The 13 best LGBT+ films and documentaries on Netflix
Netflix has just under nine thousand titles in the Czech Republic, which is an absolutely staggering figure. However, very few people can really find their way around the catalogue. And whilst it’s clear that the catalogue includes titles about gay men, lesbians and other members of the community to which we belong, perhaps these 13 editorial picks from our website will help.
Next time, we’ll also take a look at the content available on other platforms in the Czech Republic.
Call Me by Your Name (2017)
A seventeen-year-old boy (Timothée Chalamet) experiences his first love with a slightly older friend of his family (Armie Hammer), who has come to spend a sleepy summer at their Italian holiday home. The boy’s first steps in love with a more experienced partner, combined with the film’s slow-paced, laid-back atmosphere, solid retro feel and superb acting performances, are the reasons why the film maintains a fairly high rating of 79 per cent even on the otherwise quite strongly homophobic ČSFD.
The Invisible Thread (2022)
This year, Netflix brought us a relatively light-hearted, yet all the more heartfelt and charming, Italian comedy (and drama) of its own production about a young man filming a documentary about his two fathers. However, the relationship between his parents is seriously disrupted by a misstep on the part of one of them. It might be worth showing this film to someone who views the LGBT+ community as something exotic, so they can see that, apart from what goes on in the bedroom, we have the same joys and sorrows as everyone else.
Perfection (2018)
It’s incredibly difficult to write about this film, because anything you know about it could spoil the experience. And believe me, you’ll either absolutely rave about this bizarre psychological thriller and drama (not a horror film, as you might read elsewhere), or you won’t enjoy it at all. You might be amused by a certain similarity to a well-known Czech scandal.
The film made it into our selection because of the relationship between the two women.
A Secret Love (2020)
Netflix usually does a brilliant job with documentaries. They’ve managed to pick a good one here. It follows Terry and Pat, two women who have nurtured their love for over 65 years, dating back to a time when homosexuality was still severely punished. Perhaps even those of us who are sceptical and think we’re in a bad way when it comes to rights these days should make it a point to watch this. Thank God for the times we live in, however imperfect they may be.
If Only You Knew, The Half of It (2020)
A girl decides to help her sweetly awkward friend write a love letter to his chosen one. Neither of them expects it to end up with her falling in love with the other girl herself. A teen romantic drama and comedy with an original premise, where there’s no waving of rainbow flags, but relationships are simply explored, with a series of surprisingly well-written dialogues; overall, it’s one of those feel-good films.
Circus of Books (2020)
And another documentary, this time about a little shop in Los Angeles that was a hive of activity for nearly forty years because, despite all manner of difficulties, they sold pornography there; it was a renowned establishment, particularly amongst the local gay community.
The ending is a little sad – the transience of media and the realisation of how quickly a space with a soul, which helped people escape into fantasy during socially difficult times, was destroyed by the insatiable and impersonal internet. Even though the ending is clear from the outset, the documentary is still well worth watching.
Charlatan (2020)
We mustn’t overlook this interesting, albeit emotionally charged, Czech film about the life of the healer Jan Mikolášek, portrayed at different stages of his life by father and son Josef and Ivan Trojan. Critics take issue with the fact that, in their view, there is no evidence of the man’s hidden homosexuality – for which, they claim, even the Communists were supposed to have given him a hard time – and that certain situations allegedly did not happen exactly as the film depicts them; nevertheless, it is well worth watching and certainly belongs on this list.
The Prom (2020)
This musical comedy has a rather low rating on ČSFD, just 47 per cent (on the global IMDb it scores a slightly more respectable 5.9/10, but that’s still pretty weak), but personally, it absolutely energised me, and as this is a personal selection rather than an attempt at non-existent objectivity, this film belongs here.
The plot follows the struggle of a student who wants to win the right to attend the prom with her girlfriend, something the school won’t allow and keeps throwing one obstacle after another in her way. To boost their own popularity, some spoilt Broadway musical stars (Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman) get involved in this high-profile case (which actually happened) for the sake of their own popularity, and for me, this made for a truly fresh, ultra-colourful and choreographically very impressive number.
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More LGBT content on Netflix
You can find the section with LGBT films via this link. However, if you’re fluent in English and don’t even need Czech subtitles, here’s a little tip for you: switch your profile from the Czech interface to the English one, or create another profile alongside your Czech one where you set the language to English. Switching the language is easy, and you’ll then be able to view titles that aren’t available in Czech. This will open the doors to a much richer library.
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Hyacinth (2021)
And here we have a rather unique detective film set in communist Poland, where a murder takes place within Warsaw’s gay community in the 1980s. A brilliant retro atmosphere, combined with a sense of claustrophobia, the ever-present distasteful police surveillance, and the officers’ humiliating behaviour towards gay men – all this creates a very interesting, stylised mix.
A Bigger Splash (1974)
A 1974 documentary about the multi-talented artist David Hockney and his difficult break-up with the handsome model Peter. It featured scenes of male nudity and homosexual sex that were absolutely shocking at the time. For me, the film’s greatest strength lay in entirely different moments: as a record of life in Britain almost fifty years ago.
Cobalt Blue (2021)
This somewhat exotic romantic drama from India shows that unusual relationships can unfold anywhere in the world. A brother and sister both fall in love with their lodger. This visually striking, colourful film with a perfect soundtrack takes its time, yet comes across as quite charming despite the grimness of certain themes it explores. These include forced marriages and the lives of sexual minorities in a deeply conservative environment.
A bit of an odd one out, *Single All the Way* (2021)
The festive season is over, but I’d be sorry not to mention last year’s lovely surprise from Netflix here. There aren’t many LGBT+ Christmas rom-coms – I don’t know of any myself, in fact – so I was all the more delighted by the story of a lad who, accompanied by his best mate, returns to his hometown and stumbles upon a really lovely group of people. But is she the one, or is he looking in the wrong direction? Plot-wise, it’s obviously nothing spectacular – more of a classic formula – but overall it’s a surprisingly enjoyable film. And Stifler’s mum makes an appearance too.
Growing Up Gay (2017)
Musician and actor Olly Alexander, who absolutely blew me away in the HBO series *It’s a Sin* (more on that another time), reflects here on his childhood, coming out, whilst also giving a voice to a number of unknown lads of all ages who are coming to terms with their mental health and sexuality. Personally, the documentary really moved me, and I sincerely hope that those who come after us won’t have to go through such sad situations.
