Feminist Tendencies
Feminism as a concept has gone in and out of vogue since the first suffragette demanded the right to vote, but throughout history there have always been remarkable women, prepared to claim their power in the name of a cause ('Ride to Freedom: The Rosa Parks Story', 'Veronica Guerin'), or just to rediscover their own self-worth ('Shirley Valentine', 'My Brilliant Career'). This collection does not only contain films about the political struggle of women to achieve equality ('Iron Jawed Angels'), if it did it would be a very short list because despite the fact that the rise of women in the workforce and in politics was one of the defining movements of the 20th century, very few films have been made on the subject - filmmaking being still a largely male-dominated pusuit. Now, as women are making films in greater numbers than ever, our own Niki Caro is a good example of someone ready and willing to tell a story about the oppression, and ultimate triumph of women in the 'post-feminist' 1980s ('North Country'). Perhaps women as an audience are now ready and willing to hear their own stories.
Eat Pray Love (2010)
5.7/10
Director: Ryan Murphy
Starring: Billy Crudup, Javier Bardem, Julia Roberts, Richard Jenkins, James Franco, Viola...
Believing there's more to life than a husband, house and career, Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) finds herself with a new appetite for life in this inspir... Read more
Educating Rita (1983)
7.2/10
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Starring: Michael Caine, Julie Walters, Michael C Williams
An entertaining adaptation of Willy Russell's stage play about a young working class wife who wants to better herself and selects a boozy professor as... Read more
Erin Brockovich (2000)
7.3/10
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart, Peter Coyote
Julia Roberts shines in this powerful true story, playing a feisty, divorced mother of three who takes a job as her lawyer's secretary and finds herse... Read more
Female Agents (2008)
6.8/10
Director: Jean-Paul Salome
Starring: Sophie Marceau, Julie Depardieu, Marie Gillain, Deborah Francois, Moritz Bleibtr...
In May 1944, a group of French servicewomen and resistance fighters are enlisted into the British Special Operations Executive commando group for two... Read more
Forbidden Lies (2007)
Director: Anna Broinowski
In 2003 Norma Khouri's book 'Forbidden Love' was published as the true account of the so-called 'honour killing' of her best friend, Dalia. Eighteen m... Read more
Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang (2012)
6.2/10
Director: Laurent Cantet
Starring: Raven Adamson, Katie Cosen, Madeleine Bisson, Claire Mazerolle, Paige Moyles, Ra...
Based on Joyce Carol Oates' revealing novel and directed by award-winning filmmaker Laurent Cantet ("The Class"), "Foxfire" is a gritty coming-of-age... Read more
Fried Green Tomatoes ( at the Whistle Stop Cafe ) (1991)
7.7/10
Director: Jon Avnet
Starring: Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker
An appealing, heartwarming, comedy-drama based on Fannie Flagg's 'Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe' about rural Alabama past and present... Read more
Friends with Money (2006)
5.8/10
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, Jason Isaacs...
Jennifer Aniston, Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener and Frances McDormand headline this vibrant comedy-drama as four friends who are re-evaluating their l... Read more
Frozen River (2008)
7.2/10
Director: Courtney Hunt
Starring: Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Charlie McDermott, Michael O'Keefe, Mark Boone Junior
A powerfully unflinching tale of two women, who, driven by economic hardship, form an unlikely partnership smuggling illegal immigrants across the Can... Read more
G.I. Jane (1997)
5.9/10
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Anne Bancroft
She's an officer and a gentlewoman, but can Navy lieutenant Demi Moore, the first woman candidate for the elite Navy SEALs unit, survive both the rigo... Read more