33 Best Feminist Movies: The Highest Rated Films

This is a carefully compiled list of the best feminist films following stories of prominent women of different eras.

The utilitarian role of women in history is gradually becoming a thing of the past. However, there are men, and even entire countries, who consider women to be creatures incapable of thinking and creating, created solely for the proverbial vicious circle of church, kitchen and children.

March 8 is the day celebrating women’s struggle for their rights and emancipation. Since 1975, this day has become an international holiday. Along with your support and respect, offer your loved ones to watch a motivating movie about strong women changing their destiny and the history of the world. Here’s a thoroughly compiled list of the best feminist films about outstanding women of different historical periods.

Table of contents

Hidden Figures

Rating IMDB – 7.8
Genre: Drama, biography, history
US production / 2016
Budget: $25,000,000
Worldwide gross: $235,956,898
Director Ted Melfi
Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, Glen Powell, Kimberly Quinn

The story is set back in 1961, when segregation and sexism in the workplace were commonplace and “computers” were the names for people who were good at calculations. Based on true events, the film masterfully conveys the toxic and unwarranted superiority of white men over black women at the time.

Three such “computers” are young African American women who work at NASA headquarters in the Hamptons. They persevere together, constantly facing neglect and denial of promotions. And yet, all three women play important, if not crucial, roles in the space program.

Katherine Johnson was the only woman still alive of the three shown in the film, and was able to see this movie at the age of 98. One of NASA’s key buildings is named after her.

Desert Flower

Rating IMDB – 7.3
Genre: Drama, biography
Production UK, Germany, Austria, France / 2009
Worldwide gross: $14,631,377
Directed by Sherry Horman
Cast: Leah Kebede, Sally Hawkins, Craig Parkinson, Mira Sayal, Soraya Omar-Skego, Timothy Spall, Anthony Mackie, Juliet Stevenson, Idriss Abdillahi Houfaneh, Ava Saeed Darar

This is the tragic and profound story of Waris Dirie, an international supermodel who openly spoke out about the savage, monstrously violent customs still practiced in some countries today and began to fight against this phenomenon.

She began her journey as a child of a nomadic tribe in Somalia. As a child she was circumcised, removing the part that would allow her to experience pleasure, sewing up her external organs so that her future husband could ascertain her virginity by cutting the stitch himself. Many girls die during this operation, but Varis survived and walked across the desert, then made her way to London, where she found help and found herself leaving the hell she had to go through.

The Dirie Foundation is called Desert Flower and saves hundreds of girls from circumcision each year.
It is one of the best films about fashion industry ever made.

Erin Brockovich

Rating IMDB – 7.4
Genre: Drama, biography
US production / 2000
Budget: $52,000,000
Worldwide gross: $256,271,286
Director Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart, Peter Coyote, Cherry Jones, Tracey Walter, Conchata Ferrell, Marg Helgenberger, David Brisbin, Dawn Didavik

This is a fascinating biopic featuring Julia Roberts playing a real-life woman who solved one of the biggest environmental crimes in America. She is a cheerful single mother of three, formerly the beauty queen of Wichita, and now the emotional and pretty Erin Brockovich, a woman with no education and dubious job prospects.

She convinces a local lawyer to hire her for a small law firm and on her own initiative begins an investigation that won’t bring her a dime, but will cost the big Pacific Gas and Electric corporation $333 million in a pollution suit.

The real-life Erin got sick from chromium poisoning during her investigation, but it was omitted from the movie.

Mona Lisa Smile

Rating IMDB – 6.5
Genre: Drama
US production / 2003
Budget: $65,000,000
Worldwide gross: $141,337,989
Director Mike Newell
Cast: Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ginnifer Goodwin, Dominic West, Juliet Stevenson, Marcia Gay Harden, John Slattery. Marian Seldes

In 1953, Wellesley College was popular among the middle-class students. Girls there were taught only that it was a woman’s duty to support and obey her man in everything, as well as to look after herself and serve the table.

At this time, women’s struggles for their rights are unfolding in the United States, and young UCLA graduate Katherine Watson exchanges her bohemian freedom for the dubious joy of teaching modern art at Wellesley. The Board of Trustees is suspicious of the methods of the freedom-loving Katherine, who talks seriously about feminism with her students.

