‘Birds of Paradise’ on Amazon Is a Tragic Queer Love Story for the Ages

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Birds of Paradise, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

For the first hour of Birds of Paradise, a new drama written and directed by Sarah Adina Smith that is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, I assumed I knew where the story is going. I assumed that Kristine Froseth‘s character—an incredibly talented ballerina named Marine who also happens to be the American French ambassador’s daughter—was competitive to the point of being unstable. I assumed that Diana Silvers‘ character—an equally talented ballerina named Kate who hails from a working-class background in the U.S.—was sweet, naive, and far too trusting of her new BFF. Worst of all, I assumed Birds of Paradise was yet another movie in which two rival girls compete over a boring boy, despite said girls having far more chemistry with each other.

I couldn’t have been happier to be proven wrong on all three assumptions. And while it may be a spoiler to do so, I feel obligated to assure all of the queer women tuning in to watch Birds of Paradise that yes, this movie is gay. It’s not exactly a happily-ever-after queer love story, but it does feel like a love story, complete with kissing and everything. And thank god, because it would have been a crime to waste the electric chemistry that Froseth and Silvers exude on screen.

Part of the genius of Smith’s script—an adaption of the 2019 novel Bright Burning Stars by A.K. Small—is the use of point-of-view. The story is told from the perspective of Kate (Silvers), and as an audience, we trust Kate. She is an outsider in this world of elite ballet, and so are we. When she arrives at a cut-throat ballet academy in Paris, where she will compete for a contract to join the Opéra national de Paris—what everyone calls “the prize”—you sympathize with her. She is poor, gangly, awkward, and doesn’t even speak French. Marine (Froseth), on the other hand, is entirely unrelatable. She is rich, petite, gorgeous, and seems like the resident mean girl.

To say that Kate and Marine do not get along upon first meeting would be an understatement. They quite literally get into a fistfight after Kate unintentionally says something insensitive about Marine’s late twin brother Ollie, who recently took his own life. Worse, they have been assigned as roommates, but the school hasn’t yet provided their room a second bed. But soon, they start to warm to each other. At a party, Marine challenges Kate to a dance-off: the first to stop dancing is the loser. They dance until they are ragged, and then each agrees to stop on the count of three. Both stay true to their word and stop, an intoxicating exercise in trust. From there forward, they are best friends.

Already, romantic tropes that fan-fiction readers will be familiar with are stacking up: Rivals! Roommates! Enemies to friends to lovers! There was only one bed! But there are also a few boy-shaped obstacles, including a male ballet dancer named Felipe (Daniel Camargo), whom Marine is casually dating. Felipe is the best male dancer at the school and, Marine says, whoever gets paired with him will surely win the prize. Kate sneaks off one day to ask Felipe to help her with some dance moves; she ends up sleeping with him.

Don’t lose faith. Where other movies would have gone the boring, heterosexual “girls fighting over the boy” route, Birds of Paradise opts for a far more interesting, far more queer turn of events. By the time Kate confesses to Marine what she’s done, the other girl is already over it. In fact, Marine has a confession of her own: “I realized I wasn’t jealous that you were with Felipe, but that Felipe was with you.”

While not quite explicit, that’s a confession of love if I’ve ever heard one. But just in case you still thought you were being queer-baited, Kate and Marine seal the deal with a passionate kiss. Cue the montage of them being absolutely heart-wrenchingly in love with each other, including a moment where Marine says, “I just want to know what it feels like. To be you.” Now is that or is that not some straight-up Call Me By Your Name-type vibes? It is exactly the beautiful, sweeping, and theatrical queer lady love story that you want it to be, and I’m so thankful to writer/director Sarah Adina Smith for taking it there.

Of course, it doesn’t end happily. This is a story of ambition and betrayal, though not in the way you might expect. But hey, that’s what fan-fiction is for.

Watch Birds of Paradise on Amazon Prime