Queerly Ever After #16: Top Ten LGBTQ+ Films Of The Decade

Queerly Ever After is a bi-monthly column where I take a look at LGBT+ films that gave their characters a romantic happily-ever-after. There will be spoilers.

For my final Queerly Ever After of the year, I have decided instead of doing a typical entry, to do a roundup of what I consider the top 10 Queerly Ever After movies of the last decade. If there are movies I didn’t include in this list that you think I should have, let me know, I’m sure there are movies that came out this past decade that have a happily-ever-after that I haven’t heard of.

First, I want to give a special shout-out to the Elton John biopic Rocketman, which does not count as a Queerly Ever After because while Elton John does end up happily married, his husband, David Furnish, is never a character in the film, just a happy footnote. Had David Furnish even appeared in one scene, Rocketman would have found its way onto this list. This is really just me saying, I enjoyed Rocketman and you should watch it too.

Also, I would like to award Nan of the Year to Gemma Jones for playing the supportive elder in Rocketman, God’s Own Country and in the HBO series Gentleman Jack. Rock on Gemma Jones.

10. Evening Shadows (2018)

Sridhar Rangayan’s Evening Shadows comes from a country we don’t see many LGBT films from, India. The film revolves around a young man named Kartik (Devansh Doshi), he lives in Mumbai with his boyfriend Aman (Arpit Chaudhary). On a trip home to visit his family in their small South Indian town, Kartik resolves to come out to his mother Vasudha (Mona Ambegaonkar). Rangayan has said the relationship between Kartik and Vasudha is modeled after his own relationship with his mother.

9. Ideal Home (2018)

In this Andrew Fleming comedy, Erasmus (Steve Coogan) and Paul (Paul Rudd) are a long-term couple who end up having to take in the 10-year-old grandson (Jack Gore) Erasmus didn’t know he had. The couple has to learn how to adapt their lives to make room for the abandoned child, and all three of them come to form their own new family. Is there really any surprise I enjoyed this one?

8. My Life With James Dean (2017)

Dominique Choisy brings us a quirky rom-com in this very French film. Géraud Champreux (Johnny Rasse) is a filmmaker whose feature film is screening in a small coastal town. However the festival’s programmer (Nathalie Richard) is going through emotional turmoil of her own and has forgot to schedule his film, and then the movie theater’s employee (Mickaël Pelissier) falls in love with him after watching his movie. There’s a lot going on this film, and lots of nods to French New Wave cinema.

7. Esteros (2016)

Papu Curotto’s film transitions between two different timelines and tells the story of Matías (Joaquín Parada as young Matías and Ignacio Rogers as adult Matías) and Jerónimo (Blas Finardi Niz as young Jerónimo and Esteban Masturini as adult Jerónimo) two childhood friends who reunite as adults after not having seen each other since the night they hooked up many years prior.

6. The Kids Are All Right (2010)

This Lisa Cholodenko film follows a lesbian couple (Julianne Moore and Annette Bening) and their two children (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) whose life is turned upside down when their daughter the sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo) who is their biological father. Cholodenko has said the central relationship in the film is based on her own relationship with her partner.

5. Princess Cyd (2017)

I’ve already covered this film in a previous entry, but no list of the best Queerly Ever After movies of the decade would be complete without it. Stephen Cone’s coming-of-age tale of young love is one of the best portrayals of sexual fluidity and female sexuality I have ever seen on screen. It follows teenager Cyd (Jessie Pinnick) who, while visiting her aunt (Rebecca Spence) for the summer, discovers herself and falls in love with Katie (Malic White).

4. Moonlight (2016)

You probably remember this as the movie that actually won Best Picture at the 89th Academy Awards, despite La La Land accidentally being announced. This Barry Jenkins film paints a moving picture of three different stages in the life of Chiron (Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes), culminating in him reconciling with his first love, Kevin (André Holland).

3. God’s Own Country (2017)

I’ve already mentioned how Francis Lee’s film was the big inspiration for my column, but in addition to inspiring me, it’s also a wonderful film. Set in the bleak Yorkshire countryside the film follows a British farmer (Josh O’Connor) and a Romanian migrant (Alec Secareanu) worker who fall in love. Much more than just the British Brokeback Mountain as some have called it, this film is hauntingly beautiful.

2. Carol (2015)

Todd Haynes’ adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt is a beautiful film about two women who fall in love in 1950s New York. Therese (Rooney Mara) is an aspiring photographer who is immediately captivated by the older Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett) and the two embark on a passionate romance. A rare period piece with a happy ending for its LGBT leads.

1. The Handmaiden (2016)

I don’t know what else to say other than this thriller directed by Chan-wook Park is a masterpiece. Without going into too much detail about the plot, I’ll just say this film about a pickpocket (Tae-ri Kim) hired to pose as an Heiress’ (Min-hee Kim) handmaiden is filled with twists and turns at every step. It is one of the best crafted films I have ever seen with a wonderful love story at the center.