The queer Christmas romcom from director Clea DuVall starring Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis finally has a trailer!
A Christmas rom-com written by Clea DuVall and Mary Holland, starring Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis as a couple, with an ensemble cast that includes Dan Levy (Schitts Creek!), Alison Brie (Community!), Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Rec!), Victor Garber (Titanic!) and Mary Steenburgen (Elf!!) might sound like a magical fever dream, but it’s not!
After much teasing, and the release of Tegan and Sara’s instantly-classic Christmas bop, ‘Make You Mine This Season’ from the soundtrack, the trailer for Happiest Season is here. Featuring such a stellar cast and creative team, with record-breaking Emmy winner Dan Levy in his first major role since Schitts Creek ended, this was always going to be a solid film, but after this trailer my expectations have skyrocketed beyond all reason. It’s hilarious! It’s cute! It’s Christmassy! It’s worth noting that it’s also very white and upper middle class and cis.
After all the discourse around the upcoming Ammonite and its classic “sad lesbians in the past” tropes, I realised that I have never watched a contemporary, queer love story between women in a movie. Or at least not one where they’re the main characters. The world of television is doing better than ever for LGBTQIA+ representation, but on film it seems that queer women are still stuck in the past, looking for fossils or staring intensely across beach bonfires or being buttoned-up in department stores. I know this means I’ve missed out on many apparently iconic films, like But I’m a Cheerleader (1999) or Imagine Me And You (2005), but by the time I came out last year they weren’t exactly contemporary films anyway. Hopefully Happiest Season might prove to be a stepping stone into a future where a much wider range of queer stories can be told with much greater frequency.
For now, though, I’m off to watch this fabulous trailer on loop until 26 November, when it will be available to rent or buy in the UK, as announced below with a SECOND TRAILER!
Happiest Christmas!
The Phase 
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