40 lesbian & bi period dramas that will take you back in time

These movies are the best kind of time machine.

Let's be honest, we love a lesbian period drama.

Why? Well, there are lots of reasons. They are sexy, they are steamy, they are dramatic, and they are a reminder that lesbians and bi women have always existed.

Despite all of that, it is still rare to see ourselves represented in history—especially in epic romantic costume dramas.

However, these 40 period dramas about women loving women from the 1700s to the early 1960s will take you back in time!

Hedda

Tessa Thompson stars as Hedda Gabler in this sapphic twist on the story from director Nia DaCosta. Hedda is a socialite in an advantageous but loveless marriage. On the night of her big party, her former lover Eileen (Nina Hoss) arrives, leading to sapphic chaos.

Where to watch: Prime Video

Dickinson

Emily Dickinson is about to show up quite a few times in this, but the first instance is this series, which is a highly fictionalized version of the poet’s life. In this telling, Hailee Steinfeld stars as a young Emily who is rebellious and bucks traditional gender roles. She also pursues a forbidden romance with her best friend Sue Gilbert (Ella Hunt).

Where to watch: Apple TV+

Purple Sea

Set in 19th-century Sicily, this film follows the love story of Angela and her childhood friend Sara. When their relationship is discovered, Angela is locked away. In a desperate attempt to protect their love, Angela’s family agrees to have her legally declared male so that she can marry Sara.

Where to watch: Tubi

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women

Set in the 1940s, this biopic reveals the sapphic and polyamorous true story behind the creation of Wonder Woman. The film focuses on the complex relationship between psychologist William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans), his wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall), and their student-turned-lover Olive (Bella Heathcote)

Where to watch: Tubi

On Swift Horses

Set in 1950s America, this steamy period drama initially centers on newlyweds Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Lee (Will Poulter), who are seeking a fresh start in California after the Korean War. Their new life is disrupted by the arrival of Lee’s brother Julius (Jacob Elordi), while Muriel embarks on a journey of sapphic self-discovery

Where to watch: Netflix

Gentleman Jack

Gentleman Jack follows the (mostly true) adventures of landowner and industrialist Anne Lister (you'll see her name on this list again very soon), who struck up a forbidden romance with a woman named Ann Walker, in a time when it was, ahem, frowned upon. Period butch, yes, please!

Where to stream: HBO Max

The Buccaneers

Based on the unfinished novel of Edith Wharton, this modernized (but don't worry, still period set) follows a group of wealthy young American women who come to London to land themselves a lordly husband. And wouldn't you just know it, there is a secret lesbian in the bunch.

Where to stream: Apple TV+

Black Sails

This actually pretty gay pirate series is a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel Treasure Island. Cool, but why is it on the list? Because queer lady pirates, that's why. We love a Sapphic swashbuckle.

Where to stream: Tubi

Vita & Virginia

This film follows the true story of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf's romance. And it won't be the only version of that tale on your list today... However, it is the only one starring Gemma Arterton and Elizabeth Debecki as lovers, so get into it.

Where to stream: AMC+

The Color Purple

Celie's life of love and heartbreak plays out in this Academy Award-nominated film (no, but seriously, how did it not win ANYTHING? It had 11 nominations! This is insanity). While this one will DEFINITELY require a box of tissues, those stolen moments between Celie and Shug Avery make it a forever Sapphic classic.

Where to stream: Rent on Prime Video

Summerland

The always dreamy Gemma Arterton and Gugu Mbatha-Raw star in this World War II set period piece, which follows reclusive writer Alice, has her sequestered life is upended when an evacuee from the London Blitz is left in her care.

Where to stream: AMC+

The Confessions of Frannie Langton

This steamy and dark Sapphic period film follows the titular Frannie Langton following the mysterious murders of her employers. Housemaid and former slave Frannie quickly becomes the prime suspect and must piece together the events of that fateful night.

Where to stream: Britbox

The Favourite

Set in early 18th-century England, Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) finds herself the object of desire of two competing women, her longtime companion Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz), and a new, ambitious servant, Abigail (Emma Stone). Essentially, it's a Sapphic's dream come true.

Also, have you seen Weisz in those breeches? Be still, my gay heart!

Where to stream: Prime Video for rent

Marie Antoinette

Fans of The Favourite take note! This BBC take on the ill-fated aristocrat Marie Antoinette gives her story a feminist and Sapphic twist.

Where to stream: PBS Masterpiece

Ammonite

Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) spends her life quietly finding and selling fossils to tourists to support herself and her ailing mother. But when Charlotte Murchison comes to town to care for her husband's ailing wife, they forge a passionate connection.

Where to stream: Kanopy

Benedetta

In this wickedly profane film from Paul Verhoeven, a 17th-century nun embarks on a passionate lesbian romance, all while experiencing shocking religious visions.

Where to stream: Criterion Channel

Wild Nights With Emily

This charming and bittersweet take on Emily Dickinson's story follows the poet's career and romance with Susan Gilbert.

Where to watch: Strand Releasing

Tell It To the Bees

Set in 1952, Tell it to the Bees follows Dr. Jean Markham when she returns to her Scottish hometown to take over her father's medical practice. Shocker, she is instead ostracized by the community. However, she does strike up a passionate romance with a woman in town.

Where to stream: Xumo

The World To Come

Set in the mid-19th century on the American East Coast frontier, two farmers' wives strike up a passionate and dangerous romance.

Where to stream: The World to Come

A Quiet Passion

Emily Dickinson, but this time played by Cynthia Nixon (And Emma Bell). Need we say more?

