Lesbian Space Princess

Bluesky

Being a princess is supposed to make life straightforward. One is supposed to be beautiful, popular, and surrounded by suitors – or at least that’s what the stories say. Growing up in the social whirl created by her celebrity mothers on the planet Clitopolis, where she can theoretically have anything she wants, Princess Saira (voiced by Shabana Azeez) just feels like more of a loser. She can’t hold the attention of restless, super cool bounty hunter girlfriend Kiki (Bernie Van Tiel), and she’s tortured by the thought of once again turning up to prom only to be relegated to the single zone. Events take an unexpected turn, however, when Kiki is captured by straight white maliens who threaten to drown her in a vat of toxic homebrew if Saira doesn’t turn up with a ransom. Can our anxiety-ridden heroine pull herself together, step outside her comfort zone and save the day?

Lovingly animated in a style that will be instantly recognisable to Adventure Time fans, and full of great visual gags, this is one of those bold little indie projects that could have failed horribly but somehow succeeds in getting pretty much everything right. It’s full of heart, making it easy to root for Saira even at her most pathetic – and once she leaves Safe Space for the outer void, a lot of the scrapes she gets into would make the average audience member pretty nervous too. Her primary companion on these adventures is a problematic spaceship well past its sell-by date, which comes equipped with some decidedly recidivist attitudes, but a bond develops between them nonetheless. It has, after all, missed having adventures, and she offers plenty of those.

Lesbian voices are still under-represented in cinema, at least once one gets beyond the romcom genre, and though there are elements of that here, there’s a lot more besides. The film delivers plenty of in-jokes which will delight sapphic audiences, but never does so in a way that will make other viewers feel left out. The same can be said of its obscure nerd jokes. Well crafted characters and strong performances (with Gemma Chua-Tran also getting plenty to do as the green-haired, rabbit-eared girl Saira meets along the way) carry it through, and there’s never a dull moment.

Premièred at the Berlin International Film Festival, Lesbian Space Princess may sound intrinsically niche but has natural audience appeal. There’s an anarchic silliness about it which suits the science fiction setting, an openness to having fun and delivering a story unselfconsciously, on its own terms. Despite this, it has things to say. Saira’s problems are easy to relate to and her character arc is convincing. Her sexuality is relevant but this isn’t just a flimsy romantic yarn. The sympathy that it finds for its various characters opens up possibilities beyond the narratives we’re used to, yet although it gets into some sticky situations – literally – it is never bogged down by sentiment.

Clearly a labour of love, this is a lively little film that will reward those willing to step outside their bubbles.