Chris brought up the topic of good movies about (maybe for) women. Let’s ponder it, shall we? What are some of the good ones? Or rather, what are the some of the best ones? Who are the best female characters on film? Best, meaning not just not a fantasy incarnation of what the ideal girlfriend, mistress, wife or mother would or should be but women who drive the plot.
What I’ve discovered is that good acting can overcome a one-dimensionally written character (Meryl Streep is a master at this – just look at what she did with Sophie’s Choice, Kramer vs. Kramer and even the Devil Wears Prada; ditto Kathy Bates). A good actress fills out the holes. With that in mind, here are a few that have hit home for me over the years (in no particular order, some are obvious crossovers):
Fried Green Tomatoes (how did I forget this one??)
Dolores Claiborne (It may be just the acting, though)
Thelma and Louise
Postcards from the Edge
Terms of Endearment
As Good as it Gets
Broadcast News (that James Brooks…
One True Thing (but I may be the only person on the planet who loves this movie)
Alien/Aliens
Julia
Hannah and Her Sisters
Manhattan
Annie Hall (of course)
Friends with Money
Juno
Crimes of the Heart
Steel Magnolias (which I’ve only recently began to appreciate)
A Streetcar Named Desire
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
The Women
Another Woman (overlooked Woody Allen masterpiece
Far From Heaven
The Color Purple
Sense and Sensibility (one of my all-time favorites)
Strangely enough, I’ve never been a fan of Beaches nor A League of Their Own nor any movie starring Kate Hudson or Meg Ryan. I need to think harder on this topic but this should get you going – any big ones I missed?
Thanks!
Has anyone noticed? Sex and The City has consistently beat Indiana Jones 5-6 days out of the week the past two weeks. If they counted the week-SATC would have been in front of it this week.
This is the picture so many people said didn’t have legs!
I am wondering how come all I’ve heard about how successful this womens film has become is deafening silence? Hmmmm?
Also, this is the film the same crowd said would cap out at $70 Million. And it’s sitting at $110 right now.
Anyone? I would love to see some of these columnist that wrote such sexist crap about it eat some crow. But we all know reporters don’t admit when they are wrong, they just don’t say anything……anyone remember “Amadeus”?
Some people have mentioned Bridget Jones’ Diary. My favorite Zellweger performance is definitely The Whole Wide World, about the relationship between a Texas schoolteacher and pulp fiction author Robert E. Howard. Fabulous film and great female role…
I would add Diane Keaton and Streep in Marvin’s Room (and Gwen Verdon!) And Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake, Fernanda Montenegro (Central Station), and the many women of Paris Je t’aime (a heartbreaking Catalina Sandino Moreno).
Coal Miner’s Daughter. Sissy Spacek was amazing. Ditto Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy.
Foreign language films
1. the apple, samira makhmalbaf
2. raise the red lantern, gong li
3. trois couleurs: bleu, juliette binoche
4. trois couleurs: rouge, irene jacob
5. insiang, hilda koronel and mona lisa (the philippines)
6. todo sobre mi madre, cecilia roth and marisa paredes
7. bata, bata, pa’no ka ginawa (a.k.a lea’s story), vilma santos (the philippines)
8. the flor contemplacion story, nora aunor (the philippines)
9. dayareh (a.k.a. the circle), directed by jafar panahi and featuring female characters in the lead
10. the day i became a woman, directed by marzieh meskini (wife of mohsen makhmalbaf)
11.two women, sophia loren (in an oscar-winning performance)
12.the shop on main street, ida kaminska (she was in her 70s when nominated for a best actress oscar in 1967)
13.the story of adele h., isabelle adjani
14.la historia oficial, norma aleandro (with strong male lead performance by hector alterio)
15.whispering sands, christine hakim (indonesia)
*the piano (holly hunter’s Ada was simply unforgettable)
*working girl (melanie griffith and sigourney weaver were delectable in their respective roles)
*kissed (a mesmerizing movie on necrophilia; the female lead just blew me away)
*blue (juliette binoche was the heart of this kieslowski’s film)
*a cry in the dark
*amelie
*central station
Sorry if I’m repeating some. I suppose the good ones bear repeating.