While working on the film script, the screenwriters used Hillary Clinton’s experiences, who studied at Wellesley in the early ’60s.

Little Women

Rating IMDB – 7.8
Genre: Drama, melodrama
US production / 2019
Budget: $40,000,000
Worldwide gross: $218,843,645
Directed by Greta Gerwig
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Tracey Letts, Bob Odenkirk, James Norton, Louis Garrel

The story of this sumptuously costumed family drama begins in the winter of 1862, when the only thing on all the news was the Civil War. The four March sisters and their mother are left to fend for themselves in these trying times. Their father has gone off to war, and the women have few choices for survival.

The brightest of the sisters is Josephine, Jo, who dreams of becoming a writer and puts on entire plays for the household, in which even the long-suffering cat must participate. The others are the older sensible Meg, the charming younger Amy, and the unhappy Beth, weakened by illness. The sisters are very close, but while the others’ dreams do not extend beyond a successful marriage, rebellious Jo has a completely different destiny.

This is the 7th adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel of the same name.

Thelma & Louise

Rating IMDB – 7.5
Genre: Drama, comedy, crime
US, UK, France production / 1991
Budget: $16,500,000
Worldwide gross: $45,454,078
Director Ridley Scott
Cast: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brad Pitt, Timothy Carhart, Lucinda Janney, Jason Beh

This is a Ridley Scott’s feminist comedy, a road movie about two women who are fed up with a misogynistic society. Thelma and Louise are best friends. The former is stuck somewhere in self-deprecation with an overbearing husband; the latter is fading away at a futile job as a waitress, patiently enduring her boyfriend’s neglect.

One day they kill a rapist, and realizing that no one will believe in their innocence, they go on the run in their 1966 Thunderbird, determined to sneak into Mexico and start a new life there. From now on, they can only rely on their own dodginess and friendship.

Both actresses received Oscar nominations, but lost to Jodie Foster with her role in The Silence of the Lambs.

Molly’s Game

Rating IMDB – 7.4
Genre: Biography, crime, drama
Production USA, Canada, China / 2017
Budget: $30,000,000
Worldwide gross: $59,284,015
Director Aaron Sorkin
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O’Dowd, J.S. McKenzie, Brian D’Arcy James, Bill Camp, Graham Greene

Molly Bloom is a real woman who set up the most exclusive underground gambling club and made a fortune. In this biopic, she is played by Jessica Chastain.

Since childhood, she has been different from most girls. An independent rebel, she trained hard in freestyle skiing, dreaming of winning Olympic gold. But an injury derailed her dreams.

Restless Molly heads to New York to attend law school and prove to her father and brothers that she will remain independent no matter what. But instead of a legal career, she builds a brilliant gaming empire, becoming a legend in the world of the most powerful men.

This film is the directorial debut of Aaron Sorkin. Incidentally, the roles of all the extras in Molly’s Club are played by professional poker players.
This is one of the best movies about poker ever made.

On the Basis of Sex

Rating IMDB – 7.1
Genre: Drama, biography
Production USA, China, Canada / 2018
Worldwide gross: $38,673,750
Directed by Mimi Leder
Cast: Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, Sam Waterston, Kathy Bates, Cailee Spaeny, Jack Reynor, Stephen Root, Chris Mulkey, Gary Werntz

This is a biographical drama about a woman’s struggle for her place in the world. This is the story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S., whose path to the pinnacle of her career was quite arduous.

Graduating from Harvard Law School in 1956, surrounded by the bewilderment of men, Ruth is a brilliant graduate of Columbia University. She devoted her career to fighting for women’s rights and civil rights, changing the U.S. court system and becoming one of the very few women to win a seat on the Supreme Court.

The real Ruth was thrilled with the film, attending the premiere with her friends Gloria Steinem and Hillary Clinton.

North Country

Rating IMDB – 7.3
Genre: Drama
US production / 2005
Budget: $35,000,000
Worldwide gross: $25 211 175
Directed by Niki Caro
Cast: Charlize Theron, Thomas Curtis, Elle Peterson, Frances McDormand, Sean Bean, Woody Harrelson, Jeremy Renner, Richard Jenkins, Sissy Spacek, James Cada

The first sexual harassment case in U.S. history is the basis of the book by Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy Gansler, which was adapted for big screen. It was a time when domestic violence was always a woman’s fault.

