please to rec

[aphrodite_mine]

Okay, I need help. 

Not like I have any time to watch or read things, like, at all, but my brain keeps obsessing and I'm more inclined to feed it than try and divert interest. 

I need, need, need pretty much ANY good historical thing with canon f/f romance and/or strong implications thereof. Please give me reasons to research old fashioned underpants.

Not willing to sit through, for example, five main dude characters for two seconds of femslash - though if it is quality enough I might be swayed. Aggressive heterosexuality is less offensive if women are the main characters. My examples below skew really white and western, but I'm definitely open to things that are NOT that as long as I can access the material. Era is flexible, but ideally pre-70s. Pretty much any genre also welcome, bonus for horror, thriller or psychodrama, but definitely not required.

Yes
- Sarah Waters
- Emma Donoghue
- Portrait of a Lady on Fire
- The Nevers
- Professor Marston & the Wonder Women
- Frida
- The Color Purple
- The Favorite

Borderline
- Mad Men
- Rome

On My List of Probably-Should-Watch/Probably-Would-Enjoy
- The Blechley Circle
- Call the Midwife
- Picnic at Hanging Rock (TV)
- Lizzie
- Benedetta

Comments

[gloss]

I haven't seen it, because Dominic West repulses me, but what about Colette (2018)? I love its director a lot.

eta: to read, there is of course also Shimmer and The Cosmopolitans by Sarah Schulman, both of which are set in the late 40s/50s

[gloss]

Okay, I woke up this morning flabbergasted that I hadn't mentioned Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie Macdonald (early 20th century, Nova Scotia and Harlem), but then I assumed someone else would have and/or that you've already read it. If you haven't, do! Content warnings aplenty but also one of the best novels I've ever read.

On the, uh, lighter end of the spectrum: I haven't read Olivia Waite's series (and those covers are godawful), but I've heard good things.

[gloss]

Also! Heyday by Marnie Woodrow has two narrative threads, both f/f, one of which is set in 1909.

[aphrodite_mine]

These are all excellent gaps in my current consumption! Fall On Your Knees was on a list long ago but had fallen off of my current one. I may even own it?! I'd love any content warning related to child abuse or non-con.

I've now got all of these on my current list! Thank you!

[gloss]

any content warning related to child abuse or non-con
...the book might not be a great choice, honestly. Its foundation is cross-generational incestuous abuse and there's a lot of domestic violence as well.

[aphrodite_mine]

Bah, my OCD is flared up right now so, definitely not in the immediate future. Thanks!!

[gloss]

Also, I haven't read this one, but Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo fits your criteria.

[senmut]

Hmm. My first thought was Black Sails for the femslash there, but there's a lot of het and manslash too.

[minoanmiss]

There is a lot of het in _Black Sails_ but it was refreshingly not heteronormative, if that makes sense? At least the bits I got to see and delight in.

There is of course the movie _Bound_, which is glorious. Will have to think some more.

[aphrodite_mine]

I'm not sure if I haven't seen Bound or just didn't realize it was a period piece -- adding to my list.

I tried Black Sails back when it came out - how many episodes would you give it? Is it a slower start?

[gloss]

(I'm like 96% sure that Bound is not a period piece, just neo-noir.)

[aphrodite_mine]

I tried Black Sails back when it came out and wasn't pulled in, but I don't think I remember seeing more than one woman in the pilot. Does it take awhile to pick up?

[senmut]

I think I was fully invested by 2nd season? But it's been a while. Max is my fave, and she's got some great stroy beats with other women.

[aphrodite_mine]

Ooh, a full season warm up is a bit much for right now, but this is good info if I come across a chunk of time.

[lilacsigil]

The Bletchley Circle only briefly has canon f/f romance but it has a ton of great female characters doing things entirely unrelated to het romance, and only one character is particularly involved in a het relationship (with her husband).

The Handmaiden is definitely psychodrama and definitely f/f, based on Fingersmith by Sarah Waters but transposed to occupied 1930s Korea.

