Who doesn’t love a good, romantic, Hallmark-esque Christmas movie? There are so many classics, and they’re all cheerful, fun and heartening in the best ways - reminiscent of a comfy warm hoodie or a lovely hug with a favourite friend. However, (unlike most of my favourite friends) they also tend to be incredibly heterosexual: and by ‘tend to be’ I mean they all, indispensably and irrefutably, are. Thanks to writer and director Clea Duvall, along with a star-studded cast including Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Aubrey Plaza and more, a queer and quintessential holiday heartwarmer was born. It feels incredibly shocking to say that ‘The Happiest Season’ is the first of its kind, but despite LGBT+ cinema becoming a lot more prevalent, especially recently, this festive delight indeed takes that honour. And although that means there is absolutely no bar for it to break in terms of competition it is still, in all of its warm, sapphic sentimentality, unparalleled. Bringing all of the usual Christmas cheer but making it a heck of a lot more queer.
Harper (Mackenzie Davis) and Abby (Kristen Stewart) are your archetypal, loved-up, Christmas movie couple, and when Harper invites Abby to her stay with her family for Christmas Abby is all in - Even after Harper reveals that she is not out to her family yet, and Abby is forced to play the role of her straight, orphan roommate. ‘The Happiest Season’ perfectly toes the line between its heavy subject matter - the difficulties of coming out and being a lesbian in a heteronormative society - and the joyous and witty feeling of a well-written and genuinely funny Christmas comedy (I mean, Kristen Stewart trying to believably play a straight girl is comedy enough in itself). It’s a rollercoaster of emotions that will make you laugh and cry and yell and want to fall in love and be unapologetically yourself for the rest of your life.
The great thing about ‘The Happiest Season’ is that It’s a lesbian film made by a lesbian - something cinema is seriously lacking - but it puts across really important elements of the LGBT+ experience to any audience member of any sexuality. Coming out is really, really hard. There’s an incredible scene where John - a standout character played by the wonderful and quick-witted Daniel Levy - talks about how different coming out is for everyone, and what an emotional experience it is. Having such a topic discussed in such a typically heterosexual style of film is a sort of groundbreaking, meaningful contrast. The idea that straight people will see this film and be so beautifully offered that glimpse into one of the most difficult aspects of the lives of queer people creates a feeling that is something I can’t even explain, one of extreme gratitude for the casual representation of the struggles queer people go through, whilst also being an uninhibited and constant reminder that their struggles do not define them.
This is a charming film with a beautiful message; and it’s delivered with a perfect amount of gay jokes, quirky characters and genuine humanity. I can only hope that it becomes a Christmas staple for every household, gay and straight alike. I think if there’s one thing we can all agree on this holiday season, it’s Aubrey Plaza in a suit.
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