Imagine Me and You

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Fandom
Name: Imagine Me & You
Abbreviation(s):
Creator: Oliver Park
Date(s): 2005
Medium: Live Action Film
Country of Origin: Germany & United Kingdom
External Links: Wikipedia page
IMDB
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Imagine Me & You is a 2005 romantic comedy-drama film about a newlywed bride, Rachel (Piper Perabo), who begins to question her sexuality when she meets Luce (Lena Headley), a flower shop owner, and sparks fly.

Canon

The film starts with Rachel's wedding day, where she marries Hector aka "Heck". During the wedding, the first sparks of chemistry are established between Rachel and Luce, and they continue to grow when they meet again. Oblivious, Hector sets Luce and Rachel up to spend time together as friends and a night out at a football match ends in a near kiss.

Events snowball from there, with Rachel unable to deny her attraction to Luce any more, culminating in them kissing in Luce's flower shop. In an effort to stop themselves from going any further, Luce plans to go for an extended trip of out the country. Meanwhile, Rachel confesses her love for another person, without naming Luce, to Heck when she believes he is asleep. As their friends work out that it is each other they are in love with, Heck leaves Rachel to follow her heart.

Fandom

While a relatively small fandom presence remains online now, Imagine Me & You was (and to some extent, continues to be) commonly referenced in femslash spaces over the years. As a German-British production released two years after the UK's anti-LGBT Section 28 clause (just one part of much wider anti-LGBTQ+ acts and sentiment rife in the UK since the 80s[1]) was abolished, the fact that Rachel and Luce had their happy endings with each other was genuinely surprising to many sapphic viewers.

It’s worth mentioning that back in 2005, this film was one of only a few with a happy ending for a same-sex couple. Up until the late 2010s, the directors had an awful tendency for one person to go back to the partner of different sex or with the death of one or both individuals—films as such paint a sad picture, especially for LGBTQ+ youth.

Zofia Wijaszka In Their Own League

Is Imagine Me & You a good movie? I’ve seen it no less than twenty times, and I still don’t know. It’s funny. The performances are charming. It’s a fun — if somewhat poorly paced — queer romcom. And the kissing! The kissing is very good. I like the movie very much, but I don’t think it’s necessarily Good, and I don’t even think it’s a movie that’s So Bad It’s Good. It’s just sort of a fine movie but one I watch over and over again, because it was one of the first lesbian romcoms I ever saw, and you never forget your first.

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya Autostraddle


While arguably nothing particularly unique or different to the standard rom-coms out there, other than it focusing on a relationship between two women, the film became widely loved for being one of the first happy, sapphic rom-coms many sapphics watched. It has been the topic of conversation on several podcasts, and some lines from the film made it into the sapphic community as memorable quotes.

If you’ve ever heard a dyke randomly shout “you’re a wanker, number nine" while drunk at a bar, well, they were referencing this film. But my personal favorite line will forever be: “Am I gay? I’m ecstatic!”

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya Autostraddle


In terms of fanworks, almost all the fanworks focus on the Luce/Rachel pairing. The set-up of Imagine Me & You has been used as an AU for a small number of fanworks, within all kinds of pairing types, not just f/f.

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References

  1. ^ The terrible, brutal history of Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s homophobic Section 28 - Pink News
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