20 films about women worth admiring

1. Clock

USA, UK, 2002.
Biographical drama.
Duration: 114 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 5.

British writer Virginia Wolfe is facing a creative crisis that threatens to be fatal. Nearly three decades later, her novel Mrs. Dalloway is being read by the depressed American housewife Laura. And in this century, New York editor Clarissa is caring for a former lover dying of AIDS.

This poignant and complex story was skillfully played by talented actresses - Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman. The latter was greatly transformed for the sake of the role, in order to become similar to its historical prototype - Virginia Woolf. As a result, the artist is quite difficult to recognize on the screen because of the plastic makeup.

2. Frida

USA, Canada, Mexico, 2002.
Biographical drama.
Duration: 118 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 4.

Young Mexican Frida Kahlo gets into a terrible car accident. After that, a completely different life begins for the girl, filled with endless pain and suffering. Nevertheless, emotional experiences (including because of her husband's infidelity) inspire her to become an artist.

Salma Hayek, who plays Frida, has been hatching the idea for the film for almost eight years. The fact is that the biography of the Mexican artist inspired her to become an actress, so she took the role very seriously. Many of Hayek's friends played in the project - Antonio Banderas, Ashley Judd and Edward Norton, who had a hand in rewriting the script.

3. Mona Lisa smile

USA, 2003.
Drama, melodrama.
Duration: 119 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 5.

Freethinking art teacher Catherine Ann Watson gets a job at a closed women's college, where hypocrisy and bigotry reign behind the facade of prosperity. The heroine actively shares ideas of equality with her pupils, but her methods do not suit the headmistress, a woman of patriarchal views, at all.

Director Mike Newell ("Four Weddings and a Funeral") filmed a visually impeccable story about the emancipation of American women, and wonderful actresses helped him in this - Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal and others.

4. Northern country

USA, 2005.
Biographical drama.
Duration: 126 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 3.

Josie Ames, a divorced single mother, takes a job in a mine, where she is not particularly happy, because there are almost only men working there. Faced with humiliation and bullying, the woman decides to go to court to protect herself and the other few workers.

The film, directed by Niki Caro, tells a true story that happened to a woman named Lois Jensen in 1984. The latter was played by the magnificent Charlize Theron. True, for the sake of artistry, reliability had to be sacrificed: in reality, the litigation lasted as long as 14 years.

5. Substitution

USA, 2008.
Biographical drama.
Duration: 141 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 7.

Single mother Christine Collins is filing a missing child report with the police. After a while, the child is found, but Christine very soon realizes that the boy is not her own. The pastor of the local church is called to help the woman.

In the next directorial work, Clint Eastwood managed to perfectly tell the story of a person's struggle with an indifferent system. Moreover, the film is based on a real incident that happened in 1928. It is also worth seeing the picture for the sake of the sophisticated acting performance of Angelina Jolie, who performed one of her best roles here.

6. Coco to Chanel

France, Belgium, 2009.
Biographical drama.
Duration: 105 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 7.

Young Gabrielle Chanel works as a singer in a provincial cabaret. There she meets the middle-aged Baron Balzan and becomes his mistress. Thanks to this, the girl manages to impress the French world and find herself in the fashion world.

Although the screen image of Coco Chanel, played by the beautiful Audrey Tautou ("Amelie", "Foam of the Days"), turned out to be very ambiguous, the film looks in one breath thanks to the convincing actors and the visual component.

7. Sentence

USA, 2010.
Biographical drama.
Duration: 107 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 2.

Unemployed single mother Betty Ann Waters believes that her brother Kenny, on a life sentence for murder, is innocent. Therefore, she devotes many years of her life to searching for exculpatory evidence.

The drama directed by Tony Goldwin is based on real events that happened in 1983, and tells not only about the injustice of the judicial system, but also about selfless love for a loved one. The leading roles were played by the magnificent Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell, who perfectly revealed the characters of the characters.

8. Fires

Canada, France, 2010.
War drama.
Duration: 130 minutes.
IMDb: 8, 3.

The twins Jeanne and Simon get acquainted with the last will of their mother and find out that they need to find a father and brother, and they did not even suspect the existence of the latter. Simon considers the will to be extravagant and continues to live quietly in Canada, and Jeanne goes to sort out family secrets overseas.

The talented Canadian director Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049) successfully filmed Majdi Muawadom's play about the horrors of the Middle East conflict. The story, which begins as a peppy detective, gradually changes course and becomes more uncomfortable and scary.

9. Hannah Arendt

Germany, Luxembourg, France, Israel, 2012.
Biographical drama.
Duration: 113 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 1.

A New Yorker reporter travels to Israel to write a series of articles about the captured former SS man Eichmann, accused of exterminating thousands of Jews. What she saw there prompts a woman to think that in the future will overturn the generally accepted ideas about Nazism.

German actress and director Margarete von Trotta has shot many films about free-thinking women (Rosenstrasse, Rosa Luxemburg). In his last work to date, the director tells the story of three years of the life of Hannah Arendt - one of the most outstanding thinkers of the 20th century, whose fate was full of drama and adventure.

10. Suffragette

UK, 2015.
Historical drama.
Duration: 106 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 9.

Exhausted from everyday life, Maud Watts' wife and mother accidentally finds herself part of a socio-political movement for women's rights. But she has to pay dearly for the opportunity to be heard.

