Comments on: Show Me Love

Question: Show Me Love

CheshireCat — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:57:02 -0800

Please help me find some lesbian films that have a happy romantic ending.

I'm basically looking for the lesbian equivalent of a romantic comedy, except I don't even care if it's a comedy or not, just so long as it has a happy ending. I'm tired of movies where the protagonists break up at the end, or one of them falls for a man, or their relationship is still ambiguous, or one of them dies. It's possible that I've just had lousy luck with the genre, and I'm really hoping that's the case. So what I want are movies about two women who fall in love, and at the end they are unambiguously in a relationship and happy together. That's it. Any genre is fine, and the romance doesn't have to be the main point of the movie as long as it's central. Anime and television shows are fine too, though it would be nice to find some movies like this.

By: alphanerd

alphanerd — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:58:26 -0800

Bound?

By: nooneyouknow

nooneyouknow — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:08:11 -0800

D.E.B.S
Saving Face
I Cant' Even Think Straight
But I'm A Cheerleader
Imagine Me and You

All 5 are pretty much rom coms. But I'm A Cheerleader is a more of comedy than a romcom.

By: nooneyouknow

nooneyouknow — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:11:27 -0800

Also, Bound is awesome. It's not a romantic comedy, it's heist movie with lesbians who end together and it's awesome.

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:20:02 -0800

Better Than Chocolate

By: bricoleur

bricoleur — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:27:01 -0800

Show Me Love (aka Fucking Åmål)

By: KeSetAffinityThread

KeSetAffinityThread — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:29:32 -0800

I second better then chocolate.

By: mochapickle

mochapickle — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:31:17 -0800

Fingersmith.

By: mochapickle

mochapickle — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:32:42 -0800

Also, Fire (1996).

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:33:22 -0800

I Hate Tommy Finch takes a while for the couple to get happy but the ending is. It's not available as a film, but has been adapted as a web series
(trailer)

(full disclosure: it's written and co-directed by two of my best friends, lesbians with a happy ending of their own)

By: rtha

rtha — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:33:49 -0800

Go Fish is a classic.

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:38:29 -0800

I deeply love By Hook or By Crook, with the caveat that the genders are too ambiguous to label it as "lesbian."

By: southern_sky

southern_sky — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:01:27 -0800

If memory serves, Desert Hearts has a happy ending.

By: nooneyouknow

nooneyouknow — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:04:41 -0800

I Cant' Even Think Straight should be I Can't Think Straight
It's In the Water
Nina's Heavenly Delights
Chutney Popcorn
Puccini for Beginners
The Incredibly True Adventure of 2 Girls in Love
Rome and Juliet (Filipino movie and is up on youtube)
Wild Side (not a rom com and it's kinda crazy, but they do end up together; try to get the 111 minute directors cut)

By: treefort

treefort — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:05:00 -0800

The lesbian couple in Chutney Popcorn is already together when the movie starts, so it doesn't meet the "two women fall in love" criteria. But (spoiler) it ends happy!

Two more coming-of-age movies:

All Over Me (not a romco - lots of sad content but once again, happy ending)

The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love

By: treefort

treefort — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:09:25 -0800

Regarding All Over Me, maybe I should say: happy-ish ending.

By: nooneyouknow

nooneyouknow — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:12:17 -0800

Desert Hearts is a great movie, but its ending is ambiguous. They may or may not end up together.

By: bink

bink — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:24:37 -0800

When Night is Falling

By: DrMew

DrMew — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:33:26 -0800

Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same has a happy ending, and is campy B-movie fun.

By: Year of meteors

Year of meteors — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:00:38 -0800

But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)

The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love (1995)

Imagine Me & You (2005)

D.E.B.S. (2004)

Go Fish (1994)

By: sugarbomb

sugarbomb — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:03:23 -0800

Tipping the Velvet!

By: costanza

costanza — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:14:22 -0800

I can't believe no one's mentioned The Kids are Alright yet.

By: bongo_x

bongo_x — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:23:20 -0800

We loved Tipping the Velvet. Kind of an old fashioned romance.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:39:31 -0800

Seconding Go Fish.