In 1989, Josie Ames left her abusive husband and returned to her parents with her three children. Her father asks her only one question: “He caught you with someone else and that’s why he beat you?”. Josie tries to start a new life and gets a job at the iron mines.

A pretty woman, alone in a crew of 30 men, becomes the object of lust and then hatred because of her rejections. She decides to assert her integrity rights in court.

The prototype of the main character is Lois Jenson, the first woman in American history who was not afraid to assert her right to integrity.

Pope Joan

Rating IMDB – 6.7
Genre: Drama, melodrama, history
Production Germany, UK, Italy, Spain / 2009
Budget: €22 000 000
Worldwide gross: $26,375,075
Directed by Sönke Wortmann
Cast: Johanna Wokalek, David Wenham, John Goodman, Ian Glen, Edward Petherbridge, Anatole Taubman, Lotte Flack, Jordis Triebel, Oliver Cotton

The Vatican has a centuries-old stories filled with mysteries inaccessible to mere mortals. But there is one story that has been capturing hearts for years: the legend of the woman who occupied the papal throne for two years in the ninth century.

German director Sonke Wortmann made a drama about it with Johanna Wokalek in the leading role. In the early twelfth century, Johanna, the lead character, is born to a rural priest’s family. Her father considers the women to be the devils of hell and does not notice his daughter.

But she finds a mentor for herself and begins to study the Word of God and medicine. Passing herself off as a man named John Anglicus, the girl becomes the pope’s personal physician and advisor, and after his death she ascends to the holy throne.

The film was heavily criticized by the Catholic Church, but became a box office hit in Italy (where the Vatican is located).

The Hours

Rating IMDB – 7.5
Genre: Drama, biography
Production USA, UK, France, Canada, Germany / 2002
Budget: $25,000,000
Worldwide gross: $108,846,072
Directed by Stephen Daldry
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Ed Harris, Miranda Richardson, Claire Danes, Jeff Daniels, Stephen Dillane, John C. Reilly, Toni Collette

What is more important to a woman? Happiness and self-development or a secure and a financially stable marriage? This psychological drama tells the story of a single day in the life of three heroines living in different eras. Virginia Wolfe, a brilliant writer from the 1920s, is plagued by thoughts of suicide. This is the day she embarks on her new novel, Mrs. Dalloway (by the way, read it, you won’t regret it!).

Laura Brown, a housewife in her early 50’s, begins reading this novel, waiting for her unloved spouse to come home from work. And Clarissa Vaughn, a successful journalist in the early twenty-first century, takes care of a dying former lover who jokingly called her Dalloway.

The Hours was the tentative title of Wolfe’s book mentioned in the movie.

A League of Their Own

Rating IMDB – 7.3
Genre: Family, sports, drama, comedy
US production / 1992
Budget: $40,000,000
Worldwide gross: $132,440,069
Directed by Penny Marshall
Cast: Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Laurie Petty, Jon Lovitz, David Strathairn, Garry Marshall, Bill Pullman, Rosie O’Donnell, Megan Cavanagh

This is a light and heartwarming comedy with an emphasis on vivid emotion, about a women’s baseball team formed in 1943, when most of the men in the League had gone to the front. The film has a gorgeous cast and a gripping plot.

After learning about the possible shutdown of Major League Baseball, a baseball fan who owns a chocolate factory decides to create a women’s baseball team. He gathers participants from all over the country, and the first mentor and coach of women is Jimmy Dugan, a former, almost drunken champion. The girls face a serious challenge and struggle to keep their League alive after the war.

Almost all of the actresses themselves performed all the moves and stunts in the movie. But Madonna had to work hard: her “sport moves” looked more like a dance.

Iron Jawed Angels

Rating IMDB – 7.4
Genre: Drama, biography, history
US production / 2004
Directed by Katya von Garnier
Cast: Hilary Swank, Frances O’Connor, Julia Ormond, Anjelica Huston, Molly Parker, Laura Fraser, Lois Smith, Vera Farmiga, Brooke Smith, Patrick Dempsey

This film focuses on American women’s struggle for electoral rights. Two activists, Lucy Burns and Alice Paul, return to the United States from England, where they met militant suffragettes led by Christabel Pankhurst.