[aphrodite_mine]

Excellent info.

Apparently I need to rewatch The Handmaiden because the sex repulsed me so much that I've retroactively decided that the entire movie sucks.

[minoanmiss]

oh I'm sorry. :( *goes to find better recs*

[marginalia]

I have Very Strong Feelings about The Handmaiden (and one of them is definitely that the sex is terrible, and another is that the ending is TRASH.) I saw it a second time specifically so I could take notes on everything I hated about it (which, lol, I just looked up my post and the title is "can sex ruin a film".)

[aphrodite_mine]

The answer is yes. Yes, it can.

[marginalia]

Love Bletchley & Call the Midwife! Bletchley reminds me, did you ever read Code Name Verity? The audiobook is also v good.

Call the Midwife also has canonical f/f and is just generally great. Season 10 is hitting Netflix soon and I cannot wait. I do cry during every single episode, though whether it's sad tears or happy tears varies. Sometimes both. It's really satisfying.

Benedetta is pretty ridiculous but not as camp as I'd wanted. Charlotte Rampling repeatedly made me cackle out loud in the theater though.

Couple of Mirrors is on Prime (I think still, if not, YouTube). Republican era China, based on a manhua, & theoretically de-gayed, but lol nice try guys. Uneven, but I was so thrilled to have a double female lead after all the BL.

[aphrodite_mine]

HAHA, casually recommending Code Name Verity, WHAT A MOOD. Yes, I have read and cried and read and cried.

Bummer that Benedetta isn't as camp! Excellent info on Couple of Mirrors.

[marginalia]

I figured, but it is very important to me that everyone who SHOULD cry through Code Name Verity DOES.

Benedetta does have the greatest line in film for last year, but I wanted just a bit more from it.

[kore]

Ooh what about Dickinson? Three or four seasons I think, and it was streaming, and kind of deliberately gleefully anachronistic but pretty fun. Starring Hailee Steinfeld pre-MCU, definite canon F/F. And more recently, Carol (2015). I haven't been able to see it but I know a lot of people liked Gentleman Jack.

I know I have more recs but I felt like shit all day re a sinus/tooth infection so my brain is blank. Bound is awesome! The Hunger is even older but even more classic. The BBC? adaptations of Oranges are Not the Only Fruit and Fingersmith were also really good. Most of the other recs I can think of right now are OLD now but not historical (Imagine Me & You!....no fancy underwear in that one).

[aphrodite_mine]

Oooh, wasn't sure about Dickinson, but will absolutely try!

Carol and Gentleman Jack are both good ones!

The Fingersmith adaptation is my life, but I haven't seen Orange or The Hunger, so thank you!

And, oh my god, I can't believe Imagine Me & You is old now. Oh god. :D :D

[minoanmiss]

_The Handmaiden_ is a gorgeous movie set in Japan-occupied Korea of the 1930s. There is some (stymied) het but the main and glorious love story is f/f .

It's based on Sarah Waters' _Fingersmith_. Content advisory: there is a scene of book destruction but even I, a thoroughgoing bibliophile, cheered by that point in the story.

[aphrodite_mine]

I really need to find a sex-free cut (or even a PG-13 cut?) of The Handmaiden because I think the actual movie is up my alley but the sex repulsed me so badly that the memory is tainted now.

[scintilla10]

I really love Bletchley Circle and Call the Midwife! General +1 to reccing them/checking them out. However, as a word of caution, if your main interest is the canon f/f content, that is NOT the focus of either of these shows ... The main cast of both focuses on women and not dudes, though!

Have you watched Yellowjackets? (1 season so far, 10 episodes.) It only barely counts as historical, haha; there are two timelines, one of which is set in the 90s and one of which is contemporary. It's got excellent horror/thriller elements, and several queer lady characters, including one of the main characters.

Edited to add: I also really loved Gentleman Jack!

[aphrodite_mine]

Started Yellowjackets this week (LOVE IT) and Call the Midwife last night (LOVE IT)

<3