Last updated: July 12, 2026
European lesbian movies have always felt different to me because each country carries its own emotional temperature. French sapphic films often speak through silence and looking. British lesbian films tend to hold desire inside class, religion, history, and restraint. Spanish films can feel warmer and more direct, while German and Eastern European stories often bring in social pressure, identity, and quiet rebellion.
This guide is not meant to list every European lesbian film ever made. I see it more as a country-by-country starting point: a way to notice how sapphic stories change when they move from Paris to London, Madrid, Berlin, Rome, or Lithuania.
Some of these films are direct lesbian romances. Some are coming-of-age stories, period dramas, thrillers, or complicated queer stories where desire is shaped by family, religion, politics, and place. What interests me most is how European lesbian cinema rarely feels like one single category. It changes with language, landscape, class, history, and the amount of freedom each character is allowed to imagine.
Streaming note: Availability changes by country and over time. I include watch options as a starting point, but I recommend checking each title directly before renting, buying, or subscribing.
French Lesbian Cinema
French lesbian cinema often stays with me because it knows how to make silence feel charged. Desire is not always explained out loud; it appears in glances, distance, framing, bodies near water, and the space between two women who know they are being watched by history, family, or social rules. For a deeper list, see my guide to French lesbian films.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Country: France
Release Year: 2019
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: 8.1/10
An amazing romance set in the eighteenth century whereby a female painter is hired to produce a wedding portrait of a reluctant bride. An intense desire grows between them as they spend time on a far-off island, resulting in a passionate yet impractical love affair that questions the societal mores of their day.
Summertime (La Belle Saison) (2015)
Country: France
Release Year: 2015
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: 7.2/10
Filmed in 1971 France, this drama centres Delphine, a daughter of a farmer who travels to Paris and develops feelings for feminist activist Carole. Their romance thrives in the liberal Parisian setting but suffers severe difficulties when they withdraw to Delphine’s family farm, where conventional country beliefs collide with their affection.
Knife+Heart (Un couteau dans le cœur) (2018)
Country: France
Release Year: 2018
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Rating: 6.5/10
A stylized queer thriller set in late-1970s Paris, Knife+Heart follows a film producer whose heartbreak, obsession, and creative life become tangled with a series of violent events around her performers.
My Context: This is one of the more adult-leaning and genre-heavy picks in the French section. I would not recommend it as a soft lesbian romance, but it belongs here as a bold, strange, visually intense part of French queer cinema.
Discover more: Explore our complete guide to French lesbian cinema: 36 films that defined the genre →
British Lesbian Films
British lesbian films often carry desire under restraint. What I notice most is how often love has to move through class, religion, marriage, period settings, family silence, or social pressure. For more titles beyond these picks, see my British lesbian movies guide.
Ammonite (2020)
Country: UK
Release Year: 2020
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Rating: 6.5/10
Celebrated palaeontologist Mary Anning works alone on the craggy Southern coast in 1840s England. When a rich guest leaves Mary in charge of his wife Charlotte, the two ladies grow close and change their lives in this subtly strong study of loneliness and connection.
Disobedience (2017)
Country: UK/Ireland
Release Year: 2017
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: 6.6/10
After her father dies, Ronit returns to the Orthodox Jewish community she once left behind. There, she reconnects with Esti, her childhood friend and former love, who is now married within the community. Their renewed feelings force both women to confront faith, duty, marriage, and the cost of living honestly.
The Favourite (2018)
Country: UK/Ireland/USA
Release Year: 2018
Where to Watch: HBO Max, Disney+
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama
Rating: 7.5/10
In early 18th-century England, Queen Anne depends heavily on Lady Sarah, whose political influence and emotional intimacy shape the court around her. When Abigail arrives and begins to win the Queen’s favor, the relationship between the three women becomes a sharp, darkly funny struggle over power, affection, survival, and control.
My Context: I include The Favourite as a sapphic-leaning historical power drama, not as a straightforward lesbian romance. Its queerness is tied to court politics, manipulation, and dependence, which makes it fascinating but not especially soft.
Can’t get enough of British lesbian cinema? See our full collection of 20 groundbreaking UK lesbian films you need to watch →
Spanish Lesbian Cinema
Spanish lesbian films often feel emotionally direct to me. Even when the stories are painful, there is usually heat, family pressure, social tension, and a strong sense of place. For more titles, see my Spanish lesbian movies and series guide.