Using many nonviolent methods, recruiting famous artists and organizing a variety of performances, the friends organized the famous Silent Sentinel Society.

The years-long struggle was arduous, but unrelenting. 218 suffragettes were arrested and went on a hunger strike in prison. And as early as 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed.

The film’s title is an unflattering epithet given to Silent Sentinels by the politician Joseph Walsh, who considered women’s suffrage nonsense and activists to be “mindless creatures”.

Sleeping with the Enemy

Rating IMDB – 6.2
Genre: Thriller, drama
US production / 1991
Budget: $19,000,000
Worldwide gross: $174,999,005
Directed by Joseph Rubin
Cast: Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin, Kevin Anderson, Elizabeth Lawrence, Kyle Secor, Claudette Nevins, Tony Abatemarco, Marita Geraghty, Harley Wenton, Nancy Fish

Constant domestic violence is bound to end in serious injuries (including mental), mutilation, and sometimes death. This is something that cannot be denied. One must not be afraid to ask for help, because it is impossible to deal with it alone. The main character in this film was lucky. But her decisions were controversial and nearly ended in legitimate tragedy.

Hiding bruises under wide sleeves and big sunglasses, Laura played the role of the perfect wife of her charming husband, Martin. He constantly humiliates her by demanding numerous stupid rules and inflicts unbearable pain for the slightest violation. And one day Laura decides to fake her own death in order to get rid of the monster who calls himself her husband.

Martin’s favorite piece of music is a play by Hector Berlizos, Symphonie fantastique. According to its plot, the hero dreams of killing his beloved, he is executed and goes to hell.

Made in Dagenham

Rating IMDB – 7.1
Genre: Drama, comedy, biography, history
Production UK / 2010
Budget: $7,200,000
Worldwide gross: $12,395,087
Director Nigel Cole
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Andrea Riseborough, Jamie Winston. Lorraine Stanley, Nicola Duffett, Geraldine James, Bob Hoskins, Matthew Aubrey, Daniel Mays, Roger Lloyd Pack

This vivid film, based on true events, is set in 1968 at the Ford plant in the town of Dagenham, where women were paid less than men. They worked just as hard, but the corporations actively promoted the degrading treatment of women, simply because it was profitable. Very profitable.

One day, the vivaciously beautiful Rita O’Grady (Sally Hawkins), working in a tough car cover shop, revolts against low pay. Soon Rita’s small strike escalates into a powerful protest that sweeps the world and changes corporate rules in England and America. And this struggle is not over even today.

The character played by actress Sally Hawkins is based on the images of three women who staged similar strikes in corporate enterprises at the time.

Queen of Katwe

Rating IMDB – 7.4
Genre: Drama, biography, sport
US production / 2016
Budget: $15,000,000
Worldwide gross: $10,367,161
Directed by Mira Nair
Cast: Madina Nalvanga, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Cabanza, Taryn Chiaze, Ivan Jacobo, Nicholas Levesque, Ronald Ssemaganda, Ethan Nazario Lubega, Nikita Valigva

This is beautifully told true story of the birth of a brilliant chess star hailing from the Great Lakes region of Africa, where children can only learn about education through missionaries and volunteers.

10-years-old Phiona lives in the slums of Uganda’s capital, where life is a constant struggle for a piece of bread. One day at the missionary center, the girl meets Robert Katende, who teaches children to play chess. Curious Fiona tries her hand, and very soon becomes the best in the group. Robert realizes that this little girl should not be allowed to perish in the wilds of brutal African exoticism and helps her make a career.

The film is based on the book by Tim Crothers, that describes the life and sporting career of Phiona Mutesi.

G.I. Jane

Rating IMDB – 6.0
Genre: Action, drama, military
Production USA, UK / 1997
Budget: $50,000,000
US fees: $48,169,156
Director Ridley Scott
Cast: Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Anne Bancroft, Jason Beh, Daniel von Bargen, John Michael Higgins, Kevin Gage, David Warshofsky, David Vadim, Morris Chestnut

Shaved-head Demi Moore joins an ultra-sophisticated military training program to become America’s first ever female Navy SEAL. The actress’ character is Jordan O’Neal, an Olympic competitor selected for the program against discrimination against women in the U.S. Navy.

