20 Favorite Feminist Films
My favorite movies that are either ones "aimed at establishing and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women", or just great films that are intelligently committed to showing how incredibly difficult it is to be female. I would've included something by Ottinger, but there were no icons available for any of her films. I hate that.
List activity
18K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
20 titles
- DirectorGregory La CavaStarsKatharine HepburnGinger RogersAdolphe MenjouA chronicle of the ambitions, dreams, and disappointments of aspiring actresses who all live in the same boarding house.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsBette DavisPaul HenreidClaude RainsA frumpy spinster blossoms under therapy and becomes an elegant, independent woman.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsJoan CrawfordDana AndrewsHenry FondaA commercial artist having an affair with a married attorney becomes involved with a returning soldier and must choose between the two.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsKinuyo TanakaTsukie MatsuuraIchirô SugaiFollows a woman's fight and survival amid the vicissitudes of life and the cruelty of society.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsCorinne MarchandAntoine BourseillerDominique DavrayCleo, a singer and hypochondriac, becomes increasingly worried that she might have cancer while awaiting test results from her doctor.
- DirectorLarisa ShepitkoStarsMayya BulgakovaSergey NikonenkoZhanna BolotovaA fascinating and human portrayal of a once-famous fighter pilot and loyal Stalinist named Nadezhda Petrovna. Now a 41-year-old provincial schoolmistress, she has so internalized the military ideas of service and obedience that she cannot adjust to life in peacetime.
- DirectorBarbara LodenStarsBarbara LodenMichael HigginsDorothy ShupenesWanda, a lonely housewife, drifts through mining country until she meets a petty thief who takes her in.
- DirectorChantal AkermanStarsDelphine SeyrigJan DecorteHenri StorckA lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores, takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet. However, something happens that changes her safe routine.
- DirectorMárta MészárosStarsKatalin BerekGyöngyvér VighPéter FriedA lonely middle-aged woman wants to give birth to a child, but her acquaintance with dysfunctional teenagers leads her to the idea of adoption.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsJudy DavisSam NeillWendy HughesA proud young woman in early 20th century Australia must choose between marriage and independence.
- DirectorMargarethe von TrottaStarsJutta LampeGudrun GabrielJessica FrühSisters Maria and Anna live together. Maria, a most proficient secretary, encourages Anna to finish her studies and start a career; Anna broods, threatens to quit university, takes pills, and keeps a diary. When Maria's relationship with her boss' son Maurice starts to lead to love, Anna takes a selfish, drastic step that plummets Maria into solitude. No longer able to connect with Maurice, Maria manages to establish a relationship with Miriam, a typist at her office who becomes a substitute younger sister, but Maria is intrusive as well as helpful. Can this or any relationship work out for this talented woman whose past seems to choke her soul?
- DirectorMarleen GorrisStarsEdda BarendsNelly FrijdaHenriëtte TolWhen three women with no previous acquaintance kill a male shopkeeper in the middle of the day, the female psychiatrist assigned to the case sets out to understand why.
- DirectorLizzie BordenStarsHoneyAdele BerteiJean SatterfieldSet ten years after the most peaceful revolution in United States history, it presents a dystopia in which the issues of many groups - minorities, liberals, gay rights organizations, feminists - are dealt with by the government.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsKris BidenkoEmma ColesKris McQuadeThe evolving relationship of two teenage girls in Sydney backwards through time, from estrangement to the height of their friendship a year earlier.
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsCecilia RothMarisa ParedesCandela PeñaA comedy-drama about a bereaved mother, and overwrought actress, her jealous lover, and a pregnant nun.
- DirectorJafar PanahiStarsMaryiam Palvin AlmaniNargess MamizadehMojgan FaramarziVarious women struggle to function in the oppressively sexist society of contemporary Iran.
- DirectorTahmineh MilaniStarsNiki KarimiMerila Zare'iMohammad Reza ForutanA sensation when released in 1999 in Iran, Two Women charts the lives of two promising architecture students over the course of the first turbulent years of the Islamic Republic. Tahimine Milani creates this scathing portrait of those traditions - aided by official indifference - which conspire to trap women and stop them from realizing their full potential; the inclusion of frank depictions of domestic violence was hailed by many as a breakthrough in dealing with a long taboo subject.
- DirectorCatherine BreillatStarsAnaïs RebouxRoxane MesquidaLibero De RienzoTwo sisters confront their sexual attitudes and experiences while on a family holiday.
- DirectorSamira MakhmalbafStarsAgheleh RezaieAbdolgani YousefraziMarzieh AmiriIn a post-Taliban Afghanistan a young woman (Agheleh Rezaie) attends school against her conservative father's will, hoping to learn more about democracy to fulfill her dream of being the country's next president.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsFatoumata CoulibalyMaimouna Hélène DiarraSalimata TraoréWhen a woman shelters a group of girls from suffering female genital mutilation, she starts a conflict that tears her village apart.