Living Out Loud
Aliens
Moonstruck
Heathers
Million Dollar Baby
The Queen
The Hours
Kill Bill 1 & 2
Bridget Jones Diary
Erin Brockovich
You can Count on Me
Fargo
To Die For
The Grifters
Norma Rae
9 to 5
Silkwood
Solid list, and I would also add Altman’s 3 Women with Sissy Spacek, Frears’ Dangerous Liaisons with Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer, and Moonstruck with Cher and Olympia Dukakis (both of whom won Oscars for this film), which may be my favorite romantic comedy of all time. Cheers!
and Kadosh
oh, and Eve’s Bayou
Passionfish
A Raisin in the Sun
The Joy Luck Club
Edge of Heaven (a Turkish film I just saw–simply marvelous)
Double Happiness
Black Narcissus
So Proudly We Hail!
The Group
Water
Talk 16 (Canadian documentary about teenaged girls)
The Company of Strangers
Go Fish
Moolade
Raise the Red Lantern
Auntie Mame
Casa de los Babys
Silence of the Lambs
Thirteen
The Opposite of Sex
Chicago
The Birds
The Good Earth
To Each One’s Own
Little Women
Pierre de Plume:
Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean IS a marvelously entertaining movie…
Shoot the Moon is magnificent ….Diane and her three girls, a fun little chorus…
“A map of the World”.
Probably not the best movie in the world, but still a good one with two real women face to face. I prefer Weaver in this performance rather than in “Death and the Maiden”.
I agree with many of the mentioned, especially (sticking with Weaver) the Alien Resurrection inclusion. And “Another Woman” which I discovered just a few weeks ago. Gena Rowlands is just…. (insert any hyperbolic adjective here).
I don’t know if it’s been mentioned or not, I guess it has:”The Age of Innocence”.
Wow, Meg…..forgot all about her.
I guess I am wrong and ignorant if I say that the last thing I remember Meg Ryan in was when she left Dennis Quaid and basically straddled Russell Crowe in public.
That was cool…..unfortunately we got stuck with a crappy movie, PROOF OF LIFE, from that affair.
Still, I guess that movie could have been worse.
It could have been SHANGHAI SURPRISE
Meg Ryan rocks.
“French Kiss”, “Kate and Leopold” and “When Harry Met Sally” are all great movies.
Before Sunrise/Before Sunset are masterpieces.
i’m a guy that likes all genres, as long as a movie is good. whether the protagonist is a man or a woman has never made much difference to me as long as the plot engages. don’t know when this odd division of sexes in the movies occurred–it seems it must have happened when the industry began courting (almost exclusively) the young-stupid-male demographic. that’s when a movie starring a woman became a “chick flick.” it’s nonsense. as men, don’t we like to look at an attractive woman? talented, interesting, good-looking women? their stories are our stories. it’s part of being human.
The Nun’s Story
The Innocents
Auntie Mame
Cleopatra
Purple Rose of Cairo
Annie Hall
A Cry in the Dark
Only When I Laugh
The Goodbye Girl
The Rapture
etc. etc. etc.
don’t forget that the biggest blockbusters
in the 50s and 60s were musicals…most featuring
a female lead:
Mary Poppins
West Side Story
Gypsy
Bye, Bye Birdie
Sound of Music
Funny Girl
Hello, Dolly
A Star is Born
Gigi
My Fair Lady
The Accused
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
Most Allen, Almodovar and Casavetes films.
Red Rock West….The Last Seduction — I love film noir….and where the heck is Linda Fiorentino?
How about:
Sunset Boulavard
All About Eve
Working Girl
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Chicago
Amelie
Kissing Jessica Stein
Mrs. Miniver
Judy Davis in “Husbands and Wives”.
Wondeful perfomance, brilliant actress.
How could the Academy prefer Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny) instead of Judy Davis??