She faces the toughest tests, consisting of physical exertion, the most difficult disciplines, and the condescending, sneering attitude of the other male cadets. This attitude will then develop into bewilderment, respect, and admiration. But to achieve this, she must first survive the “Hell Week” and not hit the bell, admitting her defeat.

The film didn’t gain popularity immediately. At first, Demi Moore was awarded the Golden Raspberry as the worst actress, but the film became a box-office hit and continues to hold high ratings all around the world.

The Wife

Rating IMDB – 7.2
Genre: Drama
Production UK, Sweden, USA / 2017
Worldwide gross: $19,978,189
Directed by Bjorn Runge
Cast: Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater, Max Irons, Annie Stark, Harry Lloyd, Elizabeth McGovern, Johan Wiederberg, Karin Franz Korlof, Richard Cordery

A wife who can inspire and support can be a priceless treasure for a man, helping him realize everything he has ever dreamed of. Before Joseph Castleman is awarded the Nobel Prize, his wife Joan is interviewed, telling her husband’s success story, hiding a truth she can only reveal to her children.

The two met in the 1950s. The wisecracking professor criticizes the young writer for her novel, but soon agrees to put his name under the manuscript because the woman writer simply won’t get published.

The book becomes a bestseller, and Joe and Joan get married. Soon Joan gives up writing and sacrifices her ambitions to the success of her husband, who is rapidly becoming one of the best writers in the world, releasing bestsellers one after another.

This film, based on the book of the same name by Meg Wolitzer, has been in development for 14 years.

Big Eyes

Rating IMDB – 7.0
Genre: Drama, melodrama, crime, biography
Production USA, Canada / 2014
Budget: $10,000,000
Worldwide gross: $29,253,166
Director Tim Burton
Cast: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston, Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman, Terence Stamp, Jon Polito, Delaney Ray, Madeleine Arthur, James Saito

Sometimes the magic that men present to the world is created by women standing in the shadows. In the late 1950s, Margaret Ulbrich meets and marries a street-scape painter named Walter Keene.

One day, Keane exhibits several of his paintings at a popular jazz club, among which are a couple of Margaret’s works. And it is her paintings, depicting children with doe eyes, that become popular throughout the world.

Walter, with Margaret’s encouragement, continues to attribute authorship to himself. He treats his wife with increasing consumerism, reveling in fame and fortune, slipping into cruelty and threats. That’s when the artist decides to reveal the truth to the world.

Director Tim Burton and actress Amy Adams consulted the real Margaret, who was in her 80s. The artist was stunned that someone wanted to make a movie about her life.

The film ranks at the top of our list dedicated to movies about artists.

Enough

Rating IMDB – 5.7
Genre: Thriller, drama, crime
US production / 2002
Budget: $38,000,000
Worldwide gross: $51,801,187
Directed by Michael Apted
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Bill Campbell, Tessa Allen, Juliette Lewis, Dan Futterman, Noah Wyle, Fred Ward, Christopher Meher, Janet Carroll, Bill Cobbs

This is yet another movie about a woman confronting her abusive husband. Slim, a simple waitress, marries successful businessman Mitch. Feeling like Cinderella, endlessly grateful to her husband, Slim gives birth to his daughter and lives happily ever after until a shocking epiphany hits when she discovers her husband’s numerous mistresses.

Attempting to express her displeasure, Slim witnesses a gruesome reincarnation. Henceforth her husband does not hide his affairs on the side and regularly beats his wife in order for her to know “her place”. The woman runs away from home with her daughter and, knowing that Mitch will pursue her, begins to learn self-defense techniques and psychologically prepare for the toughest fight of her life.

The fighting style that the protagonist studied is called Krav Maga, which is an Israeli method of hand-to-hand combat.