Carmen & Lola (2018)
Country: Spain
Release Year: 2018
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: 6.9/10
Set within a conservative Romani community in Madrid, Carmen & Lola follows two teenage girls whose attraction grows in a world where family expectation, gender roles, and community judgment leave very little room for open sapphic love.
Elisa & Marcela (2019)
Country: Spain
Release Year: 2019
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Rating: 6.8/10
Inspired by the actual account of Spain’s first same-sex marriage, this black-and- white film centres Elisa and Marcela, who meet in 1885 Galicia as teachers. After years of keeping a secret relationship, they plot for one of them to adopt a male name so she may be legally married in 1901.
Júlia ist (2017)
Country: Spain
Release Year: 2017
Genre: Drama
Rating: 7.1/10
Beginning an Erasmus year in Berlin, a young student studying Spanish architecture finds cultural dislocation, personal development, and sexual awakening. By means of her interactions with women in this new surroundings, Júlia starts to find her own self apart from family expectations.
Want more Spanish passion? Dive into our comprehensive guide to Spanish lesbian films throughout history →
German Lesbian Films
German lesbian films in this guide are quieter but psychologically sharp. They often look at identity through family systems, medical/legal pressure, adolescence, and the loneliness of trying to become yourself in a society that prefers clear categories. For more, see my German lesbian movies guide.
Two Mothers (Zwei Mütter) (2013)
Country: Germany
Release Year: 2013
Genre: Drama
Rating: 6.9/10
A lesbian couple in Germany decides to have a child together, only to run into legal, medical, financial, and emotional barriers. What begins as a shared dream slowly becomes a test of their relationship, their patience, and the systems that claim to support family while making queer parenthood difficult.
Cocoon (Kokon) (2020)
Country: Germany
Release Year: 2020
Genre: Drama
Rating: 7.0/10
During a hot summer in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, 14-year-old Nora begins to notice her body, her desires, and her own loneliness more clearly. When she meets Romy, a confident and free-spirited girl, Nora’s summer becomes a quiet turning point in how she sees herself.
Looking for more German lesbian stories? Explore our curated collection of 25 must-see German lesbian films →
Italian Lesbian Films
Italian lesbian films often interest me because they place desire inside family pressure, social performance, Catholic memory, class, and the beauty of ordinary places. The light can be warm, but the emotional choices are rarely simple. For more titles, see my Italian lesbian films guide.
La bella estate (2023)
Country: Italy/France
Release Year: 2023
Where to Watch: MUBI, Film Festivals, Prime Video (select regions)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: 7.5/10
Set in 1930s Turin, La bella estate follows Ginia, a young woman whose life begins to open when she enters an artistic circle and becomes fascinated by Amelia, a more confident and liberated model. The film is less about a simple romance than about awakening: to art, to beauty, to desire, and to the danger of wanting a life beyond what has been prepared for you.
My Context: I would recommend this to viewers who like slow sapphic coming-of-age stories with period atmosphere. It is not a loud film, but it captures the confusion of being drawn toward someone who seems to represent freedom itself.
Me, Myself and Her (Io e lei) (2015)
Country: Italy
Release Year: 2015
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rating: 6.7/10
After years together in Rome, Marina and Federica seem settled as a couple, but their relationship begins to strain under questions of identity, visibility, past relationships, and how differently each woman understands being seen in public. The film is more about long-term partnership than first discovery, which makes it a useful contrast to the younger romances in this guide.
Craving more Italian lesbian films? Indulge in our complete guide to Italian lesbian cinema →
Eastern European Lesbian Cinema
Summer of Sangailė (2015)
Country: Lithuania
Release Year: 2015
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: 7.0/10
First love portrayed sensitively against the summer lake area of Lithuania. Though too scared to fly, seventeen-year-old Sangailė finds great fascination in stunt planes. Her great attraction to the bold and energetic Auste gives Sangailė the bravery to confront her anxieties—in the air as much as in love.
More Lesbian Movies from Around the World
European lesbian cinema is only one part of a much larger sapphic film landscape. If you want to compare how different cultures tell stories about women loving women, these guides are a natural next step.