Persepolis
Volver
All About My Mother
Douglas Sirk´s movies
Gone with the Wind
Janes Darwell in “The Grapes of Wrath”
Katina Paxinou in “Rocco and his Brothers”
Fernanda Montenegro in “Central Station”
Spirited Away
Persona
Autumn Sonata
Cries and Whispers
I, for one, and my mother both love One True Thing.
It is amazing and heart breaking at the same time.
If you want to be reminded why we once cared about the acting talents of Diane Keaton (pre Baby Boom) look no further than Shoot The Moon. Keaton’s performance is a marvel, capturing every facet of a truly complicated character. In my opinion it is pitch-perfect in every way.
REBECCA ?? (THIS ONE IS GOOD)
why all english???
VOLVER
MUJERES AL BORDE DE UN ATAQUE DE NERVIOS
EL HIJO DE LA NOVIA
I think The Grifters was a prefect showcase for Anjelica Huston and Annette Bening who both gave career best performances in this film.
No one’s mentioned Elizabeth (the FIRST one!!!!) Excellent film with an excellently etched central character.
Then, I suppose, we can also mention the other good ‘queen’ movies:
– The Queen, Mrs Brown… um… Actually the only two I’d put up there with the ‘best’ are Elizabeth & the Queen. Both excellent films & excellent characters/performances.
& while we’re on the topic of Judi Dench – I’d also mention Mrs Henderson Presents & perhaps even Ladies in Lavender or Iris.
While we’re thinking of Cate Blanchett, one of my fav films of hers is Tom Twyker’s Heaven. Which leads me via the script to the Three Colours Trilogy, which has been mentioned, but i think particularly Blue and also Red are excellent female-driven films.
I also feel the need to mention more Jane Austen Films.
Yes, Sense and Sensibility, yes, Pride and Prejudice. What about Emma? Very good stuff.
And while we’re talking Gwyneth Paltrow, what about Sliding Doors? I loved that movie…
Jane Campion’s films are also always heavily female-centric, but today I don’t feel like discussing her.
But it makes me think of Holly Hunter & I am forced to second Broadcast News. What a cool movie & what an awesome performance. Ms Hunter’s had quite a number of great, if odd, female-driven film. Living Out Loud comes to mind, but I wouldn’t mention it, cause I didn;t like it at all, although I vaguely liked her performance. She’s played such great, original characters, but actually far too seldomly as the driving force. Dare we mention CopyCat? no. rather not.
What about Heavenly Creatures? Disturbing, but amazing film, driven by two great female leads, and teens at that. hardly your average movie teen BFFs…
Should we also, then, mention some High School female-centric films, like Heathers and even Jawbreaker? there are many more, but the waters get a bit murky down that path. (Mean Girls… ugh. no!)
Obviously Juno is awesome.
What about Master & commander? o wait – there were no female parts in that at all…
Bette Davis – goodness, the woman owned almost every project she was in, and she very often, and actually quite uncommonly – even by today’s standards – had the lead character, was the driving force. eg Of Human Bondage doesn’t count, cause while she was the best thing in it, she wasn’t the technical lead. In Dark Victory, The Letter, Now Voyager, even The Little Foxes… Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (ANOTHER Elizabeth I), she totally did.
And nearly everything Kate Hepburn did goes without saying. What a woman.
Hey – what about Breakfast at Tiffany’s?
& The Professional / Leon (depending on what country you’re in?)
Nikita?
Geez, we could EVEN mention the Fifth Element…
Strange no-one’s mentioned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore… guess its a bit obvious & we exhausted it on the ‘Mother’s Day’ comments…
There are so many… glad someone mentioned Silence of the Lambs.