20th Century Women

Rating IMDB – 7.3
Genre: Drama, comedy
US production / 2016
Budget: $7,000,000
Worldwide gross: $7,214,806
Director Mike Mills
Cast: Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, Lucas Jade Zumann, Alison Elliott, Thea Gill, Vitaly Andrew LeBeau, Walid Zwaiter

This is a disposing tragicomedy with the eccentric shades of female friendship. Dorothea, 55, is an ever-smoking single mother raising 15-year-old Jamie. “I come from the Great Depression,” she says, embarrassed that she doesn’t understand the current culture and afraid of letting her son go.

Two other rent rooms in Dorothea’s house. They are Abby, a punk culture-obsessed photographer, and William, a hippie-speaking handyman. And Jamie has a best friend, Julie, a 16-year-old rebel who knows Dorothea well. So, one day the main character asks Abby and Julie to help her raise her son.

The film’s script is based in part on director Mike Mills’ personal recollections.

Radioactive

Rating IMDB – 6.2
Genre: Biography, drama, melodrama
Production UK, France, USA, China, Hungary / 2019
Worldwide gross: $3,515,958
Directed by Marjan Satrapi
Cast: Rosamund Pike, Sam Riley, Simon Russell Beal, Aneurin Barnard, Anya Taylor-Joy. Shan Brook, Georgina Rich, Harriet Turnbull, Katherine Parkinson, Edward Davis

Underappreciated women, whose merits were not recognized in their time, are a big problem in world history. If one digs well enough, it becomes clear that progress could not have reached such heights without women’s discoveries.

Of course, there is also the other side of the coin. Without Marie Sklodowska-Curie’s discoveries, Hiroshima and Nagasaki would not have suffered, there would be no Chernobyl disaster. This biopic focuses on the life of a great and dangerous woman who for many years was a loyal associate of her husband, Pierre Curie. Marie Curie’s biography is interspersed with footage of the horrific aftermath of this woman’s brilliant mind.

The film is based on a graphic novel by Lauren Redniss.

Sufragette

Rating IMDB – 6.9
Genre: Drama, history
Production UK, France / 2015
Budget: $14,000,000
Worldwide gross: $31,972,096
Directed by Sara Gavron
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Mary Duff, Ben Whishaw, Natalie Press, Romola Garay, Meryl Streep, Grace Stottor, Geoff Bell

This is a British drama directed by Sarah Gavron detailing the suffragette movement that fought for women’s suffrage in early 20th century Britain.

The plot centers on 24-year-old Maud Watts, a simple laundry worker who becomes involved in the suffragettes’ movement. She is attacked by everyone she knows, including her own husband Sonny, who soon kicks Maud out of the house. This pushes the woman to make an even greater effort in a struggle that will lead many suffragettes to prison, tragedy, loss, and victory.

This is the first movie allowed to be filmed in a British parliament building.

Bordertown

Rating IMDB – 6.0
Genre: Thriller, crime, detective
US production, Mexico / 2007
Budget: $21,000,000
Worldwide gross: $7,281,923
Directed by Gregory Nava
Cast: Maya Zapata, Irineo Alvarez, Rene Rivera, Jennifer Lopez, Martin Sheen, Carolina Villarreal, Debrianna Mancini, Randall Batinkoff, Gonzalo Mauro Montiel Aguirre, Antonio Banderas

The story is based on a real nightmare that lasted from 1993 to 2001 in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez. During that time more than 370 girls were brutally murdered here. Few were punished, and the phenomenon was called Feminicide.

The film is by no means a documentary, it only loosely exploits the theme through the perspective of journalist Lauren (Jennifer Lopez), who goes to the border town to investigate the mass murders of young Mexican women.

Jennifer Lopez won the Amnesty International Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, given to artists who draw attention to human rights violations.

Mary Shelley

Rating IMDB – 6.4
Genre: Drama, melodrama, biography, history
Production UK, Luxembourg, USA, Ireland, Australia / 2017
Worldwide gross: $2,096,600
Directed by Haifa Al Mansour
Cast: Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth, Bel Powley, Owen Richards, Joanne Frogatt, Stephen Dillane, Andie McKell, Maisie Williams, Derek Riddell, Hugh O’Conor

This is a brilliant costume biopic by Haifaa al-Mansour. Raised in a freedom-loving family, Haifaa became the first female director in Saudi Arabia, a country where movie theaters were banned.

