30 awesome lesbian movies where no one dies at the end

Sometimes you just want a film with a lesbian body count of ZERO...

Listen, we get it, sometimes characters should die in films. Sometimes that makes sense for the story that the film is trying to tell, that the loss is necessary. Here's the problem though, all too often it feels like every movie about lesbians you watch involves a lesbian dying, or deciding that women just weren’t for them and that they’d like to date men again, it gets a little old.

We deserve better! We want happily ever afters where the gay girlies ride off into the sunset together. Frankly, it's not too much to ask. Thankfully, some Sapphic films give us what we really want. Here are 25, yes 25 lesbian movies that prove not every WLW story has to be bittersweet with their happy (or at least hopeful) endings!

Drive Away-Dolls

This movie is the epitome of a lesbian romp! Two besties hit the road for the dykiest road trip ever only to find them entangled with a group of criminals. Basement makeouts, lesbian ex drama, and brewing romance make this one a mega winner!

The Kids Are All Right

A long-term married lesbian couple's life gets massively shaken up with the anonymous sperm donor responsible for helping them start their family enters their life. Are there some bumps in this one? I'll say but Annette Benning and Julianne Moore are a couple and that's enough for us to weather the rough patches.

Kajillionaire

Miranda July writes and directs this twisty crime thriller which features one of the hottest sapphic kisses set to film. Seriously, if we had a VHS of this film, it would be WORN OUT!

Happiest Season

It's always a good time to get into the holiday spirit, and this Sapphic Christmas rom-com from writer/director Clea Duvall has become one our holiday traditions. Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis star as a couple who are forced to go back in the closet while going home for the holidays. As you can imagine that does NOT go well. Also Aubrey Plaza wears a blazer. Hello.

Colette

Based on the true story of Sapphic erotica writer Collette, this film follows her journey from wife to famed lesbian authoress. Our bosoms are practically heaving.

Princess Cyd

This sweet coming-of-age film follows a young woman named Cyd who goes away for the summer and explores her sexuality, which includes falling for the local barista. Summer of love with a coffee slanging dyke? This is what we call relatable content!

Booksmart

Beanie Feldstein is reason enough to watch (or rewatch) this queer comedy classic — but for formality's sake the film follows Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Feldstein) who spent their entire high school career focused on getting into college. On the last night they decide its time to pack in four years of fun before heading off into their futures.

Erin’s Guide to Kissing Girls

Perhaps the sweetest film on our list Erin's Gudie to Kissing Girls follows a little baby dyke named Erin (Elliot Stocking) who is on a quest to kiss the new girl in school (Rosali Annikie), but this new pursuit causes her bestie Liz (Jesyca Gu) to feel pushed to the side.

Tahara

Our collective girlfriend Rachel Sennott stars in this film about young woman named CArrie (Madeline Grey DeFreece) who ends up kissing a classmate (Sennott) during another student's funeral. But it's funny, we swear.

Lez Bomb

We all have a guilty pleasure, and Lez Bomb is ours. Not that we actually feel guilty, oh at all. Lauren (Jenna Laurenzo) is a closeted lesbian who is ready to finally come out to her family — and what better time and place than over Thanksgiving dinner? So she and her girlfriend Hailey (Caitlin Mehner) head home only to have the plan thwarted by her male roommate. Hijinks and lesbian chaos ensue.

 Crush

In this super sweet rom-com, Rowan Blanchard stars as (Paige) who is forced to join her high school track team and turns lemons into lemonade by using it as an excuse to get closer to her crush but ends up finding out that real love may actually be waiting for her with another teammate, AJ (Auli’i Cravalho).

The Handmaiden

Ok, this is a cheat, but honestly is just so good we couldn't resist. Yes, people die in this one, but nobody who doesn't have it coming. Based on the novel Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, this twisting turning thriller was adapted and directed by Park Chan-Wook and set, instead of Victorian England in Japanese-occupied Korea. The film follows two women, a Japanese heiress named Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee) and a Korean pickpocket named Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri) who is hired as her maid as part of a plot to rob the heiress.

Erotic, visually stunning, and full of shocking plot twists, The Handmaiden is a must-watch, when you're craving something dark, Sapphic, and sexy.

But I’m a Cheerleader

But I’m a Cheerleader may take place in a conversion therapy camp, but this romantic comedy starring Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVall has one of the best happy endings in a movie about lesbians ever.

Carol

It’s hard not to fall a little bit more in love with Carol every time you see it. The romantic drama set in 1950s New York tells the story of a love affair between soon to be divorced Carol Aird, and young aspiring artist, Therese Belivet. The film was based on The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, which had an unprecedented happy ending for lesbian characters when it was released in 1952.

