisexual love triangle or death. Desert Hearts was one of the first films to show young lesbians that the life ahead of them was not one filled with shame but instead filled with optimism & love.

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How many of these classic lesbian movies have you seen before? What is you favorite lesbian movie of all time? Let us know in the comments below!