This film follows the story of Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein in 1818, after years of a peculiar competition to create the most terrifying tale with her husband, the romantic poet Percy Shelley.

Mary was a woman trying to find herself in a man’s world, as a result creating a unique writing style impossible for a woman of that era: brash, vivid and brutal.

Frankenstein was first published under the name of Mary’s husband, as the works of woman authors were refused to be printed by all publications.

Don’t Worry Darling

Rating IMDB – 6.2
Genre: Drama, thriller, fantasy
US production / 2022
Worldwide gross: $87,409,403
Director Olivia Wilde
Cast: Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Olivia Wilde, Kiki Lane, Gemma Chan, Nick Kroll, Sydney Chandler, Kate Berlant, Asif Ali

This is a fantasy film about a town that embodies a man’s dream. But one day, women that living there find out the brutal truth. Don’t Worry Darling is a very light, visually beautiful movie.

Several families live in the impeccably beautiful and clean gated community of Victoria, stylized in 1950s glamour. The wives are beautiful and obedient housewives who escort their husbands every morning to the central building, the headquarters of a secret project where women are forbidden to go. And then one day Alice, the main character, notices the strangeness around her, and, horrified by her impertinence, begins to pry into the local secrets.

At the beginning of the film, Alice is constantly walking around barefoot, emphasizing the vulnerable image of the submissive housewife.

Potiche

Rating IMDB – 6.4
Genre Comedy
Production France / 2010
Worldwide gross: $23,175,356
Directed by Francois Ozon
Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini, Karine Viard, Judith Godrèche, Jeremy Renier, Sergi Lopez, Eveline Dandry, Bruno Lochet, Gauthier Abu

This is a charming French comedy about a woman underappreciated by her husband who turns small-town society upside down. Suzanne Pujol is the classic model housewife of the 1970s. She is the daughter of the founder and de facto owner of the umbrella factory run by her husband Robert. Suzanne herself is not taken seriously by her husband or adult children.

Everything changes abruptly when Robert is hospitalized with a heart attack and his wife is forced to take over the management of the factory and proves to all the doubters that she is capable of more than just being a decoration in her husband’s life.

The title of the movie, Potiche, is the term for useless decoration.

Battle of the Sexes

Rating IMDB – 6.7
Genre: Drama, comedy, biography, history, sports
Production UK, USA / 2017
Budget: $25,000,000
Worldwide gross: $18,598,607
Directed by Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Cast: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Natalie Morales, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming, Elisabeth Shue, Eric Christian Olsen, Fred Armisen

This is a film about tennis and the rivalry between a young athlete, Billie Jean King, and Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs, which came to a head in a 1973 match in which King proved she could beat the male champion.

Billie was extremely resentful of the terms of the tennis tournaments organized by Jack Kramer. The women’s prize pool is only 1/8 that of the men’s one. Billie and her manager, Gladys Heldman, threaten to start their own competitions, but Kramer speaks disparagingly of the inferiority of women’s tennis and forbids “free” female athletes to participate in his tournaments.

The Fox logo at the beginning of the film is stylized as a retro version to emphasize the truthfulness of the film and the era of the events unfolding in it.

Misbehaviour

Rating IMDB – 6.3
Genre: Comedy, drama, history
Production UK, France / 2020
Worldwide gross: $1,928,777
Directed by Philippa Lowthorpe
Cast Keira Knightley, Gugu Embata-Rho, Jesse Buckley, Lesley Manville, Greg Kinnear, Keely Hawes, Rhys Ifans, Phyllis Logan, John Sackville, Suki Waterhouse

This is a funny English comedy about feminism, with charm and humor about the real events at the Miss World pageant in 1970, which was broadcast worldwide by the BBC. The women’s liberation movement was in its infancy at the time and was looking for flashy actions to get people’s attention.

Keira Knightley and Jesse Buckley play Sally and Jo, two activists of the Women’s Liberation Front protesting the objectification of women’s bodies. They burst into the pageant, showering host Bob Hope with flour and waving placards about women’s liberation. Their action spawned long protests, controversy, and widespread public discussion.

In reality, Sally and Joe planned to begin their action when the contestants were on stage. But Hope’s misogynistic jokes provoked explosions of anger and flour bombs ahead of schedule.

