Author(s): Saptami Nath

Abstract: Over the last decades, the cinema of the world has started to reveal more and more the daily existence of lesbian women in their narratives, and thus, the common obstacles of invisibility, stereotyping, and marginalization have been broken one after another. This paper looks at the subject of queer female identity in modern-day films from Hollywood, Bollywood and Europe, and it does so through the lens of authenticity, agency, and audience reception. It uses Judith Butler's Queer Theory (1990) and Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory (1975) as a theoretical framework to reveal the process whereby directors and viewers deal with the line separating representation from reality. The visual and narrative techniques that are responsible for the queer storytelling are analyzed through the case studies—Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019, France), Sheer Qorma (2021, India), and Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013, France). The study reveals that there is a gradual movement or change in the way same-sex desire is depicted from that of voyeuristic portrayals to emotionally complex, authentic, and intersectional representations. In summary, the author asserts that despite the fact that a lot of improvements have already been done in the area of cinematic inclusivity, the representation of queer women is still a vibrant area that keeps challenging heteronormative aesthetics, politics of the industry and world cultural narratives.

Keywords: Queer representation, lesbian identity, cinematic authenticity, male gaze, intersectionality

Article Info: Received: 19 Oct 2025; Received in revised form: 14 Nov 2025; Accepted: 18 Nov 2025; Available online: 21 Nov 2025

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.106.21