Women in film are so underrated… I think they just don’t get enough good scripts these days, so the industry has this idea that female-driven films don’t sell… so they give female actresses lesser scripts, or don’t put enough into marketing them (because they already expect low tunrout), and people don’t like them, and they blame it on the actresses instead of everything else, and so the circle goes round, and when a great, nay, even just a good, actress lands in a good film with a really good script, that’s well marketed, and audiences effortlessly respond to it, its a fluke… I don’t think its about the gender of the lead. Its about everything else. No one minds watching a great film with a woman in the lead role. Just look at Juno. The industry needs a good enema… stop trying to second-guess the audience, and just make good films about interesting characters with good actors – of both genders!
Aliens is all about women and motherhood:
Ripley and Newt Vs. Alien Queen & Aliens
……Or i call you.
Please email your mobile phone number to :
Sasha Stone
Awardsdaily.com
To my attention.
Thank you in advance.
Elisabeth Shue, pease call me !!!
When you actually think about it there are so many. I haven’t read all of the comments, so these may have already been said, but I ones I love are:
Eve’s Bayou
Amelie
Bound
Erin Brokovich
Dancer in the Dark
Dogville
Lovely and Amazing
The Opposite of Sex
Pride and Prejudice
Mulholland Drive
Thirteen
Whale Rider
I really agree with the Dancer in the Dark addition…
And I’m surprised no one has said ‘The Others’. Very few men in the movie overall.. and I think Nicole Kidman works wonders with a part that could have been really about the creep factor but ends up managing to make this movie about a mother. Not the world’s best mother, but a mother nonetheless.
And Dogville…redemption, indeed.
Jules and Jim (splendid woman at the heart of the triangle)
The Rose Tattoo
Suddenly Last Summer
Almodovar’s:
All About My Mother
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Kika
High Heels
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
I’ve always enjoyed Robert Altman’s “3 Women”. Despite his rep for sometimes embarrassing his actresses, this film is a poignant look at female relationships and the changes they undergo as jealousy arises.
I love the picture of Gena Rowlands. What a great actress. Why doesn’t she have an Oscar again? And Another Woman is an underrated Woody Allen masterpiece. Every female part in the movie is a real character, even the someone one-dimensional characters played by Sandy Dennis and Betty Buckley. The scene in Chumley’s with Sandy, Gena and the actor playing Sandy husband is priceless.
And, look at all the Woody Allen film’s on the list. What ever is going on in his personal life, he does (or at least used to) make great films with and about women.
And, Aliens is a much better film than Alien.
Now, about the Women (the Diane English version). Those of us who follow film closely know this she has been trying to make this movie, but when the trailer played before sex and the city where I saw the movie, there was audio gasps as the cast members faces and voices played and all of this whispering throughout the theater as the credits displayed. People did not even know this movie was out there, you could tell people wanted to see it. It just needs a good marketing campaign. If The Women is not hit, it will be because it was NOT marketed properly.
I hate to say it, but Mammia Mia was the other trailer that got applause. Enough people know about that one.
I’d add several more Woody Allen films to the list:
Another Woman
September
Interiors
Alice
Also let’s not forget:
Bergman’s Autumn Sonata
Bergman’s Cries and Whispers
Chaplin’s A Woman in Paris
Godard’s A Woman is a Woman
Hitchcock’s Rebecca
agree, Ryan Adams about Jean-Pierre Jeunet. A Very Long Engagement, indeed.
Dancer in the Dark
oh, yeah…. Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Belle de Jour
What about Bridget Jones’ Diary? Only the first one, the second one was a pile of trash that recuced Bridget into a complete moron who keeps getting herself into one ridiculous situation after another as a result of her incompetent moronacy, but the first was a great film with a terrific lead character, theres a reason Renee Zellwegger became so popular in the first place.
Summertime
The Silence of the Lambs
Muriels Wedding
Places in the Heart
The ones on the top list that I like are:
Dolores Claiborne (at least Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh)
Terms of Endearment (until it switches from comedy to tearjerker)
As Good as it Gets
Broadcast News
One True Thing (no, Sasha, I liked this, though I do think Meryl Streep’s character does get a tad sanctimonious at times)
Alien (but NOT Aliens)
Hannah and her Sisters
Manhattan
Annie Hall
Friends with Money
Juno
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Another Women
Far From Heaven
Sense and Sensibility
I would second the nomination of All About Eve, and also add Nicole Holofcener’s other movies to the list (Walking and Talking and Lovely and Amazing) to the list, and as far as classics go, I’d add Stage Door.
