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The 30 Best LGBTQ+ Films of All Time

by solmido • Created 6 years ago • Modified 6 years ago
"To mark the 30th anniversary of BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival, we are delighted to announce the Top 30 LGBTQ+ Films of All Time in the first major critical survey of LGBTQ+ films.

Over 100 film experts including critics, writers and programmers such as Joanna Hogg, Mark Cousins, Peter Strickland, Richard Dyer, Nick James and Laura Mulvey, as well as past and present BFI Flare programmers, have voted the Top 30 LGBTQ+ Films of All Time. The poll’s results represent 84 years of cinema and 12 countries, from countries including Thailand, Japan, Sweden and Spain, as well as films that showed at BFI Flare such as Orlando (1992), Beautiful Thing (1996), Weekend (2011) and Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)."

https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/30-best-lgbt-films-all-time
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  • 63 titles
  • Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in Carol (2015)

    1. Carol

    20151h 58mR94Metascore
    7.3 (149K)
    An aspiring photographer develops an intimate relationship with an older woman in 1950s New York.
    DirectorTodd HaynesStarsCate BlanchettRooney MaraSarah Paulson
  • Chris New and Tom Cullen in Weekend (2011)

    2. Weekend

    20111h 37mNot Rated81Metascore
    7.6 (34K)
    After a drunken house party with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time he picks up Glen but what's expected to be just a one-night stand becomes something else, something special.
    DirectorAndrew HaighStarsTom CullenChris NewJonathan Race
  • Happy Together (1997)

    3. Happy Together

    19971h 36mNot Rated70Metascore
    7.7 (36K)
    A couple take a trip to Argentina but both men find their lives drifting apart in opposite directions.
    DirectorWong Kar-WaiStarsLeslie CheungTony Leung Chiu-waiChang Chen
  • Brokeback Mountain (2005)

    4. Brokeback Mountain

    20052h 14mR87Metascore
    7.7 (401K)
    Two shepherds fall for each other, but their relationship becomes complicated when they both get married to their respective girlfriends.
    DirectorAng LeeStarsJake GyllenhaalHeath LedgerMichelle Williams
  • Paris Is Burning (1990)

    5. Paris Is Burning

    19901h 18mR82Metascore
    8.2 (19K)
    A chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.
    DirectorJennie LivingstonStarsBrooke XtravaganzaAndré ChristianDorian Corey
  • Sakda Kaewbuadee and Banlop Lomnoi in Tropical Malady (2004)

    6. Tropical Malady

    20041h 58mNot Rated81Metascore
    7.1 (6.6K)
    A romance between a soldier and a country boy, wrapped around a Thai folk-tale involving a shaman with shape-shifting abilities.
    DirectorApichatpong WeerasethakulStarsBanlop LomnoiSakda KaewbuadeeHuai Dessom
  • Daniel Day-Lewis and Gordon Warnecke in My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

    7. My Beautiful Laundrette

    19851h 37mR75Metascore
    6.8 (18K)
    An ambitious Pakistani Briton and his white boyfriend strive for success and hope when they open a glamorous laundromat.
    DirectorStephen FrearsStarsSaeed JaffreyRoshan SethDaniel Day-Lewis
  • All About My Mother (1999)

    8. All About My Mother

    19991h 41mR87Metascore
    7.8 (107K)
    A comedy-drama about a bereaved mother, an overwrought actress, her jealous lover, and a pregnant nun.
    DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsCecilia RothMarisa ParedesCandela Peña
  • Song of Love (1950)

    9. Song of Love

    195026mNot RatedShort
    7.5 (3.9K)
    Two prisoners in complete isolation, separated by the thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication.
    DirectorJean GenetStarsBravoJean GenetJava
  • River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves in My Own Private Idaho (1991)

    10. My Own Private Idaho

    19911h 44mR77Metascore
    6.9 (65K)
    Two best friends living on the streets of Portland as hustlers embark on a journey of self discovery and find their relationship stumbling along the way.
    DirectorGus Van SantStarsRiver PhoenixKeanu ReevesJames Russo
  • Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez in Tangerine (2015)

    11. Tangerine

    20151h 28mR86Metascore
    7.1 (41K)
    A hooker tears through Tinseltown on Christmas Eve searching for the pimp who broke her heart.
    DirectorSean BakerStarsKitana Kiki RodriguezMya TaylorKarren Karagulian
  • Margit Carstensen and Hanna Schygulla in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)

    12. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant

    19722h 4mNot Rated73Metascore
    7.5 (12K)
    A troubled fashion designer strikes up a romance with a much younger woman.
    DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsMargit CarstensenHanna SchygullaKatrin Schaake
  • Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos in Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)

