Single Motherhood
by Varla_Kicked_Ass | created - 17 Nov 2011 | updated - 24 Feb 2012 | PublicSome of the films featuring a tough but wonderful journey called single motherhood.
Also known as my tribute to all mothers, single or not.
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1. Clean (I) (2004)
R | 90 min | Drama, Music, Romance
After she ends up in prison and loses custody of her son, a woman struggles to assimilate outside her former life and remain clean long enough to regain custody of her son.
Director: Olivier Assayas | Stars: Maggie Cheung, Nick Nolte, Béatrice Dalle, Jeanne Balibar
Votes: 4,914 | Gross: $0.14M
A portrait of a (recently) single mom trying to rebuild her life for her son.
2. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
PG | 112 min | Drama, Romance
A recently widowed woman is on the road with her precocious young son, determined to make a new life for herself as a singer.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, Mia Bendixsen, Alfred Lutter III
Votes: 27,475 | Gross: $18.60M
3. All About My Mother (1999)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A comedy-drama about a bereaved mother, and overwrought actress, her jealous lover, and a pregnant nun.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Candela Peña, Antonia San Juan
Votes: 102,899 | Gross: $8.26M
4. American History X (1998)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama
Living a life marked by violence, neo-Nazi Derek finally goes to prison after killing two black youths. Upon his release, Derek vows to change; he hopes to prevent his brother, Danny, who idolizes Derek, from following in his footsteps.
Director: Tony Kaye | Stars: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Lien
Votes: 1,186,550 | Gross: $6.72M
5. Anywhere But Here (1999)
PG-13 | 114 min | Comedy, Drama
A mother and daughter search for success in Beverly Hills.
Director: Wayne Wang | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Natalie Portman, Hart Bochner, Eileen Ryan
Votes: 18,668 | Gross: $18.65M
6. As Good as It Gets (1997)
PG-13 | 139 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A single mother and waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship after the artist is assaulted in a robbery.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr.
Votes: 318,502 | Gross: $148.48M
7. Changeling (2008)
R | 141 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
After Christine's son goes missing, she reaches out to the LAPD to find him. But when they try to pass off an impostor as her son to quieten public protests, she refuses to accept him or give up hope.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Angelina Jolie, Colm Feore, Amy Ryan, Gattlin Griffith
Votes: 265,305 | Gross: $35.74M
8. Chinatown (1974)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez
Votes: 349,941
9. Chocolat (2000)
PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, Romance
A French woman and her young daughter open up a chocolate shop in a small remote village that shakes up the rigid morality of the community.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Judi Dench, Alfred Molina
Votes: 201,993 | Gross: $71.51M
10. Dolores Claiborne (1995)
R | 132 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A big city reporter travels to a small town where her mother has been arrested for the murder of an elderly woman for whom she worked as a housekeeper.
Director: Taylor Hackford | Stars: Kathy Bates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Christopher Plummer, Judy Parfitt
Votes: 48,401 | Gross: $24.36M
11. Erin Brockovich (2000)
R | 131 min | Biography, Drama
An unemployed single mother becomes a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brings down a California power company accused of polluting a city's water supply.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, David Brisbin, Dawn Didawick
Votes: 221,421 | Gross: $125.60M
12. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 455,091 | Gross: $232.91M
13. Finding Neverland (2004)
PG | 106 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The story of Sir J.M. Barrie's friendship with a family who inspired him to create Peter Pan.
Director: Marc Forster | Stars: Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, Radha Mitchell
Votes: 212,061 | Gross: $51.68M
14. Forrest Gump (1994)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, Romance
The history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field
Votes: 2,257,854 | Gross: $330.25M
15. Gas Food Lodging (1992)
R | 101 min | Drama, Romance
A waitress lives with her two teen daughters in a trailer park in New Mexico. They all want a boyfriend.
Director: Allison Anders | Stars: Brooke Adams, Ione Skye, Fairuza Balk, James Brolin
Votes: 4,407 | Gross: $1.35M
16. Gypsy (1962)
Approved | 143 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Based on the Broadway hit about the life and times of burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee and her aggressive stage mother, Mama Rose.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Paul Wallace
Votes: 6,997 | Gross: $13.01M
17. Hearts in Atlantis (2001)
PG-13 | 101 min | Drama, Mystery
Widowed Liz Garfield and her son Bobby change when mysterious stranger Ted Brautigan enters their lives.
Director: Scott Hicks | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Anton Yelchin, Hope Davis, Mika Boorem
Votes: 41,055 | Gross: $24.19M
18. Hope Floats (1998)
PG-13 | 114 min | Drama, Romance
Birdee Calvert must choose between her morals and her heart after her husband divorces her and a charming young man, who her daughter disapproves of, comes back into her life.
Director: Forest Whitaker | Stars: Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick Jr., Gena Rowlands, Mae Whitman
Votes: 30,237 | Gross: $60.05M
19. I Killed My Mother (2009)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Romance
A semi-autobiographical story about Hubert as a young homosexual at odds with his mother.
Director: Xavier Dolan | Stars: Anne Dorval, Xavier Dolan, François Arnaud, Suzanne Clément
Votes: 31,422
20. Imitation of Life (1959)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama
An aspiring white actress takes in an African American widow whose mixed-race daughter is desperate to be seen as white.
Director: Douglas Sirk | Stars: Lana Turner, John Gavin, Sandra Dee, Susan Kohner
Votes: 18,225 | Gross: $13.99M
21. Indochine (1992)
PG-13 | 160 min | Drama, Romance, War
Eliane adopts Camille, whose Vietnamese parents were friends. In 1930, a French navy officer is interested in Eliane (owns 60km2 plantation) and later in Camille. There's an uprising in Vietnam against French colonial power.
Director: Régis Wargnier | Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Vincent Perez, Linh-Dan Pham, Jean Yanne
Votes: 10,945 | Gross: $5.73M
22. Jerry Maguire (1996)
R | 139 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When a sports agent has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent agent with the only athlete who stays with him and his former colleague.
Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, Kelly Preston
Votes: 287,100 | Gross: $153.95M
23. Little Man Tate (1991)
PG | 99 min | Drama
A single mother raises a child prodigy on her own, struggling to give him every opportunity he needs to express his gift.
Director: Jodie Foster | Stars: Jodie Foster, Dianne Wiest, Adam Hann-Byrd, Alex Lee
Votes: 16,037 | Gross: $25.01M
24. Little Women (1994)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Family, Romance
The March sisters live and grow in post-Civil War America.
Director: Gillian Armstrong | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes
Votes: 63,609 | Gross: $50.08M
25. The Lost Boys (1987)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Horror
After moving to a new town, two brothers discover that the area is a haven for vampires.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Dianne Wiest, Barnard Hughes
Votes: 161,214 | Gross: $32.22M
26. Mamma Mia! (2008)
PG-13 | 108 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
The story of a bride-to-be trying to find her real father told using hit songs by the popular 1970s group ABBA.
Director: Phyllida Lloyd | Stars: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 274,440 | Gross: $144.13M
27. Maria Full of Grace (2004)
R | 101 min | Crime, Drama
A pregnant Colombian teenager becomes a drug mule to make some desperately-needed money for her family.
Director: Joshua Marston | Stars: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Guilied Lopez, Orlando Tobón, Virginia Cristina Ariza
Votes: 36,185 | Gross: $6.52M
28. Mermaids (1990)
PG-13 | 110 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An unconventional single mother relocates with her two daughters to a small Massachusetts town in 1963, where a number of events and relationships both challenge and strengthen their familial bonds.
Director: Richard Benjamin | Stars: Cher, Bob Hoskins, Winona Ryder, Michael Schoeffling
Votes: 35,885 | Gross: $35.42M
29. Mildred Pierce (1945)
Approved | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden
Votes: 28,670
30. Mommie Dearest (1981)
R | 129 min | Biography, Drama
The abusive and traumatic adoptive upbringing of Christina Crawford at the hands of her mother, screen queen Joan Crawford, is depicted.
Director: Frank Perry | Stars: Faye Dunaway, Diana Scarwid, Steve Forrest, Howard Da Silva
Votes: 18,356 | Gross: $19.03M
Not an ideal mom.
31. Mother (2009)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Kim Hye-ja, Won Bin, Jin Goo, Yun Je-mun
Votes: 71,666 | Gross: $0.55M
32. My One and Only (2009)
PG-13 | 108 min | Adventure, Biography, Comedy
After leaving her philandering husband, an elegant socialite takes her two sons on a road trip across America in search of a better life.