Famous British actresses - Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter starred, and the famous suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst was played by Meryl Streep herself. The atmosphere of Great Britain at the end of the 19th century is perfectly recreated, while the creators do not forget to remind the viewer that the problems of those times are still partly alive.

11. The woman in gold

Germany, UK, USA, Austria, 2015.
Historical drama.
Duration: 109 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 3.

A middle-aged woman confronts the Austrian government in order to return the portrait of her beloved aunt, once stolen by the Nazis, and a dumb-ass lawyer helps her to restore justice.

Directed by Simon Curtis, the film draws on the life story of Maria Altman, the heiress of several paintings by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, played by the unrivaled Helen Mirren in a duet with Ryan Reynolds.

12. Joy

USA, 2015.
Comedy biographical drama.
Duration: 124 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 6.

A single mother living with her parents and ex-husband invents the self-wringing mop. The girl still has no idea how to make money on this, but she still rushes headlong into the maelstrom of big business, despite the opposition of her relatives.

A film by American director David O. Russell ("My Boyfriend is Crazy", "American Scam") tells the biography of the determined and unyielding Joy Mangano, known to many in America for the "Shop on the Couch" advertisement. The director's favorite artists, Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, starred in the lead roles.

13. Hidden Figures

USA, 2016.
Historical drama, tragicomedy.
Duration: 127 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 8.

In the early 1960s, several talented black female mathematicians were employed by NASA. Moreover, they constantly have to endure all kinds of humiliation associated with skin color.

Director Theodore Melfi's second work pays tribute to Catherine Johnson and other African American women who have been forced to fight for their rights. One of the main roles was played by the bright Octavia Spencer, Kirsten Dunst looks no less expressive in the role of a prim racist boss. The film received critical and audiences acclaim, as well as many nominations for the most important film award.

14. Jackie

USA, Chile, France, 2016.
Historical drama.
Duration: 100 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 7.

After the death of the beloved President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, the Life journalist comes to his family residence to meet with the former first lady, who was badly broken by the death of her husband.

The work of Chilean director Pablo Larrain depicts the assassination and funeral of Kennedy through the eyes of his widow Jacqueline, played brilliantly by Natalie Portman. Initially, this role was supposed to be played by Rachel Weisz, and it was planned to give the director's place to Darren Aronofsky, but the latter in the end remained only a producer.

15. Big game

USA, 2017.
Biographical drama.
Duration: 140 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 4.

After an unfortunate injury, skier Molly Bloom is forced to abandon her sports career. The desire for self-realization leads the girl into the poker business. Bloom successfully runs the most expensive underground casino in Hollywood, until the feds and the mafia take an interest in her activities.

The directorial debut of one of the best Hollywood screenwriters Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Steve Jobs) is not just based on a real story: the plot is based on an autobiographical book by Molly Bloom herself. The latter agreed to film adaptation only on the condition that she was played by Jessica Chastain. And so in the end it happened.

16. Beauty for the Beast

USA, UK, Luxembourg, 2017.
Biographical drama.
Duration: 120 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 4.

The young daughter of a famous London philosopher, fascinated by mystical stories, meets the aspiring poet Percy. He convinces Mary to start living with him, although he is already married. This decision changes everything in the life of a young girl.

Haifa al-Mansour's English-language feature debut tells the story of Mary Shelley, the writer who invented Frankenstein's monster, the protagonist of one of the most poignant novels about loneliness.

17. Wife

Sweden, UK, USA, 2017.
Family drama.
Duration: 100 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 2.

One day, the famous American writer Joseph Castleman learns that he will finally receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. But the problem is that his wife Joan contributed a lot to his novels.

The adaptation of the novel of the same name by Meg Volitzer fits well into a number of films about women forced to remain on the sidelines. Very similar stories are told by the films Big Eyes, Beauty for the Beast, Colette, and the series The Amazing Mrs. Maisel.

18. Colette

USA, UK, Hungary, 2018.
Biographical drama.
Duration: 111 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 7.

The talented writer Colette, one after another, gives out excellent novels, but her husband appropriates all the glory. But one day the girl's cup of patience overflows, and she begins to fight for her independence.

The costume melodrama retells events from the life of the French writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, played by the graceful Keira Knightley. For the actress, the film was a great opportunity to play an unusual and challenging role.

19. Being Astrid Lindgren

Sweden, Denmark, 2018.
Biographical drama.
Duration: 123 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 2.

Young and lively Astrid Erickson gets an internship at a local newspaper. There, the girl starts an affair with the editor-in-chief, but this relationship threatens her with serious consequences.

From the film, viewers will learn about the early years of one of the main children's writers in the world - Astrid Lindgren, the creator of Pippi Longstocking, Carlson, who lives on the roof, Emil from Lönneberg and many other characters. The tape tries to find parallels between Astrid's biography and her work and show how everyone's beloved fairy-tale worlds were created.

20. By gender

USA, 2018.
Biographical drama.
Duration: 120 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 0.

A determined Brooklyn girl is accepted into Harvard Law School. The only problem is that this is happening in 1956, when the work of a lawyer was considered male. Therefore, the heroine will constantly have to deal with sexist prejudices, despite her academic success.

The biographical drama faithfully tells the story of Ruth Ginsburg, a celebrated US Supreme Court Justice who has fought for gender equality all her life. Moreover, the script was written by her own nephew.