The tension becomes palpable almost immediately upon their meeting. At first, the dialogue and backstory misdirect us with a threat of suicide or the in-story deceit, but quickly that dissolves into the unspoken pressure of attraction. The performers' eyes do most of the work for long periods of time; their bodies forced to say what their characters cannot. They keep it locked away as expertly as any two queer women could; to an outside observer they are just "fond of…

"You were only first aware that they were Jewish when fascism was there and you lost your friends." - Hertha Thiele

The previous decade was remarkably progressive for LGBTQ struggle in Germany--because of the activism and hard work of too many to name--but by 1931, the writing was on the wall. Between the economic crisis and the growing political strength of the right wing (buoyed by the democratic socialists' betrayal of the working class), queer people, trans people, and every…

To my cisgender friends, I ask that, even if you would not normally do so, you please read this. This film was made for cisgender people, so I feel it important that I write this for cisgender people. I would not normally watch this movie, but it has been a subject of some discussion on this site in a way that has compelled me to watch it in order to discuss it credibly. I do not imagine what I have…