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Blue Jean

Play trailer Poster for Blue Jean Released Jun 9, 2023 1h 37m Drama LGBTQ+ Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
96% Tomatometer 114 Reviews 92% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
England, 1988 -- Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government is about to pass a law stigmatizing gays and lesbians, forcing Jean, a gym teacher, to live a double life. As pressure mounts from all sides, the arrival of a new girl at school catalyzes a crisis that will challenge Jean to her core.
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Blue Jean

Blue Jean

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Critics Consensus

Bridging times past with issues that are still current, Blue Jean resonates intellectually and emotionally thanks to thoughtful direction and authentic performances.

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Critics Reviews

View All (114) Critics Reviews
Micco Caporale Chicago Reader It’s a powerful, cerulean-tinged debut from filmmaker Georgia Oakley with timely reminders about the toll of systemic bigotry—the same kind that can be seen today with gender panic. Dec 18, 2023 Full Review Alison Willmore New York Magazine/Vulture Blue Jean’s real power comes from its examination of the human costs of living in fear. Dec 9, 2023 Full Review Drew Gregory Autostraddle The triumph of Blue Jean is that it takes time showing the queer lives at stake. This is not a dour film. It has hot lesbian sex, sweaty snapshots of queer bars, and, ultimately, portrays the power of community. Aug 18, 2023 Full Review Daniel Allen Loud and Clear Reviews Rosy McEwen gives a phenomenal performance in Blue Jean, the Thatcher-era drama that marks the exceptional debut of British director Georgia Oakley. Rated: 5/5 Jul 25, 2024 Full Review Calum Cooper In Their Own League Oakley treats everyone affected with compassion, portraying them as stronger than the forces that seek to shame and ostracise them, even if they don’t realise it yet. Jul 15, 2024 Full Review Connor Lightbody TAKE ONE Magazine Oakley’s incredible debut expertly manages to hold a mirror up to society’s continued failings through the lens of a victim falling prey to the internalised homophobia that is prevalent in the very fabric of our lives Rated: 4.5/5 Jul 4, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (23) audience reviews
Kayleigh P About half way through the movie, I turned it off. Perhaps it got better after I turned it off, but it never got going, anywhere. Slow starts are fine, but there was nothing to make me feel like I needed to watch to the end. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 09/28/24 Full Review Ashley N Excellently crafted movie. Very tense the whole time and the viewer really feels the tense bottled up emotions and social pressure Jean struggles with. Not sure I was in the right head space for this when I watched, but it was still quite good if that is what you are looking for. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/06/24 Full Review Stuart B The film captures history perfectly and Blue Jean is definitely a film I would recommend. Its beautifully shot(by cinematographer Victor Seguin) , has a great soundtrack, and the cast are fantastic in their roles. I definitely recommend Blue Jean and I cant wait to see what director/writer Georgia Oakley has in store next. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/17/24 Full Review Audience Member Honest and beautifully acted, written and directed. Also a wonderful score. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/10/24 Full Review Tyler G A period piece of a gay gym teacher in the Thatcher UK. At times beautiful, at times more than a bit slow in plot or meaning. Rosy McEwan is simply brilliant and carries the film throughout. So much of the lines that permeated the conservative fear-based political ecosystem can be heard as echoes against trans people today, and still gay folks to a lesser extent. A good movie, but hard to broadly recommend. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/09/23 Full Review Ravenswood R Beats you over the head with such overdrawn thematic repetition that after the first 45 minutes you feel like you just want something else to happen or anything whatsoever to be focused on for at least one minor scene other than lesbianism. The "message" is front and center at all times, leaving any other potentially interesting aspects of the film no room to breathe. It is a worthy attempt at a film in support of LGBT+ liberation, but it is very top heavy and extremely unsubtle. It is hard to lose yourself in the story when the writer and director are so afraid you might forget the central fact that these are lesbians that every single moment requires some reminder or demonstration of this fact. There is no need at all for the multiple sex scenes, they actually deter from time that could have been spent making the story better. We know they are lesbian women - we don't need to see the characters physically proving it six times. It becomes pedantic to the level where the viewer gets the point, and then gets the point made 19 more times before it is over: in the 1980s it was very hard to be gay in Britain. Also, apparently to be lesbian you have to do lesbian things and think about being a lesbian, all the time. The acting is very good, and the interplay between characters is believable, but the browbeating and constant restatement of the characters sexuality is far too overdone to make this much of an artistic achievement. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 08/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Blue Jean

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Movie Info

Synopsis England, 1988 -- Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government is about to pass a law stigmatizing gays and lesbians, forcing Jean, a gym teacher, to live a double life. As pressure mounts from all sides, the arrival of a new girl at school catalyzes a crisis that will challenge Jean to her core.
Director
Georgia Oakley
Producer
Hélène Sifre
Screenwriter
Georgia Oakley
Distributor
Magnolia Pictures
Production Co
Great Point Media, Kleio Films, BFI Film Fund, BBC Film, Cineart
Genre
Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 9, 2023, Limited
Box Office (Gross USA)
$110.1K
Runtime
1h 37m
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