I Can’t Think Straight

I Can’t Think Straight is a 2008 romance film about Tala, a London-based Jordanian of Palestinian decent, who is planning her wedding, and Leyla, a British Indian, the woman she has an affair with. The film attempts to deal with race, class, and sexuality in 80 minutes to varying degrees of success, but Tala and Leyla’s super sweet love story and ultimately happy ending make it worth the watch.

Life Partners

Life Partners follows the friendship of Sasha (Leighton Meester) and Paige (Gillian Jacobs). Sasha is a lesbian, and Paige is straight. Their friendship is the first and only priority, until Paige meets a new boyfriend, Tim. While the film doesn’t focus on a lesbian love story, it is an entertaining buddy flick. Bonus: the film is currently streaming on Netflix!

Nina’s Heavenly Delights

Nina’s Heavenly Delights is a 2006 romantic comedy that follows Nina Shah and Lisa as they begin a romantic relationship after Nina’s father dies and leaves half the restaurant to Lisa.

Kiss Me

Kiss Me is a Swedish drama following Mia, an architect who is engaged to Tim, her business partner. When she meets Frida, the daughter of her newly engaged father’s fiancée, they begin an affair. Bonus: the film is currently streaming on Netflix!

Imagine Me & You

Imagine Me & You is a German-British romantic comedy that centers on the relationship between Rachel and Luce who meet on Rachel’s wedding day to Hector. The film offers happy endings for everyone, even Rachel’s ex-husband.

Bound

Okay, so technically people die in Bound. This 1996 neo-noir crime thriller by The Wachowskis follows Corky, an ex-con who just finished a five-year jail sentence, and Violet, her new next door neighbor who she starts a relationship with. Despite all the ways things could go wrong for the couple, they get a happy ending!

Show Me Love

Show Me Love is a Swedish film following two teenage girls, Agnes and Elin, who begin a romantic relationship in their stifling small town. Bonus: the film is currently streaming on Netflix!

Gray Matters

Gray Matters is a 2006 romantic comedy that follows Gray Baldwin, who lives with her brother Sam, and accidentally falls in love with her sister-in-law.

Jenny’s Wedding

Is Jenny’s Wedding a great movie? Not really. There are a lot of long speeches about why Jenny’s conservative parents are wrong, and about how love overcomes everything, although the relationship between Jenny and Kitty is so thinly developed that it’s hard to believe it overcomes much. That said, if you just want to see a movie where Katherine Heigl and Alexis Bledel play a lesbian couple that gets married, go for it!

D.E.B.S.

D.E.B.S. is an action-comedy parody of the Charlie’s Angels format. The film focuses on a love story between a hero, Amy Bradshaw, and a villain, Lucy Diamond. Despite the fact that they're on opposite sides of the law, the two get to ride off into the night together.

The World Unseen

The World Unseen was written and directed by Shamim Sarif, also known for I Can’t Think Straight, and stars the same actresses, Lisa Ray and Sheetal Sheth. The film is set in 1950s South Africa, where Amina and Miriam tentatively begin a romantic relationship in the midst of oppression.

Saving Face

Saving Face is a romantic comedy directed by Alice Wu that focuses on Wilhelmina, a Chinese-American surgeon, and her dancer girlfriend, Vivian. The ending is so ridiculously sweet and happy that you’ll want to dance.

The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love

The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love is a 1995 film written and directed by Maria Maggenti. The film follows the relationship between two very different teens, Randy Dean and Evie Roy. While the film doesn’t have an entirely happy ending since Randy and Evie are navigating being out and adulthood for the first time, the characters are allowed to do so without dying.

Desert Hearts

Desert Hearts is a romantic Western drama directed by Donna Deitch and based on the 1964 novel Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule. The film is set in 1959, and follows Vivian Bell, an English Professor who travels to Reno, Nevada to obtain a quick divorce, and Cay Rivers, a free-spirited sculptor, as they start an affair. The film has a hopeful ending.

Better Than Chocolate

Better Than Chocolate is a 1999 Canadian romantic comedy directed by Anne Wheeler. The film follows Maggie, who has recently moved out on her own, as she starts a relationship with another woman, Kim. Things become more complicated when Maggie’s mother and brother are forced to move into her loft, and are unaware that she’s a lesbian.

Disobedience

After living in New York for many years, photographer Ronit (Rachel Weisz) returns for a trip back home to her super-conservative, Orthodox Jewish community in London and rekindles a forbidden relationship she had with her childhood friend Esti (Rachel McAdams), who has since married their other childhood friend (and a respected Rabbi in the community) Dovid. 

The catalyst for Ronit returning to London and reuniting with Esti is the death of Ronit's father, so technically, someone did die in this movie...but at least it wasn't the queer women!