The thing is, I object to the idea that women only like, and should only like, a certain kind of film. The primary example of this is the original The Women, where the women seem obsessed only with their looks and possessions to the exclusion of everything else, pretending to be friendly to each other while really being catty, that love is only bringing flowers on a date, that “fate” is the only decider in relationships, and while there’s no men in the movie (and may not be in the remake either), you get the feeling the underlying message is, “All men are bastards, but it’s a woman’s duty to love them anyway.” Sorry, but I think that was backwards and reactionary then, and inexcusable now.
I bring up Nicole Holofcener because she and other women filmmakers in the 1990’s (Jill Sprecher, Darnell Martin, Lisa Krueger, Kasi Lemmons, Tamara Jenkins) made films that didn’t sentimentalize or soften their characters, but created realistic characters in stories that made sense. Unfortunately, while Jenkins made a great film last year, and Martin has a film coming out this year, only Holofcener seems to be able to get work consistently. It’s too bad, because I think women deserve better stories than ones that treat them like six year olds.
Oh, La Pianiste! Duh, I should have intuited that based on the context.
Thanks.
Jeez, how have I forgotten about Mizoguchi and Ozu? So many great films about women between those two Japanese masters, it’s difficult to even begin listing them.
And Bergman! So many great films about women by Bergman…
“To Each His Own” – a fabulous soaper from the 1940s that won Olivia deHavilland one of her Oscars.
and while we’re at it, let’s consider just about any of the major Hepburn, Crawford, and Davis (and I don’t mean Geena, but then that thought brings me to Thelma and Louise and Susan Sarandon as Sr. Helen Prejean, but I digress) films for terrific depictions of strong women on whom the plot completely depended.
Oh, and RichardA, after reading your add, let me add: Colleen Dewhurst. Now there was a really cool, feisty gal! I never tired of that raspy voice and fierceness!
Enchanted April!
Just to add: Gena Rowlands is one classy looking lady. If I were to hang out with gentleladies all the time, I would love for them to look and act like her. She’s so full intergrity, pride, and awesome posture.
Ladies, don’t slouch, straight back, chins up! UP! And fix your hair.
oops, thanks Alexander.
actually I meant Haneke’s La Pianiste, with Isabelle Huppert
(in line with my “insatiable female” theme, ha.)
Good call on Wong Kar-Wai and Carl Franklin, too.
So much Woody Allen on the list? Interesting.
The Legend of Billy Jean!–total 80s awesomeness.
me<–cried like a faucet in One True Thing.
What about Fran Kubelik in The Apartment?
The hours,
8 and a half,
The whole three colors trilogy (Blue White and Red).. Especially Blue.
All About my Mother
Sense and Sensibility
Two For the Road (It’s only half about a woman but just a great movie and definitely not a regular guy movie)
Aaaand of course last but certainly not least: Hanging Up and Hope Floats which are just the most masterful of masterpieces 😉
Ryan, I really love your additions, and particularly your specific point about Jean-Pierre Jeunet and other European filmmakers.
But, I think you mean “The Piano,” not “The Pianist.” Am I wrong?
Speaking of foreign filmmakers, while his films may have a leading man at their center, to me no active directors understands the complexities of women, and their myriad kinds of personages, more than Wong Kar-Wai. Just looking at his filmography, you see a bevy of beautiful, iconoclastic and unique women.
Almodovar is a splendid choice as well, naturally.
The Color Purple is one of my favorites. Spielberg’s The Sugarland Express merits consideration as well.
I still need to see One True Thing, but I want to because Carl Franklin gave us two excellent noirs, One False Move and Devil in a Blue Dress, both of which featured strong women.