Where to stream: Prime Video

Lizzie

Kristen Stewart and Chloë Sevigny star as lovers and murderous co-conspirators in this film depicting the infamous case of Lizzie Borden.

Where to stream: Prime Video

Elisa & Marcela

Set in 1885, Elisa and Marcela first meet and embark on a forbidden love that they are forced to hide. However, in 1901, unable to stay apart, Elisa adopts a male identity to be able to spend her life with the woman she loves.

Where to stream: Netflix

The Affair

Set in 1930s Czechoslovakia, Liesel Landauer and her friend Hana share a friendship that is not so platonic. Also, there's some stuff about architecture.

Where to stream: Roku

The Handmaiden

Based on the novel Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (for a more true-to-the-book version, keep reading), this twisty sapphic thriller was adapted and directed by Park Chan-Wook, who moved the romance from Victorian England to 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 fall passionately in love despite the betrayal plot brewing between them.

Where to stream: Prime Video

Colette

Forever lesbian fave Kiera Knightley makes our cinematic dreams come true by playing real-life novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. After her ghostwritten semi-autobiographical novel becomes a success, she begins fighting for creative ownership despite the taboos she would be breaking both on the written page and in the real world.

Where to stream: Prime Video

Carol

Based on the groundbreaking novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, this 2015 romantic drama directed by Todd Haynes will take you back to the Christmas season of 1952, where Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), a temporary shop girl and photographer, and Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett), a mother separated from her husband, begin a forbidden love affair that takes them from New York City to Waterloo, Iowa and back.

Where to stream: HBO Max

Heavenly Creatures

This 1994 Peter Jackson film about the notorious 1954 Parker-Hulme murder case follows Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey) and Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet) after Juliet moves to Christchurch, New Zealand, and creates a fantasy world with Pauline. The girls grow closer, but when Juliet’s father confronts Pauline’s parents about their daughters’ inappropriate relationship, and the girls are pulled apart, they reach a breaking point.

Where to watch: Daily Motion

Reaching for the Moon

This 2013 biopic portrays the tumultuous relationship between Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares and American poet Elizabeth Bishop set among the stunning backdrop of Petrópolis between 1951 and 1967.

Where to stream: Prime Video

Tipping the Velvet

Tipping the Velvet (based on the bestselling Sarah Waters novel of the same name) is a 2002 BBC mini-series that will transport you to Victorian England and draw you into the story of Nan, a young woman who falls in love with Kitty Butler, a male impersonator, whom she follows to London.

Where to stream: Prime Video

Bessie

This HBO biopic about legendary blues singer Bessie Smith (Queen Latifah) doesn’t shy away from Smith’s bisexuality, and shows her relationship with her lover Lucille, who serves as a composite of several of Smith’s real life girlfriends.

Where to stream: HBO Max

Farewell, My Queen

Farewell, My Queen is a 2012 French drama that presents a fictionalized account of the last days of Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger) as seen through the eyes of Sidonie Laborde (Léa Seydoux), a young, deeply devoted servant. Virginie Ledoyen plays the Duchess of Polignac, whom the queen is infatuated.

Where to stream: Cohen Media Channel

Another Way

This 1982 film was a cult classic for lesbian audiences in Cold War Hungary. The story follows an affair between two women in the late 1950s: Éva, a journalist at a weekly periodical, and Livia, a married woman. The film opens with the murder of Éva before their story unfolds.

Where to watch: YouTube

Aimée & Jaguar

This 1999 German drama set in Berlin during World War II follows the lives of Lilly Wurst, a married mother of four who has a philandering Nazi officer husband, and Felice Schragenheim, a Jewish woman who belongs to an underground organization, through their intense relationship.

Where to stream: YouTube

The Girl King

The Girl King is a 2015 biographical drama about Christina, Queen of Sweden, who rose to power after the death of her father, King Gustav. She finds herself drawn to Countess Ebba Sparre, who becomes one of Christina’s ladies in waiting and her royal bedfellow.

Where to stream: Prime Video

Daphne

This BBC postwar biopic about writer Daphne Du Maurier charts her unrequited love for her publisher’s wife, Ellen Doubleday, and her affair with actress Gertrude Lawrence. Daphne and Gertrude are both bisexual, but their husbands rarely appear or factor into the plot of the film.

Where to stream: Prime Video

Fingersmith

This two-part BBC mini-series adaptation of the Sarah Waters novel is another engrossing Victorian England period drama. The worlds of two very different young women, Sue Trinder, a pickpocket, and Maud Lilly, who stands to inherit a fortune when she marries, collide in an unlikely romance.

Where to stream: AMC+

The World Unseen

This 2007 historical drama, written and directed by Shamim Sarif, is set in 1950s Cape Town, South Africa, during the beginning of apartheid. The movie follows two Indian South African women who fall in love in spite of the racism, sexism, and homophobia of the society they live in.

Where to stream: Here TV

The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister

This 2010 biopic about 19th-century landowner Anne Lister drew from Lister’s coded diaries. The story follows her lesbian relationships and uniquely independent lifestyle as an industrialist.

Where to stream: For rent on Prime Video

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

When writer and director Céline Sciamma's film premiered in 2019, it became an instant classic. And for good reason! The beautiful period movie tells the emotional love story of Marianne (Noémie Merlant), an artist tasked with painting the portrait of a young aristocrat named Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) at the end of the 18th century.

Where to stream: HBO Max

The Hours

One more Emily Dickinson entry! This time, Nicole takes on the role of the iconic poet.

Where to stream: For rent on Prime Video