To conincide with the release of Blue is the Warmest Colour, AnOther unveils its top 5 lesbian relationships on film
5. Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)
Copyeditor Jessica Stein (Jennifer Westfeldt) responds to a dating ad from bisexual art gallerist Helen Cooper (Heather Juergensen). This smart New York comedy charts Jessica’s struggle to feel confident with her sexuality. It is also the first film appearance of a bespectacled Jon Hamm.
4. Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
Hilary Swank won an Oscar for her role as Brandon Teena, the transgender man who was murdered in Nebraska in 1993, aged 21. Chloë Sevigny, nominated for Best Supporting Actress, plays his girlfriend, Lana Tisdel. The film’s controversy received wide support from the LGBT community for depicting the persecution of Teena.
3. My Summer of Love (2004)
Throughout one hot summer in a sleepy village in Yorkshire, Mona (Natalie Press) is bewitched by Tamsin (Emily Blunt). The pair live in Tamsin’s empty house, taking trips on Mona’s moped and swimming in a hidden pool in the forest. But when Tamsin’s parents return and the summer comes to an end, Mona realizes Tamsin’s insincerity. The film is based on the novel by Helen Cross.
2. Gia (1998)
Often considered the first supermodel, Gia Carangi graced editorials for Vogue and Cosmopolitan from the late 1970s, alongside campaigns for Armani, Christian Dior, Versace and Yves Saint Laurent, before her death at the age of 26 from HIV/AIDS, a consequence of her heroin addiction. Angelina Jolie plays the lead in this biographical film, which tracks Gia’s relationship with make-up artist Linda.
1. If These Walls Could Talk (2000)
Following from the 1996 film of the same name, If These Walls Could Talk follows three lesbian relationships across three different eras, but all in the same house. In 1961, elderly Vanessa Redgrave grieves after the death of her partner, whilst in 1972, Michelle Williams and Chloë Sevigny meet in a milieu of gay bars and feminist groups. The last part of the film is in the year 2000, focusing on a couple played by Sharon Stone and Ellen DeGeneres who are trying to conceive.
Today sees the release of the hotly anticipated Blue is the Warmest Colour, the controversial creation of French filmmaker Abdellatif Kechiche, which scooped up the Palme d’Or at Cannes this summer. Based on the graphic novel by Julie Maroh, the film chronicles the relationship between Emma (former AnOther cover star Léa Seydoux), and schoolgirl Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos), from the first awakening attraction between the two women, to love at its most powerful and beguiling. But it isn’t long before Emma’s blue hair dye, from which the film gains its titular colour symbolism, begins to grow out, and the destructive flipside of such mesmeric infatuation begins to tear the girls apart. At the centre of the discussion surrounding the film’s release is the fact that the film documents a lesbian relationship – so rarely captured in such sensual frankness. Here AnOther presents a list of the best lesbian relationships captured on film.
