In 2022, it’s hard to imagine a famous person whose life couldn’t be turned into a biopic in five years. Once reserved for historical bulwarks like Abraham Lincoln and Marie Curie, biopics now cover everyone from Weird Al to Hulk Hogan to the Gucci family. They permanently affect how we see our favorite celebrities, of both the present and far distant past.

When it comes to LGBTQ+ representation in film, biopics have played a particularly important role over the past two decades. Films like Behind the Candelabra, Frida, and Capote, to name a few, continually help us to reject the hetero-normative view of history, all while celebrating the incredible legacy these historical figures have left on society. Bradley Cooper’s upcoming feature Maestro, about famed Broadway conductor Leonard Bernstein, will soon be joining that esteemed group of films. What sort of vision does Cooper have in store for Bernstein?

In the case of Maestro and any other LGBTQ+ biopic, there are always lots of things directors have to be wary of. How do they avoid sensationalizing the subject’s sexuality or creating them as a flagrantly one-note character? Certain LGBTQ+ biopics, both recently and in years past, have faced blow-back for following these patterns. 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody faced criticism for its misguided, overly simplistic portrayal of Freddy Mercury’s sexuality, which condoned the media’s caricature of him as opposed to exploring the singer’s sexuality with nuance. On the other hand, LGBTQ+ biopics also sometimes face criticism for not being open enough about their subjects. 2014’s The Imitation Game, about WWII mathematician Alan Turing, serves as one such case, with writers going so far as to call it “timid” and full of “cowardice.”

Where do directors find the happy medium, then? How does one present LGBTQ+ stories authentically without sensationalizing them, or creating misguided versions of their subjects? To answer those questions, here are some masterful LGBTQ+ biopics, and the tools their directors expertly used, that truly break the mold and make us listen.

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4 Identity over Reputation - Wilde (1997)

      PolyGram Filmed Entertainment

If there’s anyone whose reputation as a gay icon precedes him, it’s Oscar Wilde. However, 1997’s Wilde shows him as so much more than just an idealized transgressor of his time. Starring Stephen Fry, who viewers might recognize from Hulu’s The Dropout, Wilde depicts the literary legend as a sensitive, generous, yet troubled man, whose flaw lies not in his homosexuality, but his infatuation with the selfish, petulant Lord Alfred Douglas (played perfectly by Jude Law). The movie explores the many conflicts Wilde faced, not only through defying conventions with his sexuality, but also the torture this brought him over loving his wife and children. Wilde is a perfect example of a biopic full of nuance, that takes time to explore its character’s full identity, and not just what viewers have been told to believe is true.

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MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

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3 Basking in the Details - Milk (2008)

     Focus Features

Without a doubt one of Sean Penn’s most triumphant movies, 2008’s Milk is about the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the late ’70s. What is so great about the film is that both Gus Van Sant and Penn make this a story about personal triumph and redemption over sheer identity politics. The movie doesn’t spare us any details about who Milk was (mostly for the better, although occasionally for the worse), and this really helps us see Milk as a human being as opposed to a stand-in for what he believes. After all, he says, “I’m not the candidate. I’m part of a movement. The movement is the candidate.” Milk shows us the greatest intimacies of its subject’s life, not just as a character, or politician, but person. This attention to human detail is necessary for any biopic to succeed — to make us empathize deep within our hearts.

The Best Biopics About Artists, Ranked

2 Refusing to Glamorize - Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

     Searchlight Pictures

Starring Hilary Swank, 1999’s Boys Don’t Cry is not only one of the most moving LGBTQ+ biopics out there, but perhaps one of the most moving biopics of all time. The story follows teenager Brandon Teena on his journey as a transgender man in the early ’90s. The film by no means attempts to sugarcoat Brandon’s struggles, nor his life at large. Rather, we see a portrait of a deeply lonely, conflicted teenager, desperately searching for authentic representation, and, more broadly, their place in the world. The film complements this “realness” with outstanding imagery from its barren Nebraska and Texas settings. Brandon’s loneliness almost becomes contagious for viewers. The violence of the film is thus deeply more visceral, and deeply more upsetting.

1 Transformation over Imitation - Maestro (2022)

     Netflix

Finally, what transforms any biopic from mediocre to noteworthy is the actor’s ability to transform into, as opposed to simply imitate, their subject. Some notable examples of this include Eddie Redmayne in 2016’s The Danish Girl and Taron Egerton in Rocketman. First looks at Cooper’s Maestro show us that this is the route he seems to be taking. Especially when it comes to representing communities that have been marginalized throughout history, we strive for more than just a superficial image, a carbon copy, as opposed to a portrait of a character. The latter is the only way to truly honor someone and their legacy and strife alike. Let’s hope that Maestro lives up to its promise, and that other LGBTQ+ biopics continue to break the mold from here on out.