The 15 best films about feminism

The seventh art constitutes a fundamental cultural tool for society. The film industry has become a system that captures realities of all kinds on screens. Films tell stories that reflect life itself and the dynamics that the world follows, and they also do it in such a way that, when watching them, many emotions are awakened in us.

Films also make us think and reflect on many issues, so much so that there are films that mark us forever and change our perspective on certain issues. Feminism has been one of those themes that have served as the basis for making important films in film history.

These films investigate the very fact of being a woman, in the intimacy of the feminine, in the perspective that they have and that she is often forgotten and ignored, as well as in all those things that are lived and suffered by the very fact of being woman. In short, we can say that the cinema has allowed to give voice to all those experiences that women have had and that they have gone through. unnoticed in history, shedding light on the path that has as its final goal real equality between men and women. women.

Although the cinema already has a past behind it, Today the feminist movement has spread and popularized as never before. This social tsunami has not left anyone indifferent, much less the film industry. This has allowed an increasing female presence in management and production positions, but it has also started a process analytical that looks back to review and evaluate with a new look those tapes that were not known at the time assess. For all these reasons, in this article we are going to compile the 15 best films on feminism that have been made to date.

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Feminism and cinema: what are the best films about the feminist movement?

We are going to collect in this list the best films whose theme is related to feminism. This is not a list with a specific order of importance, because all of them seem like good films that are very worthwhile. In addition, in this cinema, the subjectivity of the viewer plays an important role, so we do not all feel emotion with the same things. Therefore, we encourage you to try and see some of them not only for pleasure but as an exercise in reflection about the role of women in society.

1. 4 months, three weeks, two days (2007)

This Romanian film is set in the eighties, in the last moments of the communist regime in Romania. Otilia and Gabita, two students sharing a room in a student residence, rent a cheap hotel room. Gabita is pregnant and the communist regime prohibits abortion in any case, so they contact a doctor to perform a clandestine abortion. This film shows the rawness of being a woman in all its glory, especially in totalitarian political contexts.

2. Hysteria (2011)

This film is set in Victorian times and tells of the treatment of female hysteria, a very common mental disorder in women of that time. At that time, patients were being massaged with genitalia in order to create "seizures," which were actually orgasms. This procedure seemed to relieve symptoms, but due to the effort that doctors had to put into her hands to perform these "massages", a device was invented for this purpose that today we know as vibrator.

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3. The Life of Adèle (2013)

The film tells the story of Adèle, a young French woman who falls in love with an artist with striking blue hair. Both enter into a relationship in which Adèle discovers desire and pleasure like she never did before, transiting at the same time towards her adult life as a school teacher.

4. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

This film illustrates the life of Jeanne Dielman, a young widow with a dependent child. The film shows her side as a common housewife in the mornings, while she engages in prostitution in the afternoons. The film not only shows the harsh reality of many women, but also tries to extol the importance of domestic work, always undervalued.

5. Thelma and Louise (1991)

This movie is a feminist classic of cinema. It tells the story of two women, Thelma and Louise, who leave their lives to go in search of new experiences and, ultimately, their freedom. They go on a road trip that frees them from housework, macho men, and lives that don't satisfy them at all. Both characters are an icon in the fight against a world dominated by men.

6. Mulan (1998)

Feminism is not just for adults, but its values ​​can be instilled from childhood. This Disney classic is a clear example of this. This princess was the first icon in the industry to oppose the classic model of a lady saved by a prince. Mulan cuts his hair and enlists in the army, eventually saving China by posing as a man.

7. Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)

Evelyn is a housewife unhappy with her life and her marriage. By chance, she meets an outgoing old woman with whom she strikes up a beautiful friendship. She begins to tell Evelyn the story of two friends from an Alabama town, Idgie and Ruth, who forge their friendship and go through many difficulties together. Thanks to this story, Evelyn begins to take steps to overcome her fears and insecurities.

8. All about my mother (1999)

This Pedro Almodóvar film is, like the rest of his films, an exciting portrait of female psychology. This story focuses on the process of loss and pain experienced by a woman named Manuela when her 17-year-old son dies. After this event, she decides to look for his father, who never knew that she had been her mother.

9. The Glories (2020)

This movie is the latest on our list. The tape does a review of the life and history of activist Gloria Steinem, a crucial figure for the feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States.

10. Mustang (2015)

This film tells the story of five Turkish sisters who decide to celebrate the end of the year by bathing in the sea with their school uniforms. This fun celebration is conceived by adults as an unacceptable behavior, since they consider that bathing in their clothes is a sexual provocation. As a result, the five sisters are confined to their homes for the summer, where they are taught to be good wives.

11. I give you my eyes (2003)

After years of suffering physical and psychological abuse from her husband Antonio, Pilar makes the decision to flee her house one winter night. She takes her basic belongings and her son, Juan. Her husband does not hesitate to go looking for her when he runs away, trying to persuade Pilar to return. This tape is all a reflection of the dynamics and consequences of gender violence.

12. Carol (2015)

A young shop assistant in a Manhattan store and a seductive, elegant woman who is unhappy with her marriage meet in 1950. An irremediable attraction arises between them, although the prejudices of society will make it difficult for them to achieve the happiness they long for together.

13. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

Pepa and Iván have a relationship. After a long time together, he breaks up with her, as he is a hopeless womanizer. To do this, she leaves Pepa a message on the answering machine where she asks him to prepare a suitcase with her things. Pepa, overwhelmed by the pain and the memories of her, rents the house. Before her ex-partner arrives to pick up her things, the protagonist will receive very peculiar people at home that, however, will give you great life lessons.

14. Erin Brockovich (2000)

The protagonist who gives the film its name is a single mother who secures a position in a law firm by chance. Your attitude and personality will make a difference and allow you to investigate a complex case related to environmental pollution from a power plant. This causes damage to the health of the population, so Erin starts a legal battle against the energy company, winning the lawsuit and making the small office one of the most prestigious in California.

15. Boys are alright (2010)

The protagonists of this film are two lesbian women who form a family with two children, Joni and Laser, both conceived by an artificial insemination procedure. They both want to know her biological father at all costs, so Joni decides to request information about him when she turns 18.

This film is one of the few in which lesbian women are given visibility, whose representation in the industry has been forgotten and frequently relegated to the background.

Conclusions

In this article we have reviewed 15 films related to feminism that you cannot miss. Some are well known and others belong to a more independent cinema, although all of them reflect in an exciting way the reality of being a woman in multiple settings.