Why Every Lesbian Needs to Watch Gia (TV Movie 1998)

Gia (1998): The Raw, Sexy, Tragic Lesbian Love Story That Still Breaks Me Every Time

Hey girls (and everyone who loves us), let’s talk about the one movie that hits different when you’re queer: Gia, the 1998 HBO film with Angelina Jolie that basically invented the modern lesbian heart-break obsession.

If you’ve ever cried over a woman who burned too bright and loved too hard, this is your film. It’s messy, it’s hot, it’s painful, and yes — it’s unapologetically lesbian in all the ways 1998 television was barely ready for.

Angelina Jolie plays Gia Marie Carangi, the real-life supermodel who became the world’s first supermodel in the late 70s/early 80s. She was wild, beautiful, bisexual/lesbian (she loved women hard and didn’t hide it), and completely self-destructive. The film doesn’t shy away from any of it. From the very first scene where she’s naked behind chain-link fencing in that iconic photoshoot, you know this isn’t going to be some sanitized biopic. This is raw queer hunger on screen.

The real magic — and the part that still makes my gay heart explode — is the relationship between Gia and Linda, played by Elizabeth Mitchell (yes, the same woman from Lost who we all fell for again years later). Linda is the sweet, soft makeup artist who becomes Gia’s great love. Their love story is the emotional core of the entire movie, and it’s so intensely lesbian it hurts.

Remember that scene in the hotel room where they finally kiss for the first time? Gia is high out of her mind, vulnerable, climbing into Linda’s lap like she’s starving for her. The way Angelina delivers that line “I just want to be with a girl” — chills. Every single time. And then the sex scene… sweet baby jesus. The infamous chain-link fence scene where they’re pressed against each other, half-naked, desperate, tearing at clothes — it’s still one of the hottest lesbian scenes ever put on film. Even in 2025, nothing has topped the raw sexual chemistry between Jolie and Mitchell. You can feel how much they want each other.

What makes Gia so special from a lesbian perspective is that it never treats Gia’s love for women as a phase or something tragic in itself. The tragedy is the drugs, the industry that used her up, the AIDS crisis that killed her at 26 — not the fact that she loved women. In 1998, that was radical. We were still getting “tragic queer” stories where being gay was the punishment. Gia says: no, loving women was the one pure thing in her chaotic life.

There’s this heartbreaking moment where Linda tries to save her, fences her in (literally and emotionally) to keep her off drugs, and Gia screams “You don’t have any idea what I want! You don’t have any idea who I am!” That fight scene is peak toxic lesbian feels. We’ve all been one of them — the one trying to save the girl who’s destroying herself, or the one destroying herself because the world wasn’t built for women like us.

And can we talk about how Angelina Jolie should have won every award for this? She was 22, giving the performance of a lifetime. The way she moves — that combination of predatory confidence and little-girl vulnerability — is pure lesbian catnip. When she looks at Linda with those hungry eyes, you believe this woman could make anyone fall in love with her. The nudity, the drug scenes, the emotional breakdowns… she went all in. No vanity, no holding back. It’s still her best performance (fight me).

Elizabeth Mitchell deserves just as much love. She plays Linda with such quiet strength and aching longing. She’s the “good girl” who gets ruined by loving the “bad girl,” and she makes you feel every second of that devastation. Their chemistry is actually insane — you can tell they genuinely wanted each other during filming. The way Linda looks at Gia when she’s high, with that mix of love and terror… I felt that in my soul.

The film also doesn’t erase Gia’s real-life queerness. In real life, Gia was openly into women, had relationships with several, and her love for women was legendary in the fashion world. The movie keeps that truth front and center. There’s even a scene where she hits on a female photographer early on — unapologetic baby dyke energy.

Twenty-seven years later, Gia still hits harder than almost any other lesbian film. It’s not polished like Carol, it’s not sweet like Imagine Me & You, it’s not hopeful like The Half of It. It’s ugly-cries in your face and says: some of us burn out, but we burn so fucking bright while we’re here.

If you’re a lesbian who loves women who love too much, women who destroy themselves with passion, women who refuse to be tamed — this is your movie. Watch it when you’re feeling dangerous. Watch it when you’re in love with a girl who’s bad for you. Watch it when you need to remember that our love stories are worth telling, even when they end in tragedy.

Gia Carangi only lived 26 years, but she lived them louder and prouder and gayer than most people live in 80. And Angelina Jolie made sure we’d never forget her.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go rewatch that fence scene for the 400th time and cry about beautiful, broken lesbian love again.

Drop your favorite Gia moment in the comments — I know I’m not the only one obsessed.