Viewers are turning to a growing bisexual film canon for stories that put fluid desire, messy identity and queer joy centre stage. From Cabaret and Frida to Challengers and Love Lies Bleeding, these films matter because bisexual characters remain strikingly underrepresented on screen, even as LGBTQ+ visibility faces fresh pressure.

Essential Takeaways

  • Representation remains uneven: Bisexual characters make up a minority of LGBTQ+ roles in film, despite bisexual people forming a large share of the queer population.
  • The best stories resist labels: These films show attraction across genders without reducing characters to who they're dating now.
  • There’s plenty of variety: Expect stylish period dramas, nerve-shredding thrillers, awkward comedies and unapologetically steamy romances.
  • Some portrayals are complicated: A film can be compelling while still inviting questions about stereotypes, power and bi erasure.
  • Start with your mood: Try Frida for biography, Shiva Baby for cringe comedy or Challengers for beautifully charged sporting drama.

Why bisexual films still feel surprisingly rare

Bisexual people are often described as the largest group within the LGBTQ+ population in the United States, yet film has been slow to reflect that reality. Recent reporting on GLAAD's annual representation data suggests LGBTQ+ inclusion in mainstream cinema has declined for a third consecutive year, making meaningful bisexual roles feel even harder to find.

That gap isn't simply about numbers. Bisexual characters are regularly treated as straight or gay according to their current partner, while their identity becomes a plot twist, a punchline or something left conveniently unspoken. A strong bisexual film does something more useful: it lets a character's relationships be part of their life without making them prove their identity in every scene.

From silent cinema to the modern bi canon

The roots of this collection reach back to The Wings, a 1916 Swedish silent film often discussed as an early example of cinema's homoerotic storytelling. Its central model, Mikaël, is involved with both a man and a woman, even though the modern language of bisexual identity wasn't yet widely established.

Cabaret later brought bisexual desire into a more flamboyant, politically charged world. Set against the final years of Weimar Berlin, it follows Sally Bowles and Brian Roberts through a relationship that refuses tidy boundaries. The film's glittering nightlife feels thrilling, but the shadow of fascism gives that freedom a sharp, uneasy edge.

Biographies that put real lives centre stage

Frida offers one of the clearest portraits of bisexuality in a biographical film. Salma Hayek's Kahlo is shown as an artist whose relationships with men and women are woven into her work, marriage and self-understanding. The result is colourful, sensual and emotionally grounded, rather than treating her sexuality as a decorative footnote.

Colette takes a different route, tracing the writer's escape from a marriage and professional arrangement that kept her talent under someone else's name. Her relationships with women, including Missy, become part of a wider story about authorship, independence and refusing the role society has prepared for you. It also offers the irresistible spectacle of Keira Knightley in sharply tailored suits.

Behind the Candelabra is glossier and more turbulent. Based on Scott Thorson's account of his relationship with Liberace, it explores secrecy, celebrity, control and the damage caused when public image matters more than private truth. It isn't an easy romance, but that's precisely why it lingers.

Awkward, funny and gloriously messy

For a film that understands bisexual confusion without turning it into a lecture, try Appropriate Behavior. Shirin's deadpan attempts to date men and women, move on from an ex and avoid coming out to her family create a wonderfully uncomfortable portrait of early adulthood. It feels less like a grand identity statement and more like real life, where people make bad choices between good intentions.

Shiva Baby turns that discomfort up several notches. Danielle encounters her ex-girlfriend, her married sugar daddy and a swarm of probing relatives at one shiva, creating a claustrophobic comedy of errors. The film's humour is sharp, but its anxious centre is recognisable: bisexuality here isn't a glamorous label, it's one part of a young woman's already overloaded life.

Jennifer's Body has had its own journey from misunderstood release to queer cult favourite. Its famous "I go both ways" line is only the most obvious sign of a film powered by teenage desire, jealousy and a friendship that feels more intense than either girl can comfortably admit. Beneath the horror and dark jokes, there's a surprisingly tender ache.

When attraction becomes suspense, sport or danger

The Talented Mr Ripley is less explicit about Tom Ripley's sexuality, but its fascination with desire, imitation and male intimacy makes it an essential, if slippery, watch. Matt Damon's performance keeps Ripley difficult to pin down, which is both the film's pleasure and its unease. It belongs on any list of queer-coded thrillers, even if viewers may disagree about the label.

Anatomy of a Fall gives bisexuality a more direct place in the courtroom. Sandra Voyter's relationships become evidence in a trial after her husband's death, exposing how quickly a woman's sexuality can be used to question her character. It's a gripping legal drama, but also a pointed reminder that representation can be present and still painfully shaped by prejudice.

Then there's Challengers, a film that turns tennis into a full-contact language for desire. Tashi, Patrick and Art form a volatile triangle in which competition, marriage and friendship keep changing shape. The film doesn't need anyone to announce a neat identity category; its charged glances, rivalries and tangled loyalties do plenty of talking.

How to choose your next bisexual film

If you want history and spectacle, begin with Cabaret or Frida. For something newer and more chaotic, Shiva Baby is a compact blast of social panic, while Love Lies Bleeding brings sweat, steroids, crime and romance together in a lurid rural thriller. Boy Meets Girl is a warmer choice, pairing a trans bisexual protagonist with a story about friendship, first love and the freedom to imagine a bigger life.

It helps to approach these films with a little generosity and a little critical distance. Some are openly bisexual, some are shaped by bisexual characters, and others sit in a more ambiguous space where interpretation is part of the fun. What matters is that the conversation keeps expanding beyond the old assumption that a character's identity changes whenever their partner does.

The list will hopefully keep growing, especially as audiences push for queer stories that aren't cancelled, softened or squeezed into a single marketable template. For now, this selection offers a lively starting point, with plenty of room for debate over which films belong in the canon.

It's a small but satisfying way to watch queer cinema with more range.

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