If Disobedience left you breathless with its restrained intimacy, religious tension, and the emotional weight of forbidden love, you’re not alone. This 2017 drama isn’t just about a romance between two women — it’s about identity, guilt, and the cost of freedom.
In this list, we’ve curated lesbian movies that echo the core emotional themes of Disobedience. What do they all share?
🚫 Forbidden love under social or religious pressure
🔥 Slow-burn chemistry that simmers with every glance
🧠 Emotionally complex characters facing internal or external conflict
🎭 Understated performances and beautiful direction
Whether it’s set in the past or present, these lesbian dramas all carry the same quiet ache — a longing for love in a world that won’t make space for it.
Jump to a Movie
Movies Like Disobedience List
Director: Céline Sciamma
Main Cast: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel
Country: France
Genre: Historical Drama, Romance
Keywords: forbidden love, female gaze, sapphic longing
Plot Summary
In 18th century France, a painter is hired to secretly paint a noblewoman’s wedding portrait. As the two women spend time together in isolation, a forbidden romance begins to blossom.
❤️ Why it’s like Disobedience:
Both films explore repressed passion within rigid social structures. Through long gazes and quiet moments, they show how love can ignite where it’s least allowed.
💬 A masterpiece of silence and staring — you’ll feel every breath.
Director: Mona Fastvold
Main Cast: Katherine Waterston, Vanessa Kirby
Country: USA
Genre: Period Drama, Romance
Keywords: emotional isolation, 19th-century love, frontier hardship
Plot Summary
Two farmers’ wives in 1850s New York form a close friendship that evolves into love, offering warmth amid the emotional coldness of their repressive lives.
❤️ Why it’s like Disobedience:
Both stories are about women whose desires can’t exist in public, and whose love is built on stolen moments and inner yearning.
💬 A slow, melancholic burn that lingers like winter air.
Director: Annabel Jankel
Main Cast: Anna Paquin, Holliday Grainger
Country: UK
Genre: Romantic Drama
Keywords: small-town, 1950s, motherhood, hidden love
Plot Summary
In a conservative Scottish town, a doctor and a single mother bond over shared struggles, sparking a romance that draws the attention of a judgmental community.
❤️ Why it’s like Disobedience:
Both portray queer love under heavy societal scrutiny, showing how tenderness becomes an act of defiance.
💬 If you love tender moments and quiet rebellion, this one’s for you.
Director: Francis Lee
Main Cast: Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan
Country: UK
Genre: Period Drama, Biopic
Keywords: Victorian era, fossil collector, silent passion
Plot Summary
Mary Anning, a reclusive paleontologist, forms a surprising relationship with a fragile young woman sent to convalesce by the sea.
❤️ Why it’s like Disobedience:
It captures the ache of forbidden affection in a world where women must love discreetly, echoing Disobedience‘s emotional restraint.
💬 A cold seashore. A warm glance. A love that never says its name.
Director: Dee Rees
Main Cast: Adepero Oduye
Country: USA
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Queer Identity
Keywords: Black lesbian identity, family pressure, urban life
Plot Summary
Alike, a 17-year-old Black teenager in Brooklyn, navigates her sexual identity while hiding her true self from her conservative family.
❤️ Why it’s like Disobedience:
Both films show the painful divide between who we are and what our communities allow us to be — and the courage it takes to live authentically.
💬 A raw and poetic portrait of queer self-discovery.
Director: Tali Shalom-Ezer
Main Cast: Elliot Page, Kate Mara
Country: USA
Genre: Political Romance
Keywords: death penalty, family trauma, opposites attract
Plot Summary
Two women from opposing sides of a death penalty protest fall in love, despite deeply personal and political divides between them.
❤️ Why it’s like Disobedience:
It shares the same emotional stakes — choosing between love and loyalty, identity and expectation.
💬 Messy, human, and beautifully sincere.
Director: Catherine Corsini
Main Cast: Izïa Higelin, Cécile de France
Country: France
Genre: Political Romance, Period Drama
Keywords: rural vs city, feminism, lesbian awakening
Plot Summary
In 1970s France, Delphine leaves her rural family farm for Paris, where she meets Carole — a passionate feminist activist — and begins to question her place in the world.
❤️ Why it’s like Disobedience:
Like Ronit in Disobedience, Delphine must decide between her roots and her heart, her duty and her desire.
💬 Romantic and rebellious — love as a political act.
Director: Park Chan-wook
Main Cast: Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri
Country: South Korea
Genre: Erotic Thriller, Psychological Drama
Keywords: deception, female agency, twisted love
Plot Summary
In Japanese-occupied Korea, a conwoman posing as a maid finds herself falling for the heiress she’s supposed to deceive — but nothing is what it seems.
❤️ Why it’s like Disobedience:
While more erotic and suspenseful, both films are about women reclaiming agency in spaces that want to control them.
💬 Clever, bold, and deliciously defiant.
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Main Cast: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Léa Seydoux
Country: France
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Erotic Drama
Keywords: first love, heartbreak, queer adolescence
Plot Summary
A teenage girl falls in love with an older art student, navigating the ecstasy and devastation of first queer love.
❤️ Why it’s like Disobedience:
It captures the intensity of desire that cannot be tamed, and the fallout when love meets the real world.
💬 Raw, passionate, and painfully real.
Director: Bruno Barreto
Main Cast: Miranda Otto, Glória Pires
Country: Brazil
Genre: Biopic, Historical Romance
Keywords: poet, cultural clash, long-distance love
Plot Summary
Based on the true story of poet Elizabeth Bishop, this film chronicles her tempestuous relationship with Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares.
❤️ Why it’s like Disobedience:
It deals with longing, distance, and the tension between love and self-sufficiency — themes deeply present in Disobedience.
💬 For those who love their romance poetic and imperfect.
Explore More Sapphic Content
👉 Also explore: Lesbian Movies | GL Series | Yuri Anime & Manga
💡 More Movies Like These