5 ways HBO's 'Bessie' is utterly queerconic
| 05/16/25
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Like a perfectly timed high note in a torch song, Bessie doesn't tiptoe into queerness as filmmaker Dee Rees gives us a love letter to Black, bisexual brilliance. After all, when history forgets our queer queer forebears, we have to remind the world they were here singing, loving, and living out loud.
Grab your feather boa, pour something substantial, and let's sashay through the five ways Bessie is queerconic as ever.
It struts with bisexual visibility
Tika Sumpter as Lucille, Queen Latifah as Bessie Smith
HBO
From the moment Queen Latifah's Bessie Smith is in bed with Lucille (Tika Sumpter) under the daytime glow, we're told–no, shown–that the "Empress of the Blues" loved loudly across the gender spectrum. Director Dee Rees folds several of Smith's real-life girlfriends into Lucille's composite character to keep the focus tight, but the point is crystal clear: this woman's desire wasn't a footnote. Latifah herself doubled down on authenticity, waving off pearl-clutchers who fretted over the film's authentic portrayal of bisexual intimacy.
The film stitches a queer sisterhood into blues history
Mo'Nique as Ma Rainey
HBO
Enter Mo'Nique's Ma Rainey, with all her gilded swagger and gravitational pull. Instead of reducing the great Mother of the Blues to a cameo, Bessie lets Rainey mentor, mother-hen, and downright flirt her way across the screen. It's a reminder that Black queer women have continuously innovated the cutlure they later get minimized if not entirely erased. Rainey takes Smith under her wing, teaching her everything from negotiating her pay to stepping into her theater presence, though the friendship gradually deteriorates.
Dee Rees's queer Black gaze is the film's secret trumpet line
Director Dee Rees attends the HBO Bessie 81 Tour at Stephan Weiss Studio on April 30, 2015 in New York City.
Cindy Ord/Getty Images for HBO
Behind the camera, Rees–a Black lesbian filmmaker–renders 1920s rent-party decadence with the intimacy of a whisper and the bravado of a brass band. Her lens lingers on the tensions between nightclub euphoria and Southern violence, honoring how Black queer artists carved glittering sanctuaries in hostile terrain. That specificity helped the movie snag several awards, from wins at the Primetime Emmys and Critics' Choice to GLAAD Media Awards. It was proof that representation rings truest when it comes from within the community.
It resurrects the roaring, raunchy queer juke-joint scene
Queen Latifah as Bessie Smith
HBO
Bessie doesn't sanitize the Prohibition-era nightlife. It bathes the scene in sweat, gin, and coded blues lyrics that once telegraphed queer desire to those in the know. The film makes queerness feel less like a plot twist and more like the pulse of the era.
Awards-season hardware and streaming lists cemented its legacy
Queen Latifah as Bessie Smith, Tika Sumpter as Lucille
Frank Masi/HBO
By skipping the typical "coming out" arc and focusing on a woman who already owns her sexuality, Bessie expanded the possibilities of queer stories. No wonder it remains a "must-stream" on LGBTQ+ lists: the plot isn't about shame or revelation, but rather about talent, hustle, and bedroom freedom.
In other words, it's queer, Black, and gloriously complicated. Bessie would damn sure be proud.
Queen Latifah as Bessie Smith
Frank Masi/HBO
Sometimes, the most radical act isn't bursting out of the closet. It's kicking back in a velvet dressing gown, lighting a cigarette, and daring the world to keep up with your tempo. Bessie is a queer-conic film that rings true to our truest identity.
