Film
Laurence Anyways
A 2012 Quebec drama about a decades-long love story fractured by transition. Fred and Laurence's relationship bends under the weight of becoming—it's intimate, tender, sometimes painful, always searching for whether love survives radical change. For anyone who's ever wondered if two people can stay together when one of them has to become themselves.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you want a long, unhurried romance where love and identity are tangled up, and you're happy to live inside a relationship's shifting moods rather than chase plot.
Skip it if the running time of nearly three hours will test patience if you need momentum, and its stylised, emotional sprawl can feel indulgent on a weeknight.
What it asks of you: Settle in for close to three hours of slow, heavy scenes, with long stretches that linger on feeling rather than moving the story along.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Blue Is the Warmest Color2013
An achingly intimate portrait of a relationship between two women across years, with sex and tenderness rendered as equally important to the story. Captures the texture of loving someone specific.
But Nearly three hours of intensity. The explicit scenes aren't titillating—they're so frank they make some viewers uncomfortable, which is rather the point.

Carol2015
A 1950s love story between two women that refuses to resolve simply. Beautiful cinematography, Cate Blanchett's quiet devastation, and a meditation on what you sacrifice when society demands you choose between love and selfhood.
But Slow-burn pacing. If you need plot momentum, this film moves like honey. It's about feeling, not incident.

Moonlight2016
Three chapters of a Black man's life learning to exist in his own body and desire. Poetic, sensory, built from glances and silences. One of the most beautiful films about identity and love ever made.
But Minimalist dialogue and sparse plot. It's structured as mood and moment, not narrative. Requires you to meet it halfway.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Laurence Anyways
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Mulholland Drive2001
Both films circle the same mystery: what happens to love when the person you love becomes someone new? Both suggest the answer isn't simple.
David Lynch's masterpiece about identity, reinvention, and the gap between who we want to be and who we are. A woman arrives in LA to become an actress and discovers herself fractured. Visually hypnotic, emotionally devastating.
But Deliberately obscure structure. The film doesn't explain itself, and it reveals its true shape only in hindsight. Some find it infuriating; others find it essential.

More like this (7)
Fleabag2016
Phoebe Waller-Bridge's series about a chaotic woman in London is hilarious, but underneath runs a genuine ache about connection and the self you show the world versus the one you hide. Wildly entertaining and secretly devastating.
But The comedy can feel frantic. Season one's tone is chaotic by design; some find it exhausting rather than energizing.

My Beautiful Broken Brain2014
A documentary about a woman rebuilding her sense of self after a stroke. Tender, unsentimental, genuinely moving. Shows how identity isn't fixed—it's remade every day.
But A real medical crisis as the subject matter. If you're seeking pure escapism, this won't be it.

The Danish Girl2015
Eddie Redmayne plays Lili Elbe, one of the first people to transition publicly. A gorgeously shot historical drama about becoming yourself and the cost of love that can't quite hold on.
But Some trans viewers have critiqued its perspective. It's very much made for a mainstream audience, which changes the shape of the story.

Tangerine2015
Shot on an iPhone but feels nothing like a gimmick. Follow a trans sex worker through Los Angeles for one day. Raw, funny, angry, tender. The characters are fully alive.
But Chaotic narrative structure. There's no neat plot; you're swept along by two women's energy and need. Requires trust.

Room2015
A mother and child emerge from captivity into a world that doesn't know how to hold them. About identity, love, and becoming whole after unimaginable rupture. Brie Larson is extraordinary.
But The premise involves child abuse. It's not exploitative, but it's heavy, and some scenes are genuinely hard to watch.

She's Funny That Way2015
A scrappy, charming comedy about theatre people in New York. Lighter than the others here, but built on the same foundation: people trying to become who they are, and the messiness of loving them anyway.
But Tonally slight compared to what surrounds it. If you're deep in emotional territory, this might feel too fluffy to land.

The Huntsman: Winter's War2016
Where Laurence Anyways is a scripted meditation on whether love survives transition, this is real people living that exact question. One imagines the other; this one breathes.
A Danish documentary series that follows a trans woman, Signe, and her wife over years as they navigate transition together. Tender, specific, free of agenda. Just two people trying to stay connected through profound change.
But It's a documentary, not drama—sometimes quiet and unglamorous. Some episodes feel inconclusive because life doesn't resolve neatly. Requires patience with ordinariness.

People
Cast
Melvil PoupaudLaurence Alia
Suzanne ClémentFred Bellair
Nathalie BayeJulienne Alia
Monia ChokriStéfanie Bellair
Susan AlmgrenJournalist
Yves JacquesMichel Lafortune
Sophie FaucherAndrée Bellair
Magalie Lépine-BlondeauCharlotte
Catherine BéginMamy Rose
Emmanuel SchwartzBaby Rose
Jacques LavalléeDada Rose
Perrette SouplexTatie Rose
Directing
- Xavier DolanDirector
Writing
- Xavier DolanScreenplay
- Xavier DolanStory
Production
- Rémi BurahCo-Producer
- Claire DornoyExecutive Producer
- Gus Van SantExecutive Producer
- Xavier DolanExecutive Producer
- Carole MondelloLine Producer
- Charles GillibertProducer
- Lyse LafontaineProducer
- Nathanaël KarmitzProducer
Recommended by
Harry and Tonto, Queer As Folk, Immortal Beloved, Mommy, Éloïse, Summertime