‘Ripe!’ puts a sporty, sapphic spin on the ‘enemies to lovers’ trope
Ripe! is a story of football rivalries, broken limbs and queer love. Executive producer, US women’s soccer champion Kelley O’Hara, reflects on the switch from the pitch to the movie industry and the making of this coming-of-age tale.
WORDS BY ZOYA RAZA-SHEIKH IMAGES COURTESY OF TUSK In 2002 cult classic Bend It Like Beckham was released.
Starring Parminder Nagra and Kiera Knightley, the beloved sports comedy was quickly dubbed an honorary queer film favourite thanks to Nagra and Knightley’s undeniable on-screen chemistry that should’ve ended with the pair becoming more than football BFFs.
But, no matter how much we wanted it to be, Bend It Like Beckham isn’t an LGBTQIA+ love story centred around muddy kisses or breaking down the queer stigma in Britsh Brown communities.