    13. Blue Is the Warmest Colour

    20133hNC-1790Metascore
    7.7 (169K)
    Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire and to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adèle grows, seeks herself, loses herself, and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.
    DirectorAbdellatif KechicheStarsLéa SeydouxAdèle ExarchopoulosSalim Kechiouche
  • Mädchen in Uniform (1931)

    14. Mädchen in Uniform

    19311h 27mPassed
    7.5 (4.1K)
    At an all-girls boarding school, Manuela falls in love with a teacher, to terrific consequences.
    DirectorsLeontine SaganCarl FroelichStarsDorothea WieckHertha ThieleEmilia Unda
  • Alexandra Dahlström and Rebecka Liljeberg in Show Me Love (1998)

    15. Show Me Love

    19981h 29mNot Rated73Metascore
    7.5 (57K)
    Two teenage girls in small-town Sweden. Elin is beautiful, popular, and bored with life. Agnes is friendless, sad, and secretly in love with Elin.
    DirectorLukas MoodyssonStarsAlexandra DahlströmRebecka LiljebergErica Carlson
  • Tilda Swinton in Orlando (1992)

    16. Orlando

    19921h 34mPG-1375Metascore
    7.1 (20K)
    After Queen Elizabeth I commands him not to grow old, a young nobleman struggles with love and his place in the world.
    DirectorSally PotterStarsTilda SwintonBilly ZaneQuentin Crisp
  • Dirk Bogarde in Victim (1961)

    17. Victim

    19611h 40mNot Rated85Metascore
    7.7 (7.7K)
    A closeted lawyer risks his career to bring a blackmailer to justice.
    DirectorBasil DeardenStarsDirk BogardeSylvia SymsDennis Price
  • I, You, He, She (1974)

    18. I, You, He, She

    19741h 26m
    6.6 (3.5K)
    'Je' is a girl voluntarily lock up in a room. 'Tu' is the script. 'Il' is a lorry driver. 'Elle' is the girlfriend.
    DirectorChantal AkermanStarsChantal AkermanNiels ArestrupClaire Wauthion
  • Looking for Langston (1989)

    19. Looking for Langston

    198945mR
    6.7 (671)
    A black and white, fantasy-like recreation of high-society gay men during the Harlem Renaissance, with archival footage and photographs intercut with a story. A wake is going on, with mourners gathered around a coffin. Downstairs is an elegant bar where tuxedoed men dance and talk. One of them has a dream in which he comes upon Beauty, who seems to reject him, although when he awakes, Beauty is sleeping beside him. His story and his visits to the jazz and dance club are framed by voices reading from the poetry and essays of Hughes and others. The text is rarely explicit, but the freedom of gay Black men in the 1920s in Harlem is suggested and celebrated visually.
    DirectorIsaac JulienStarsBen EllisonMatthew BaidooAkim Mogaji
  • Beau Travail (1999)

    20. Beau Travail

    19991h 32mUnrated91Metascore
    7.3 (17K)
    An ex-Foreign Legion officer recalls his once-glorious life of leading troops in Djibouti.
    DirectorClaire DenisStarsDenis LavantMichel SuborGrégoire Colin
  • Glen Berry and Scott Neal in Beautiful Thing (1996)

    21. Beautiful Thing

    19961h 30mR
    7.6 (27K)
    Jamie is a shy teenager, often bullied at school. His neighbour Ste has a rough time at home, being beaten by his father and brother. This issues bring them together and they find that what they feel for each other is more than friendship.
    DirectorHettie MacdonaldStarsGlen BerryLinda HenryScott Neal
  • Christophe Paou and Pierre Deladonchamps in Stranger by the Lake (2013)

    22. Stranger by the Lake

    20131h 40mNot Rated82Metascore
    6.9 (17K)
    Summertime. A cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel, an attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man. Franck knows this but wants to live out his passion anyway.
    DirectorAlain GuiraudieStarsPierre DeladonchampsChristophe PaouPatrick d'Assumçao
  • Terence Stamp and Silvana Mangano in Teorema (1968)

    23. Teorema

    19681h 38mNot Rated
    7.0 (16K)
    A mysterious young man seduces each member of a bourgeois family. When he suddenly leaves, how will their lives change?
    DirectorPier Paolo PasoliniStarsSilvana ManganoTerence StampMassimo Girotti
  • The Watermelon Woman (1996)

    24. The Watermelon Woman

    19961h 25mUnrated74Metascore
    7.1 (4.2K)
    A young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.
    DirectorCheryl DunyeStarsCheryl DunyeGuinevere TurnerValarie Walker
  • Pariah (2011)

    25. Pariah

    20111h 26mR79Metascore
    7.2 (7.8K)
    A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.
    DirectorDee ReesStarsAdepero OduyeKim WayansAasha Davis

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