Best movies with a gay subject matter

The release of «Milk» in theatres marks the occasion to look back at the best movies with a gay subject matter.

Until the 1960's, the subject of homosexuality was discretely snuck into movies; the brilliant documentary «The Celluloid Closet» offers an excellent look at homosexual allusions in many 1940's and 50's classics.

Thanks to the loosening of «morals» in the sixties, the subject was approached more directly. Here is an incomplete and subjective list of the best movies with gay subject matter made for the general public. For the first time – and for the most part – these films faced the topic head-on, sensitively and without dwelling on the salacious – unlike titles such as the sleazy «Death in Venice» by Luchino Visconti, or the purposefully shocking «Cruising» starring Al Pacino which drew the ire of the gay community upon its release, both of which didn't make the list because of their nasty point of view.

«The Servant» by Joseph Losey«La meilleure façon de marcher» de Claude Miller starring Patrick Dewaere«Une journée particulière» by Ettora Scola starring Marcello Mastroianni«La cage aux folles» starring Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault«My Beautiful Laundrette» starring Daniel Day-Lewis«Maurice» by James Ivory«The Crying Game» by Neil Jordan«The Wedding Banquet» by Ang Lee«Philadelphia» starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington«Les Roseaux sauvages» by André Téchiné«Bound» by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski«Boys Don't Cry» starring Hillary Swank«Before Night Falls» starring Javier Bardem, Sean Penn and Johnny Depp«Brokeback Mountain» starring Heath Ledger«Y tu mama tambien»«Angels in America» starring Al Pacino and Meryl Streep«Victor Victoria» starring Julie Andrews«Prick Up Your Ears» starring Gary Oldman«Fresa y chocolate»«Gods and Monsters» starring Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser