Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
When it comes to “feminist” film, the conversation is shifting. After The Love Witch director Anna Biller wrote about the overwhelmingly flippant use of the term and the necessity of changing what we label “feminist”, I certainly changed my own opinion, and I’ve begun to look at film in a whole new way. “Strong female characters” doesn’t make a movie feminist – feminism does. In order to be a feminist work, a film must boast a feminist agenda, one that encourages thought and conversation about women’s social status and the female experience. One that actually puts viewers in a woman’s shoes and sees the world and her inherently feminine struggles through her eyes.
So what films actually do this? We rounded up a handful of actually feminist films to help clear things up. Whether you’re new to the movement or a veteran feminist, you’re bound to find something exciting, enlightening, or educational in these titles. Wave your feminist flag and stream these top-notch flicks.
'The Love Witch'
What better way to indulge your feminist fantasies than with Anna Biller’s The Love Witch? Samantha Robinson stars as Elaine, a beautiful young witch who uses magic to make men fall in love with her with less than ideal results. The film is a celebration of the female gaze, a chance to fully experience female consciousness. I’d wager you’ve never seen anything like The Love Witch, and you probably won’t see anything else like it for a long time.
'The Women' (1939)
This film made history by boasting an entirely female cast – that’s right, 130 women – and exploring notions of financial inequity and their relationships to the men in their lives. It’s a sharp social commentary on the class divide between women who have married rich and those who are single. While there are certainly some problematic facets here – that women will fight it out for men, only discuss men, and backstab each other at the first opportunity – there’s something totally authentic about the female struggle depicted and how women are forced to rely on men in a patriarchal society.
'Belle de Jour'
While many feminist films can empower women and speak to progressiveness, there’s also value to be found in a statement of the issues experienced by women in their everyday lives. Luis Buñuel‘s Belle de Jour does just that, presenting us with a woman who is discontent with her sex life at home and goes to seize pleasure for herself (as a prostitute) with complicated results. There may not be a happy ending for Severine here, but the mere fact that this side of her experience – and the societal imbalances at play – are explored on screen seems to be intentional on Buñuel’s part.
'All About Eve'
All About Eve is not only a feminist film, but it’s a near-perfect film overall. While on the surface it’s about an ingenue infiltrating the life of an aging stage actress, there’s a lot of complexity at play here, particularly when it comes to the way women speak about their experiences and careers – and just how hard it is to be a woman in a man’s world. “That’s one career all females have in common, whether we like it or not: being a woman. Sooner or later, we’ve got to work at it, no matter how many other careers we’ve had or wanted.”
'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'
Dame Maggie Smith became known to audiences with her breakout role as the eponymous Miss Jean Brodie, and while we may clutch our pearls at some of the things she does now, the film was certainly ahead of its time. Brodie is progressive and ambitious, and dangerous, yes, but watching the young girls under her tutelage rise up and stand on even ground with their manipulative teacher is absolutely breathtaking. There’s a lot to unpack in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, but the formidable femaleness of it is pretty obvious.
