Please recommend me some good (real) feminist films

[palomatoast]

I've just watched Poor Things and need eye bleach. I stupidly only vaguely read the blurb and a quote from the lead Emma Stone about how it's about female emancipation and the patriachy. Well it's definitely about the patriarchy alright.

Please recommend me some good (real) feminist films, ideally directed by women. I need to cleanse my soul.

In the cut by Jane Campion based on a novel by Susanna Moore it is also very steamy with a lush Mark Ruffalo in it, you can think me later!

'I am not an easy man' (French) Male chauvinist hits his head and wakes up in a reverse world of matriarchy.

'Flashback' (French) Shallow female lawyer learns about the importance of women's rights by being transported back to various periods of history and seeing how badly women have had it and how far we have come and that some work is still to be done (she starts off the film by getting a man off a rape charge by arguing that his victim wanted it because she met up with him wearing a revealing underwear).

'Ask for Jane' (English) about the Chicago Jane Collective getting women underground abortions

Philomena
Oranges and sunshine
Lilya 4 Ever (tragic about sexual exploitation but excellent film)

Thanks so much everyone for all of the suggestions! This is brilliant.

I was just going to say about "I'm not an easy man". I loved it, the way they captured the behavioural nuances between men/women and swapped them around - was really fascinating and cleverly done.

And…… Nyad with Annette Benning & Jodie Foster, Marvellous, absolutely marvellous, really amazing story of determined unstoppable woman, despite childhood sexual abuse.

My Brilliant Career. It was made in 1979 but I watched it again recently and still loved it.

Hard Candy.

I have decided that for the next year I will only be watching films from this thread. I've finally had enough of watching misogynistic crap. Thanks everyone!

I was going to say this too. For some reason, I hadn’t watched this film until yesterday, and now I am kicking myself - it is amazing.

I am considering buying the book it’s based on.

If you like thrillers, I just want to agree that is a great film and very under rated and full of so many good lines and kick ass women. It's like an old school Jimmy Cagney / Pacino gangster film but for women.

Birds of Passage which is about the rise of a female drug lord in an indigenous Colombian community.

The Last Seduction from the 1990s - a great modern film noir.

Styx which is about a woman sailing the coast of Africa solo who comes upon a sinking ship of migrants.

If you want something lighter after all that, Spy & Heat are my absolute favourite girl buddy / frenemy comedies and Melissa McCarthy & Rose Byrne/Sandra Bullock are brilliant. I also like Girls Trip but you might not.

Also would recommend Misbehaviour which was released in March 2020 and therefore sank without trace but it's about the feminist protest of Miss World in the 1970s - which was also the first one to crown a black Miss World - sex, race & class comedy drama very much in the Made In Dagenham / Philomena / Pride vein. The ending makes me sob.

Interesting definition of feminism there 😜

I'd go G I Jane

Not a film but a TV series
Channel 4's "We Are Lady Parts" - excellent comedy about a female muslim band
We Are Lady Parts

Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always

A very quiet film but OMG it hits hard. It's really memorable and tender. I love films that show America in a more realistic light.

And did you see Winter's Bone? I'm not sure it's exactly feminist but I think it would be a different film if the sex of the characters were different. Possibly not by much.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g thanks for recommending Three Billboards.

Another vote for Nyad.

No sex, no love interest, no big deal that they're over a certain age (apart from a milestone birthday being the catalyst). Just two incredibly strong women, with all their flaws and traits. Bloody marvellous film!

Nyad- a film about a swimmer. Has Jodie foster in it.

Annihilation, great sci fi/ horror. All female ( I think) cast.

I like this one. Its a horror film but definitely feminist https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1714208/

Just a word of warning, The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo has one of the most awful rape scenes, truly horrible

Another vote for ‘We are Lady Parts’

Yes, I unfortunately remember it perfectly. I stopped watching after it, but it’s stayed in my mind all these years.

Another vote for Portrait of a lady on fire. And by the same film maker Petite Maman. So beautiful.

An unmarried woman
Educating Rita

hidden figures is great, and intersectional too
promising young woman is brilliant.