She: Their Love Story

She: Their Love Story is one of those movies that means well. It comes from a place of wanting to further representation of lesbians in Thai cinema and society. An admirable goal. Unfortunately, the execution isn’t up to the task. The film’s reliance on cliche means that it enforces as many stereotypes as it destabilizes.

She: Their Love Story follows two vaguely connected plot lines about sapphic love in Thailand. The first is between Bua, a woman who appears to have a perfect life and family. But seemingly out of nowhere, she asks her husband for a divorce. Bua then starts seeing a younger lesbian photographer named June. She begins to isolate herself from her family for reasons that are more tragic than her decision to date women.

The second story is about a journalist named Da who has just suffered a break-up. Da meets her tomboy neighbour, Be when Be tells her to keep her drunken breakup rage down. After she tells her friend about meeting Be, it’s suggested that Da write a column about the lives of women who date women. So, Da strong-arms Be into being her guide into lesbian culture. And maybe all of Da’s “research” into lesbians isn’t just for her job.

These two story lines mean twice the opportunity for success, but also failure. I suppose the film is successful because I found the two stories to be about equal in quality; I didn’t heavily prefer one over the other. Unfortunately, it’s because I disliked both. I believe that the choice of depicting two stories is so the film could cover more ground in its depiction of lesbians. But what it does is make the story feel unfocused and both plot lines feel shallow and unfinished. The two stories don’t actually differ from each other that much. So, much of the ground one story covers will also be repeated by the second.

The thing that tanks both storylines is reliance on cliches. My experience with Thai and South Asian cinema is limited, but I have picked up that often, cliches can be a good thing. Many Thai romances I’ve seen including She: Their Love Story lean very heavily on convention and trope. So, this may be a cultural thing. But I don’t like it. I’ve seen all of these story beats before, even in other lesbian movies. Some I’ve even seen in Thai lesbian movies. This makes the film feel repetitive and stale, despite its focus on homosexual representation. Also, this isn’t a romantic comedy, it’s a romantic drama. So, the cliches aren’t even lighthearted comedy stuff. It’s a lot of standard tragic plot lines and reactions to said plots that you’ve seen over and over again. The reliance on cliche is another thing that robs this film of depth.

These tropes become a problem in the film’s depiction of lesbians. There’s a different word for that- stereotypes. I appreciate She: Their Love Story’s attempt to furthers the cause of lesbian representation. But I don’t think they did a good job. The film unintentionally reaffirms negative and harmful ideas. Da is overtly homophobic at the start. While she learns some lessons, not all of her comments about lesbianism being a trauma response are debunked. It also makes her a pretty unlikable love interest. Bua is ignorant, but not overly homophobic. But she has a terminal illness, because of course she does. The film also ends up affirming a pretty rigid binary about lesbian gender presentation. Ultimately, I don’t think anyone who doesn’t like lesbians will have their mind changed by this film. And for queer people looking for representation, this one doesn’t offer much that’s new or particularly happy.

She: Their Love Story tried. That’s the best I can say. I do not think this is a well put together movie. Additionally, I think it largely failed in its goal to be inclusive and progressive. We’re more than ten years out from She: Their Love Story’s 2012 released. And it feels like a lifetime. So much of how this film depicts lesbians is rigid, dated and relies far too heavily on overused tropes.

Overall rating: 3.1/10

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