00:00It took quite a long time for a sapphic themed film to get an Oscar nomination.
00:04There had been a number of actors who had played sapphic characters and been nominated
00:08for the leading actress category prior.
00:10I will be making a companion video going over those, so stay tuned.
00:14But it was 2002, at the 74th ceremony, can you believe, before a sapphic themed movie
00:21got a nomination and it took quite some star power to get there in the form of Nicole Kidman,
00:26Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep, which to be fair, every film on this list boasts big
00:31star power so it's not unusual.
00:33They all play sapphic characters who are linked across different time periods by the Virginia
00:38Wolfe novel Mrs. Dalloway.
00:40We follow Virginia Wolfe herself as she writes the novel and is struggling with her mental
00:44health, a young housewife whose deep unhappiness with her life is overwhelming her and seeks
00:50solace in the novel, and a woman preparing for a dinner party mirroring the Mrs. Dalloway
00:55character.
00:55It's a good film that, as a young sapphic, left an impression, although it's not what
01:00I would call a happy film as it deals with suicide, and it isn't a happy ending.
01:06And if you know Virginia Wolfe's story, you'll know why.
01:09Still a worthy first nomination for Best Picture.
01:12It took eight years before another sapphic film got nominated, which came in the form of
01:162010's Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.
01:20This psychological thriller looks at the deteriorating mental health of a ballerina on the verge
01:25of stardom.
01:26Interesting that the first two films about sapphics deal with delicate mental health.
01:32It's giving me crazy lesbian trope, which you probably know has plagued sapphic content.
01:37Now, the film follows Nina who has won the lead role in Swan Lake, a role that requires her
01:42to play both the white and black swan.
01:44Struggling to embody the black swan, she is pushed beyond her limits by an overbearing mother
01:49and a new rival, Lily, who could possibly take this role away from her.
01:53As she begins to spiral, she also begins to question reality, and on her descent, she no
01:59longer knows if sleeping with Lily after a night out on E happened or not.
02:04While the ending is left ambiguous, her mental health is looking pretty dire by the end.
02:10The representation aside, however, this is a compelling and well-made film.
02:14The other film to get an Oscar nomination in 2010 had another unfortunate trope that I'm
02:19not partial to for the film The Kids Are Alright.
02:22This follows a lesbian couple, Nick and Jules, who have two kids together via donor.
02:27Now teenagers, the kids are curious to meet their biological dad, and so they agree to
02:31invite him over for a meal, and the kids are impressed with his carefree bohemian lifestyle.
02:36The unfortunate trope is also a central plot point to the movie, namely that Jules, feeling
02:41somewhat neglected by her wife, ends up falling into bed with the sperm donor, and lordy I dislike
02:47that trope so much.
02:48The affair is found out, and causes both Nick and Jules to have to face the issues of their
02:54relationship, which, of course, throws their entire family into chaos, and the question
02:58is, can their marriage survive the infidelity?
03:01On the upside, it's Julianne Moore and Annette Bening in the roles, but, while I'm sure the
03:06film is good, I'm not a fan because of the whole lesbian sleeping with a man.
03:10Still, they got nominated for Best Picture.
03:13It was another eight years before The Favourite, with Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, and Olivia Colman,
03:18got a nomination, which is an absurdist, dark comedy based on the historical figure of Queen
03:23Anne and her long-standing relationship with the Duchess of Marlborough and lady-in-waiting,
03:28Sarah Churchill.
03:29Sarah is not just a confidant and advisor to Queen Anne, exercising a considerable amount
03:35of influence over the governance of the country, but is also her lover.
03:39Queen Anne is of delicate constitution, having had an astounding 17 pregnancies, with none
03:45of her children surviving to adulthood, which has had an impact not only on her physical
03:50health, but her mental health, too.
03:52When Sarah's younger, ambitious cousin, Abigail Hill, turns up and secures herself a position
03:57as a lady-in-waiting, she starts to drive a wedge between Queen Anne and Sarah as she
04:02vies to become the Queen's new favourite, and is not above using Queen Anne's sapphic
04:07nature to secure her position.
04:09However, Sarah will not go without a fight, which could prove deadly to her.
04:14Whether the lesbian element to this film is historically accurate or not is, from what I've read, up
04:19for debate, but nonetheless, this movie is a compelling story of dynamic and powerful women at the
04:25turn of the 18th century.
04:26In an unusual twist, the men are depicted as pompous, superficial, and hedonistic characters
04:32who have little influence on state affairs.
