It’s hard to define some films by a single genre. Especially with genre combinations becoming increasingly popular. It’s the films that could be described as a genre of their own that make them memorable. Here is a list of queer stories that broke barriers and took it to the next level.
1. Orpheus (1950)
At the Café des Poètes in Paris, a fight breaks out between the poet Orphée (Jean Marais) and a group of resentful upstarts. A rival poet, Cègeste (Edouard Dermithe), is killed, and a mysterious princess (María Casares) insists on taking Orpheus and the body away in her Rolls-Royce. Orphée soon finds himself in the underworld, where the Princess announces that she is, in fact, Death. Orpheus escapes in the car back to the land of the living, only to become obsessed with the car radio.
2. Purple Noon (1960)
Tom Ripley (Alain Delon) travels to Italy to visit his playboy friend Phillippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet) and Phillippe’s new fiancée, Marge Duval (Marie Laforêt). What Phillippe doesn’t know is that his father has paid Tom to convince his son to abandon Europe and return to his family responsibilities in San Francisco. But when Phillippe’s family cuts off their funding of Tom’s extravagant lifestyle during his covert mission, he discovers another way to maintain his newfound standard of living.
3. The Crying Game (1992)
Irish Republican Army member Fergus (Stephen Rea) forms an unexpected bond with Jody (Forest Whitaker), a kidnapped British soldier in his custody, despite the warnings of fellow IRA members Jude (Miranda Richardson) and Maguire (Adrian Dunbar). Jody makes Fergus promise he’ll visit his girlfriend, Dil (Jaye Davidson), in London, and when Fergus flees to the city, he seeks her out. Hounded by his former IRA colleagues, he finds himself increasingly drawn to the enigmatic, and surprising, Dil.
4. Bound (1996)
Sparks fly when Violet (Jennifer Tilly) sets eyes on Corky (Gina Gershon) in an elevator. Violet is the girlfriend of a violent gangster, Caesar (Joe Pantoliano), while Corky is fresh out of prison and doing renovations on the apartment next door. As the two women launch into a passionate love affair, they assemble an intricate plan for Violet to escape from Caesar, with two million dollars of the mob’s money — but the important part is to make it out alive.
5. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
A German emigrant living in a trailer in Kansas is the victim of a botched sex-change operation. Adapted from the critically acclaimed off-Broadway rock theater hit, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” tells the story of the “internationally ignored” rock singer, Hedwig, and her search for stardom and love.
6. D.E.B.S. (2004)
This 90-minute spy parody involves a secret crime-fighting unit made up of schoolgirls Amy (Sara Foster), Dominique (Devon Aoki), Janet (Jill Ritchie), and Max (Meagan Good). A government agency recruited them for the team based on their standardized test scores, which assumed a propensity for lying and thieving. Their assignment is to take down major villain Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster). As it turns out, all she really wants to have an illicit affair with D.E.B.S. leader Amy. Michael Clarke Duncan plays the president of D.E.B.S. Academy. D.E.B.S. was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004.
7. Jennifer’s Body (2009)
When a demon takes possession of her, high-school hottie Jennifer (Megan Fox) turns a hungry eye on guys who never stood a chance with her before. While evil Jennifer satisfies her appetite for human flesh with the school’s male population, her nerdy friend, Needy (Amanda Seyfried), learns what’s happening and vows to put an end to the carnage.