Director: Richard Loncraine | Stars: Renée Zellweger, Logan Lerman, Mark Rendall, Kevin Bacon
Votes: 9,422 | Gross: $2.48M
33. Norma Rae (1979)
PG | 114 min | Drama
A young single mother and textile worker agrees to help unionize her mill despite the problems and dangers involved.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Sally Field, Beau Bridges, Ron Leibman, Pat Hingle
Votes: 12,841 | Gross: $22.23M
34. North Country (2005)
R | 126 min | Drama
A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States, Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.
Director: Niki Caro | Stars: Charlize Theron, Jeremy Renner, Frances McDormand, Thomas Curtis
Votes: 44,936 | Gross: $18.32M
35. Panic Room (2002)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A divorced woman and her diabetic daughter take refuge in their newly-purchased house's safe room when three men break-in, searching for a missing fortune.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam
Votes: 296,974 | Gross: $96.40M
36. The Piano (1993)
R | 121 min | Drama, Music, Romance
In the mid-19th century a mute woman is sent to New Zealand along with her young daughter and prized piano for an arranged marriage to a farmer, but is soon lusted after by a farm worker.
Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, Anna Paquin
Votes: 95,182 | Gross: $40.16M
37. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
R | 102 min | Drama
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep..
Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans
Votes: 898,982 | Gross: $3.64M
38. Set It Off (1996)
R | 123 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Desperation drives four inner-city women to bank robbery in Los Angeles, then they start mistrusting each other.
Director: F. Gary Gray | Stars: Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Kimberly Elise
Votes: 18,466 | Gross: $36.05M
39. Spanglish (2004)
PG-13 | 131 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A woman and her daughter emigrate from Mexico for a better life in America, where they start working for a family whose patriarch is a newly celebrated chef with an insecure wife.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Adam Sandler, Téa Leoni, Paz Vega, Cloris Leachman
Votes: 88,549 | Gross: $42.73M
40. Stella (1990)
PG-13 | 109 min | Drama, Romance
Chronicling a strong, but eccentric woman's devoted relationship to her daughter through the years.
Director: John Erman | Stars: Bette Midler, John Goodman, Trini Alvarado, Stephen Collins
Votes: 2,852 | Gross: $20.24M
41. Stella Dallas (1937)
Approved | 106 min | Drama, Romance
A working-class woman is willing to do whatever it takes to give her daughter a socially promising future.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, Anne Shirley, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 6,277 | Gross: $2.00M
42. Sunshine Cleaning (2008)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Drama
In order to raise the tuition to send her young son to private school, a mom starts an unusual business -- a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service -- with her unreliable sister.
Director: Christine Jeffs | Stars: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spevack
Votes: 74,136 | Gross: $12.06M
43. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick
Votes: 1,174,423 | Gross: $204.84M
44. Terms of Endearment (1983)
PG | 132 min | Comedy, Drama
Follows hard-to-please Aurora looking for love and her daughter's family problems.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito
Votes: 65,496 | Gross: $108.42M
45. Tumbleweeds (1999)
PG-13 | 102 min | Comedy, Drama
A woman and her daughter have been constantly moving from town to town for years, but their newest home might be different from all the others.
Director: Gavin O'Connor | Stars: Janet McTeer, Kimberly J. Brown, Jay O. Sanders, Gavin O'Connor
Votes: 3,657 | Gross: $1.28M
46. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
A young woman separated from her lover by war faces a life-altering decision.
Director: Jacques Demy | Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, Marc Michel
Votes: 31,353 | Gross: $0.03M
47. Volver (I) (2006)
R | 121 min | Comedy, Drama
After her death, a mother returns to her home town in order to fix the situations she couldn't resolve during her life.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo
Votes: 107,499 | Gross: $12.90M
48. Waitress (2007)
PG-13 | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Jenna is a pregnant, unhappily married waitress in the deep south. She meets a newcomer to her town and falls into an unlikely relationship as a last attempt at happiness.
Director: Adrienne Shelly | Stars: Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Jeremy Sisto, Cheryl Hines
Votes: 48,832 | Gross: $19.07M
49. Where the Heart Is (2000)
PG-13 | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A pregnant seventeen-year-old rebuilds her life after being abandoned by her boyfriend at a Walmart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma.
Director: Matt Williams | Stars: Natalie Portman, James Frain, Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing
Votes: 36,363 | Gross: $33.77M
50. White Oleander (2002)
PG-13 | 109 min | Drama
A teenager journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison for committing a crime of passion.
Director: Peter Kosminsky | Stars: Michelle Pfeiffer, Renée Zellweger, Robin Wright, Alison Lohman
Votes: 34,081 | Gross: $16.35M
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