04:34That remains the domain of the women, making for a fresh and interesting feminist film.
04:392022 saw a film, written specifically for Cate Blanchett, getting a nomination with Tarr,
04:46the story of a celebrated conductor, Lydia Tarr, working with the Berlin Orchestra.
04:50We see how she abuses her power when she develops an attraction for a young woman who auditions
04:56to join the orchestra.
04:57She makes sure that the girl gets in, and then favours her by controversially giving her
05:02a solo, which contrasts with how she has blacklisted another musician who ultimately takes her life
05:07as a result.
05:08With the threat of being accused of misconduct hanging over her involvement in this, her career
05:14and personal life with her wife and young daughter could come crumbling down.
05:17This is a cerebral meditation on power and its power to corrupt, offering up a thoughtful
05:23psychological drama.
05:25Now, none of these films ultimately won Best Picture, but I do have three Suffolk-themed
05:29films that did walk away with a golden statue.
05:32The first win actually came in 1993 for best foreign film called Belle Epoque, a Spanish
05:38film that follows a young man called Fernando, who had deserted the army in 1931 just as a second
05:44Spanish Republic is about to be announced, and finds himself in an idyllic town.
05:48There, he is taken in by a local who has four beautiful daughters.
05:53He falls for each of them, one by one, however each time a complication arises.
05:58One of these complications is that Violeta is a lesbian.
06:02The representation certainly has its flaws as it involves a lesbian sleeping with a man again,
06:07and the excuse given for it this time is that Fernando was dressed up in a maid's costume
06:13and that Violeta couldn't resist.
06:15I don't know if Violeta gets any further story than that, so in terms of Suffolk satisfaction,
06:20I don't know that this scratches the itch, but it is the first time a film with a Suffolk
06:25storyline has won an Oscar, or so I am led to believe.
06:29Three years later, another lady-loving lady-themed film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, this
06:34time with the Dutch film Antonia's Line, which follows Antonia as she returns to the
06:39village of her childhood to bid goodbye to her mother on her deathbed with her grown
06:43daughter Daniela in post-WWII Netherlands.
06:46She decides to stay and helps her daughter to have a one-night stand to get pregnant since
06:51the daughter has no desire for a husband, and then the daughter ends up falling for her
06:55daughter's tutor Lara and ends up in a long-term Suffolk relationship.
06:59Perhaps because this is a self-described feminist film about the generations of women thriving
07:03without the help of a man, the queer elements of the story fare better than the previous
07:08win of Belle Epoque.
07:09It's not a film I've seen yet, but it's on my list for sure now.
07:13So here we are at the one film that has Suffolk themes that has won in all of the 98
07:18years
07:18of films getting Oscars, and it is none other than Everything Everywhere All at Once.
07:23And while there have certainly been worthy films that could have gained this historic recognition,
07:28I'm not mad at all that this is the one that finally did it, because it is a fantastic
07:32film.
07:33It follows Evelyn, a disgruntled middle-aged immigrant to the US working in a laundromat
07:38who, with the threat of tax fraud hanging over her head, the arrival of her critical father
07:43to visit from China, and a disintegrating relationship with her daughter Joy, must fight an existential
07:48threat that threatens the fabric of the multiverse.
07:51It's a wild, adrenaline-filled ride that spans multiple universes with high-octane fight sequences
07:57that only Michelle Yeoh could pull off, but it also ultimately is a simple story about a mother
08:03and a daughter straining to understand each other.
08:05The primary reason for their strained relationship hinges around Joy being gay and Evelyn's difficulty
08:11in truly accepting that.
08:12I did a review of this film and just how gay it really is over on Patreon, so if you're
08:17interested in exclusive videos as well as a podcast going over the OG lesbian show Xena
08:23Warrior Princess episode by episode, and access to a growing database of sapphic film and TV
08:29with handy links to my reviews on them, do consider joining.
08:32It's insane to think that in almost a hundred years of film, there's only six films with
08:37sapphics in them that have been nominated for the best picture, and only one win.
08:42And two wins for the best foreign film category.
08:45When it comes to actors who played sapphic characters, the numbers are a little brighter,
08:49so do subscribe if you want to be notified for when I post a video about that.
08:53In the meantime, if you've ever wondered when the first sapphic kiss was immortalized on
08:58celluloid, check out the video on your screen about the history of sapphic film and TV.
09:02If you don't already know when that happened, I'll wager you'll be surprised.
09:06Until next time, ladylovers.
