title: amélie   year: 2001    director: jean-pierre jeunet   cast: audrey tautou & mathieu kassovitz

story: amélie is an innocent and naive girl in paris with her own sense of justice. she decides to help those around her and, along the way, discovers love.

Audrey Tautou’s iconic performance as Amélie left audiences loud with applause, curious and definitely wanting more. The film and Amélie are a world on their own and her performance makes you fall in love with life and appreciate the small things that actually define happiness. The story is simple, yet achieves more than what the director probably ever hope for. Tautou is spectacular, mesmerising and there is no such a thing as watching this film too many times. Should have won an Academy Award, just saying.

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title: bombshell   year: 2019    director: jay roach   cast: charlize theron, nicole kidman, margot robbie & kate mckinnon

story: a group of women take on fox news head roger ailes and the toxic atmosphere he presided over at the network.

A story that had to be told and will need to be retold over and over. The truth is scary the facts raise an alarm and the message well delivered. Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman), Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie) all work for Fox News and swallow the daily ‘beatings’ from the hierarchy, especially Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) who is the executive. Women are sexually harassed, humiliated, taken advantage of and objectified by the company executives. It is frightening and absolutely disgusting what goes on behind the scenes at Fox News and our three leading ladies with the addition of the one and only Kate McKinnon portray the shocking truth with raw and mind-blowing performances. And the prosthetics, oh the prosthetics look spine-chillingly real.

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title: colette   year: 2018    director: wash westmoreland    cast: keira knightley & fiona shaw

story: colette is pushed by her husband to write novels under his name. upon their success, she fights to make her talents known, challenging gender norms.

Haven’t exactly been praised by the the film critics - this one, but we have to mention that it is a story that should be told. Keira Knightley comes across charming as Colette, yet sure-footed and determined to fight the patriarchy. The female leads are witty, the dialogues engaging and the film is surely an entertaining watch. Colette - both the character and the film experiment with gender fluidity and female empowerment and if you want to learn a little more about repressed writers from the early 20th century then this one is for you.

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title: 20th century women   year: 2016    director: mike mills    cast: annette bening, elle fanning & greta gerwig

story: the story of a teenage boy, his mother, and two other women who help raise him among the love and freedom of southern california of 1979.

A kind of coming of age drama of which we hardly see anymore in today’s cinema. No cliches, no forced conversations just a real stories of what it is like growing up, being young and different. In seconds you will fall curious and in love with all the characters’ quirks and traits and the way they experience the internal and external conflicts of young life. The performances are so raw and genuine while Annette Bening is definitely and stand out everyone else is up close behind. By the end of the movie I can assure you, you will be buying a longboard and a pair of trainers hoping you can be part of their adventures. 

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title: a portrait of a lady on fire   year: 2019    director: céline sciamma    cast: adéle haenel & noémie merlant

story: on an isolated island in brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.

A film that is poetry and spellbinding beauty to the ears, eyes and tears. This is what filmmaking really looks and feels like. The minimal dialogue the nuances of love, flirting and the absolute curiosity to another human being turn this love story into a master piece. The actresses are more than phenomenal, their chemistry is like watching fireworks and the way their relationship explores the ‘female gaze’ is simply revolutionary. Céline Sciamma is a phenomenal director and I urge you to watch all her movies.

It is hard to give enough appreciation to this film in a short paragraph, so watch it on the big screen or in bed and let the last scene of the movie leave you with internal chaos and indignation of why Adéle Haenel did not win an Oscar. 

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title: the favourite   year: 2018    director: yorgos lanthimos    cast: olivia colman, emma stone & rachel weisz

story: in early 18th century england, a frail queen anne occupies the throne and her close friend, lady sarah, governs the country in her stead. when a new servant, abigail, arrives, her charm endears her to sarah.

If you have not seen this yet then drop everything and watch it right now! The story is raw, the performances are downright sick, twisted yet mesmerising and the three actress’ chemistry is unlike any other. Everyone is trying to satisfy ‘the get what she wants’ Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) all the while going great lengths let that be sex, lies, traps or a bit of wickedness. Rachel Weisz plays the witty, a little dirty and dominant friend/love affair to Queen Anne. Emma Stone who plays the new servant; Abigail comes across at first naive and fragile, but then quickly adapts to the dark and political mind games taking place at the palace.

Don’t miss it - it is   G I R l P O W E R   all the way.

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title: i, tonya   year: 2017    director: craig gillespie    cast: margot robbie, allison janney & sebastian stan

story: competitive ice skater tonya harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. figure skating championships, but her future in the activity is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.

Margot Robbie is not only a pretty face, but an intense actor and an unstoppable producer. As Tonya Harding her performance is so raw, so believable and yet so unpredictable. At times you laugh out loud and at other times you are uncomfortable watching the domestic abuse happening in her life. The direction is unique, the skating sequences spectacular and her acting unmissable. She will stir all your emotions while completely dominating the screen. 

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title: killing eve   year: 2018-    creator: phoebe waller-bridge   cast: jodie comer,  sandra oh & fiona shaw

story: after a series of events, the lives of a security operative and an assassin become inextricably linked.

The show hooks you from second 1 and Villanelle (Jodie Comer) is probably the best villain in TV history. This unparalleled show saw daylight thanks to 3 icons in filmmaking; Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Jodie Comer & Sandra Oh.

It revolves around the story of good gal tries to catch bad gal and vice-versa. Villanelle (Jodie Comer) & Eve Polastri’s (Sandra Oh) turbulent, exciting and pretty much fucked up relationship is what will have you binge watch (currently) all 4 seasons. They chase each other around the world, but neither of them is exactly ready to betray or kill the other. It is a must - women show it is done on screen.

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title: orlando   year: 1992    director: sally potter    cast: tilda swinton, billy zane, quentin crisp  

story: after queen elizabeth I commands him not to grow old, a young nobleman struggles with love and his place in the world.

Based of Virginia Woolf’s acclaimed novel - Orlando. This master piece allows us to venture with Orlando (Tilda Swinton) a noble man; forever young, through centuries of British history discovering the best and worst of being both genders, relationships, art, different lives and anything you can imagine happening over the course of 400 years.

It is not Tilda Swinton’s androgynous appearance that steals the show, but her capability to transform oh so many times within 94 minutes. She is exciting,  versatile, revolutionary and does justice to Woolf’s work. In the film, stereotypes cease to exist and she invites us to tag along an unconventional yet extremely satisfying journey.

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title: monster   year: 2003    director: patty jenkins    cast: charlize theron, christina ricci, bruce dern 

(true) story: based on the life of Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer.

The role & true story of Aileen Wuornos earned Charlize Theron an academy award for all the right reasons. She plays a prostitute turned serial killer (turned monster) in Florida who has been abused by men since she can remember. She falls in love with Selby (Christina Ricci) and takes extreme measures to support their love. Literally extreme. She was put on death row in 1990 and died of a lethal injection in 2002. 

Charlize Theron put on 30 pounds for the role, learned to swear even more, pulled off the ugliest and most believable make up of all time, took body language to a whole new level and she made sure to burn a character into your mind for a long time. Her performance ignites many things - chaos, pain, empathy, despise and you will be left thinking do I root for her or no fucking way?

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This blog came to be to represent the films where women have a chance to deliver performances that astound the world. These movies let actresses be in roles that (I know it is ridiculous) to this day are said to be “unconventional”.

It is no secret that the majority of the main roles still go to men, let that be superheroes, serial killers, geniuses, inventors, mafia bosses, parents, drug lords you name it.  

Let’s help these films rise to fame! Let’s give these movies the credit & do send in titles that you think fit the list.