Lesbian Films

There can be no doubt that the number and availability of lesbian films, or films with a lesbian content, has risen over the last 15 years. From the early days of The Killing of Sister George and Desert Hearts to the dark thrills of Bound, lesbian film has followed two paths: attempts at penetrating the mainstream of cinema and developing its own, specialist genre. To the media-hungry lesbian, searching for an artistic and emotive experience, and to the loving couple who just want a night in front of a DVD with a bowl of popcorn, there appear to be a range of choices. But, more often than not, the viewing experience is dissatisfying. The burning question is, why?

To begin with, why do we need lesbian films anyway? What motivates film makers to make them, and what prompts us to watch them. The simple response is that the media, especially film, make visible the hidden stories of people’s lives and problems, and brings into being the imaginations and creations of writers and directors. We are a culture of voyeurs, and the vicarious experience of a good film is generally a pleasurable one. But in the world of lesbian film, this may not be the case.

Lesbians who watch films might do so for a number of reasons, but one very powerful reason for enjoying a film is because the viewer sees and feels parallels between themselves and the characters on screen. Who has not watched Jodie Foster and visualised themselves in her shoes (or in other items of her clothing)? How many of us have sat up straight, heart pounding in excitement, when in the midst of some straight thriller or cuddly chick flick we find the token lesbian character? As a teenager I sat up late at night to watch The Killing of Sister George because I just wanted to see what another lesbian looked like. It disturbed me to think that my identity was represented in such a negative way. It took years to realise lesbians look like a lot of people and what I was really searching for was validation of my lifestyle, my feelings, my desires, in the media that so powerfully surround and underline our social and personal lives.

The problem is that lesbian film is so bad! Yes, I hear the cries of denial even as I write. Yes, I am a lover of lesbian film, an aficionado even. I can quote almost word for word the entire script of Claire of the Moon, Desert Hearts, Go Fish and a few others I would regard as good films. Even as I love these films, I see their flaws, their low-budget sound, but they are attractive and interesting because they are well written and teeming with the feelings and desires I can see represented in so few places. There are also a body of films in which lesbian lifestyle is presented as inherently negative, emotionally unbalanced and tragic. There are countless others far less memorable, whose quality leaves a lot to be desired.

What is so bad about lesbian film? To begin with, the plots are often thin, and if made by companies more interested in money than art, quantity than quality, are often thinly disguised soft porn with little else to recommend them. Even the erotic scenes are often designed for a straight male viewing audience. I find myself cheering when I see an erotic scene that looks like something I might do in bed! Where there is a good plot then one finds the characters less than appealing. Two-dimensional characters coupled with poor acting results in a laughable or even irritating film which only serves to undermine lesbian life and experience, and lesbian imagination.

It must be remembered that lesbian films are a product, made, packaged and marketed for lesbians. If so many of them are so poorly made, poorly written, badly acted and generally laughable, why do we keep on buying them? What prompts us to tolerate such abysmal attempts at film making? It could be that the shoddy nature of many lesbian films merely reflects a social culture that still does not view itself as worthy of anything else. It could be that any price is worth paying for any kind of media which represent something to do with lesbians, where we can see ourselves and others like us, can relate to the characters simply because they are lesbians, however implausible the plots or shallow the acting may be. If this is the case, then it could be argued that we, as a sub-culture, are being exploited, being sold imperfect goods at inflated prices because we are a captive audience!

Or it could be that the demands of those lesbians who buy and watch films are simply to watch lesbians, and issues of quality are not important. We know that lesbian films, like any other films, need money behind them to be good. So if the money is only there for films which would titillate a straight audience, this will affect the kinds of films being distributed. This seems a waste of the vast resource that the lesbian buying public represent. Perhaps we should be standing up and demanding better quality, better acting, real storylines and real characters, films which can stand alone as good films as well as show the wide and varied range of lesbian lives and loves. Whatever the case, while so many of us continue to buy such films simply because they have lesbians in them, such films will continue to be made. We are worth more than the limited representations of ourselves that currently exist, and will never claim equality with the dominant straight culture until we can compete with that culture on our own terms. I have been waiting a long time to see a lesbian film that is a quality production, with good writing, strong acting, is entertaining and makes the characters seem real. I am still waiting.

Alys Henley-Einion (Velvet Issue 9, Aug 2006)