Women make up a small percentage of feature film directors, but despite that, they have produced excellent films. Based on IBDc ratings that were released from 2011 to today, we’ve compiled a list of spectacular women-directed films that you must see.
American Honey (2016)
IMDB rating: 7
Director: Andrea ArnoldStar (Sasha Lane), a teenage girl from a troubled home, runs away with a traveling sales crew that drives across the American Midwest selling subscriptions door-to-door. Finding her feet in this gang of teenagers, one of whom is Jake (Shia LaBeouf), she soon gets caught up in the group’s lifestyle of hard-partying nights, law-bending days and young love.
The Edge of Seventeen (2016)
IMDb rating: 7.3
Director: Kelly Fremon CraigThe Edge of Seventeen follows an awkward 17-year-old (Hailee Steinfeld) through anxiety-ridden high school mishaps with friends, crushes and her all-star older brother Darian starts dating her best friend Krista. Woody Harrelson plays teacher Mr. Bruner, who offers dark humor sprinkled throughout the film.
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
IMDb rating: 7.4
Director: Kathryn BigelowDirected by the only woman to win a Best Director Oscar for 2009’s The Hurt Locker, Bigelow’s follow-up, Zero Dark Thirty, uses a similar, crisp documentary-like camera style that hovers and observes action. Zero Dark Thirty puts a woman at the center of war drama with Jessica Chastain starring as a CIA investigator who brings down Osama bin Laden.
Wonder Woman (2017)
IMDb rating: 7.4
Director: Patty JenkinsJenkins’ directorial feature career began with 2003’s Monster, the true story of a mentally ill prostitute who became a serial killer (Charlize Theron won the Best Actress Oscar for the role). Jenkins followed that up with Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot as the titular superhero. The film was praised for presenting a complex, compassionate hero with universal appeal that comes from a dynamic representation of female power.
Lady Bird (2017)
IMDB rating: 7.4
Director: Greta GerwigGerwig earned a Best Director Oscar nomination (one of five in total for a woman), for this modern coming-of-age drama with its disaffected titular character (played by Saoirse Ronan). Lady Bird is an ambitious and wildly courageous teenager, who shocks audiences when she leaps from a moving car at the film’s beginning to escape her mother’s (Laurie Metcalf) belittling comments. Timothée Chalamet plays her love interest in the film as well.
Honey Boy (2019)
IMDb rating: 7.4
Director: Alma Har’elHoney Boy stars Shia LaBeouf as his own abusive, alcoholic father in a semi-autobiographical film (that he also wrote) about a child actor who ends up in rehab. LaBeouf’s ex, FKA Twigs also stars in the film. FKA Twigs leveled a number of disturbing allegations against LaBeouf, accusing him of threatening, trapping and strangling her, as well as knowingly infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease.
Frozen (2013)
IMDb rating: 7.5
Director: Jennifer LeeLee directed the film which inspired children to “let it go” in this Disney animated film that won the Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2014. Frozen made Lee the first female director with more than $1 billion in revenue from a single film. Lee’s screenplay is unique in creating princess characters with a focus on sisterhood rather than love with men or weddings.
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
IMDb rating: 7.5
Director: Lynne RamsayTilda Swinton gives a stand-out performance in this drama-thriller that explores maternal anxiety and dread of parenting a murderous psychopath. Swinton’s character can’t seem to bond with her son, who grows from a fussy, demanding toddler into a sociopathic teen (Ezra Miller).
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
IMDb rating: 8.2
Director: Céline SciammaPortrait of a Lady on Fire follows two women in 1770 France, a painter and subject; Marianne, a painter, is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent. Héloïse is a reluctant bride-to-be and Marianne must paint her without her knowing. She observes her by day, to paint her secretly. Sciamma forces her audience to consider what it means to look and be looked at in new ways through the desire of her lead characters.
Little Women (2019)
IMDb rating: 8.2
Director: Greta GerwigThe fourth adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s 1860s novel reflects women’s rage, their economic status and their options to marry of the times following the Civil War. Gerwig’s version of Jo March (Saoirse Ronan) produces a novel, Little Women, but also negotiates its contract and conclusion: Should the heroine end up married or dead as her publisher requires or will she invent a compromise that parallels her own story?