By: Lieber Frau

Lieber Frau — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 23:41:59 -0800

Jamie and Jessie Are Not Together. Super fun, quirky, intelligent musical comedy. Still touring festivals and totally worth seeing in the theater. Great Chicago scenery, too.

By: jb

jb — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:08:54 -0800

When Night is Falling - not a comedy, but a happy ending (well, for the lesbians). Also, a beautiful film.

By: freya_lamb

freya_lamb — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 01:19:37 -0800

Itty Bitty Titty Committee is a bit ropey production-wise but lots of fun with several happy endings (and Daniela Sea! *sigh*). They've already been mentioned but I heartily recommend Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith as just brilliant girls-own style adventures - with angst and true love!

By: windykites

windykites — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 03:14:14 -0800

I immediately thought of But I'm a Cheerleader (which is flipping hilarious), and Better Than Chocolate. I know they have already been said, so I'm just agreeing.

By: moody cow

moody cow — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 03:32:06 -0800

I thought Saving Face very funny, with a little angst here and there, but a happy ending.

By: K.P.

K.P. — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 04:56:26 -0800

Gazon Maudit aka French Twist (French)

By: Multicellular Exothermic

Multicellular Exothermic — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 06:37:59 -0800

I, too, recommend When Night is Falling - the iron dance alone is worth the price of admission.

By: lysimache

lysimache — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 06:48:17 -0800

Claire of the Moon is still my favorite lesbian movie ever. It's about a previously-straight writer named Claire who falls in love with Noel, her psychiatrist roommate, at a women writers' retreat at the Pacific northwest coast. The movie is, admittedly, dated, but I actually really love its scenes of the women's earnest discussions at the retreat and the moody scenes of the ocean, and they *definitely* get together at the end (best lesbian sex scene ever, IMO). It just takes a while to get there. Also both the director and I think Claire is *so pretty*. :) LOVE FOREVER.

Nina's Heavenly Delights, a film about a Scottish woman of southeast Asian descent who comes back to Scotland to try to save her family's restaurant and falls in love along the way. It was cute, not super angsty (although her father has, iirc, died).

Almost-a-lesbian-movie: Bend It Like Beckham. I know, they weren't allowed to *actually* have it be a lesbian movie (resulting in the whole triangle with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), but the two girls *do* end up going off together (platonically) at the end.

Now for some of the things that have already been mentioned! :)

Also recommending The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love. It features a baby!Laurel Holloman as a bitty butch lesbian, and is pretty much the most awesome thing ever.

I hated But I'm a Cheerleader, because I couldn't find something (ex-gay camps) funny when it is so real. It wanted to be funny, yes, but it just made me feel sad.

When Night Is Falling is beautiful, but does have a lot of angst along the way to a happy ending. (The dog is actually okay at the end, but it's sad at the beginning.)

Chutney Popcorn is mostly about babies and how the desire for them affects an established relationship, not a first-time story, but they do break up for a bit. It ends happily. Also, it has Jill Hennessy as one of the two main characters, so it is awesome.

My girlfriend suggests: Desert Hearts, D.E.B.S..

SAD movies to avoid if you do not want SAD (they're mostly good, but SAD): High Art (dead by drugs), Heavenly Creatures (forcefully separated due to being murderers), Aimee and Jaguar (dead by Nazis), Lost and Delirious (dead by suicide).

By: book 'em dano

book 'em dano — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 08:45:11 -0800

Loving Annabelle, alternate ending on the DVD.

By: CheshireCat

CheshireCat — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 21:41:06 -0800

Thank you all for your lovely suggestions! I'd mark some best answers but it would pretty much be this entire thread. I'll hold off on Desert Hearts and All Over Me until I'm in the mood but the rest seem pretty solid from a quick glance. I'd forgotten that I still need to see Bound, so that's going to the top of the list, followed by the films that got multiple votes and then work my way from there. I might even mark some best answers later once I've actually seen most of these. I look forward to many happy endings ahead.

By: this roof

this roof — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 07:43:22 -0800

Oh, there's also the new Swedish movie Kyss Mig, which hasn't come out in the States yet, but, uh, can be found elsewhere. It's moody and sexy and while I thought the ending was a little lame, it was definitely happy.