I Shot Andy Warhol

Rating IMDB – 6.6
Genre: Drama, biography
Production UK, USA / 1995
US fees: $1,875,527
Directed by Mary Harron
Cast: Lili Taylor, Jared Harris, Martha Plimpton, Lothaire Bluto, Anna Levine, Peter Friedman, Tanya Welch, Jamie Harold, Donovan Leitch Jr., Michael Imperioli

One of the most striking incidents of radical feminism is the crime of Valerie Solanas. It is a cautionary tale of the extremes and zealotry to which an unbalanced person can go driving by an idea, even if it is a good one. Do not follow that path!

Lily Taylor plays Valerie, arrested for the attempted murder of Warhol in 1968, and then the film plunges us into the criminal’s past. Her difficult fate led her to feminism, the ideas of which she perceived and embodied in her own way.

In 1967, she released the SCUM Manifesto, a treatise on the superiority of women with calls for the total annihilation of men. According to Valerie, the perfect society cannot be established while the people like Warhol are still alive.

The real Valerie Solanas tried to convince the court that she had been provoked. She was sentenced to three years in prison, followed by compulsory psychiatric treatment.

The Glorias

Rating IMDB – 5.9
Genre: Drama, biography, history
US production / 2020
Worldwide gross: $30,940
Director Julie Taymor
Cast: Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Lulu Wilson, Janelle Monáe, Bette Midler, Gloria Steinem, Peggy Sheffield, Tom Procter

This is Julie Taymor’s lighthearted biographical film about feminist icon Gloria Steinem. Four versions of Gloria at different ages drive somewhere together on a long-distance bus and talk about their lives.

Steinem’s long journalistic career as a second-wave feminist leader and co-founder of Ms. magazine has been pioneering, heroic and often criticized. As a child, she adored books and was close to her father. As a teenager, Gloria took care of her mentally ill mother. As a student she visited India and was horrified by the violations of women’s rights in that country.

In the finale, it became obvious that that bus was going to the 2017 Women’s March, where Gloria gave her famous speech.

The Silence of the Lambs

Rating IMDB – 8.6
Genre: Thriller, detective, crime, drama, horror
US production / 1990
Budget: $19,000,000
Worldwide gross: $272,742,922
Directed by Jonathan Demme
Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Brooke Smith, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald, Casey Lemmons, Diane Baker, Charles Napier

Distract yourself for a moment from the mesmerizing horror that Hopkins exudes as Hannibal and take a closer look at Jodie Foster. It is her character, quietly and firmly destroying sexist stereotypes, that makes the film a masterpiece.

A young, frightened girl who invades the holy of holies of the brutal male world of tough cops. Accompanied by dismissive glances and condescending remarks that are emphasized in many scenes in the film, the diminutive young woman perseveres in her work.

And this wholeness of her nature is admired even by the cruel maniac, who unexpectedly agrees to help her. Unexpectedly – for the surrounding men, but quite naturally for Clarissa herself in her desperate, quiet and endless courage.

Few people know that the FBI actively cooperated with the filmmakers, providing a consultant for Foster and helping with the little things. In this way they planned to attract more female agents to work for the government.

Million Dollar Baby

Rating IMDB – 8.1
Genre: Drama, sports
US production / 2004
Budget: $30,000,000
Worldwide gross: $216,763,646
Director Clint Eastwood
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter, Lucia Rijker, Brian F. O’Byrne, Anthony Mackie, Margo Martindale, Ricky Lindhome

This is a dramatic and gripping film about boxing, and a cornerstone in Clint Eastwood’s career as a director and actor. He and Morgan Freeman in the film perfectly frame the strong image created by Hilary Swank. She plays Maggie Fitzgerald, a 31-year-old woman who wants to box professionally.

She goes to Frankie Dunn (Eastwood), hoping for his mentorship. The man’s answer is succinct. He doesn’t teach girls as they’re unfit to box. And even if he did, Maggie is too old for that. But the woman is tenacious and relentless. She trains on her own and gets an ally, Frankie’s old friend Eddie Dupris (Freeman), and soon Maggie is on her way to a championship fight under Frankie’s guidance.