James Cameron may be a big-budget action/sci-fi director but his films tend to be all about incredibly strong, tough and resourceful women. Terminator, Aliens, Terminator 2, True Lies, even Titanic.
Which reminds me, the Coens may not be considered the most female-friendly directing unit, but their films do possess strong women as well. From Blood Simple to Raising Arizona, from Miller’s Crossing to No Country for Old Men, and the apex being their beautiful etching of Marge in Fargo…
Nights of Cabiria, and certainly Juliet of the Spirits. 8-1/2, even…
All About Eve is tough to beat and just might be the best all-around.
Waiting to Exhale
How Stella Got Her Groove Back
Dreamgirls
I would put Miracle Worker on there. Two stellar parts about two accomplished women.
I would also argue that there have been several pics over the years that got a bum wrap because they were womens films.
Turning Point-which I think is one of the prime examples of a female buddy picture that showed two diverse women who weren’t the “BFF” types. They actually clash.
Riding in Cars with Boys and Boys on the Side. I personally love these movies and think they got the shaft. Pre-2000 I think Drew Barrymore actually made good movies about women. I am hoping she redeems herself from all these bad romantic comedies with Grey Gardens this year.
The Childrens Hour with Audrey Hepburn and Shirley McClain. They both actually gave incredible performances considering the year this ground-breaking film was made.
An Unmarried Woman!!!
Chicago
I like very very very much Elisabeth Shue in “Leaving Las Vegas”. I think she is even better than Nicolas Cage in this movie.
Wonderful actress, underemployed.
Wonderful woman, i am in love with her and look forward to seing her again in a good movie.
Fassbinders’s BRD Triology:
The Marriage of Maria Braun
Veronika Voss
Lola
Significant that so many of the best movies about women have been directed by gay men.
Cukor, Minnelli, Cocteau, Carné, Schlesinger, Pasolini, Visconti, Almodovar, Daldry, Haynes.
(Intentionally leaving out Van Sant because, although I have greatest admiration for him, he seems to have a blind spot when it comes to females.)
On second thought, Van Sant gave us To Die For — but that won’t make many people’s lists of snuggle-bear movies about cuddle-bunny girls.
oh, and Michael Patrick King.
How about THE Best Pic winner about women…ALL ABOUT EVE, which automatically makes me think of a few Almodovar masterpieces, including: ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER, TALK TO HER and VOLVER. Thank you for not including any of that Julia Roberts crap (save for STEEL MAGNOLIAS, which is of course her only good film…because she dies! Just kidding, just kidding.) I think ERIN BROKOVICH and pretty much all her films are very overrated.
So to the list I add:
The Hours
Amelie
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
Kill Bill (if only for showing a woman can carry an action film)
Mary: Full of Grace
Notes on A Scandal
Pride and Prejudice
Atonement
Whale Rider
Gone With The Wind (although I hate to say it somewhat)
Junebug
Pieces of April
and honorary only because it is about what it must be like to be a woman…
Mrs. Doubtfire, Tootsie, Some Like It Hot (again, just kidding)
Notes on a Scandal, this is definitely about women and an excellent movie.
A lot of those lead women in those movies weren’t one dimesional characters. But some of those movies sure do have holes though. I’d have to say my favorite “Good movies about women” would have to be Who’s Afraid of Virgina Wolf? and Nights of Cabria.
Sasha, I love the inclusion of Alien/Aliens.
I’d add Alien: Resurrection, too.
Not only do we get more Ripley, but bonus Winona as a kick-ass female android!
Jean-Pierre Jeunet is more proof that Europeans directors understand women. Amélie and A Very Long Engagement are two more movies that deserve mention here.
Venus Beauty Institute
8 Women
Under the Sand
Heading South
Films like Heading South, The Dreamlife of Angels, The Swimming Pool, The Pianist, Rois et reine, and Read My Lips aren’t shy about something American movies rarely dare to show us: Women love sex as much as men do.
Fried Green Tomatoes
Working Girl
All About My Mother
Volver
The Hours
Walt Disney’s Beauty And The Beast