Women with Chutzpah
by stephanieericsson | created - 24 Oct 2015 | updated - 01 Jan 2022 | PublicFilms or TV about women with courage. Not weapon-wielding amazons, but women confronting real situations - sometimes unimaginable hardships, sometimes challenges that are all too common.
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1. 1,000 Times Good Night (2013)
Not Rated | 117 min | Drama, War
Rebecca is one of the world's top war photographers. She must weather a major emotional storm when her husband refuses to put up with her dangerous life any longer.
Director: Erik Poppe | Stars: Juliette Binoche, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lauryn Canny, Adrianna Cramer Curtis
Votes: 8,168 | Gross: $0.05M
"I want to tell the story."
2. A Little Chaos (2014)
R | 117 min | Drama, Romance
Two talented landscape artists become romantically entangled while building a garden in King Louis XIV's palace at Versailles.
Director: Alan Rickman | Stars: Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, Stanley Tucci, Matthias Schoenaerts
Votes: 25,379 | Gross: $0.55M
Just be who you are and do what only you can do. [Caveat: watch for the scene when Sabine is introduced to the women at court -- one of the sweetest scenes in contemporary film...]
3. The Honorable Woman (2014)
58 min | Drama, Thriller
Centers on Nessa Stein, a woman who inherits her father's arms business and finds herself in an international maelstrom as she continues to promote the reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.
Stars: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Stephen Rea, Lubna Azabal, Katherine Parkinson
Votes: 11,549
4. Beyond Belief (2007)
Not Rated | 92 min | Documentary
Susan Retik and Patti Quigley are two ordinary soccer moms living in the affluent suburbs of Boston until tragedy strikes. Rather than turning inwards, grief compels these women to focus on... See full summary »
Director: Beth Murphy | Stars: Susan Retik, Patti Quigley, Tom Fleming, Clementina Cantoni
Votes: 166
If you think that wars cannot be stopped, you haven't seen this film.
5. Mary and Martha (2013 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 95 min | Drama
Two mothers lose their sons to malaria.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Hilary Swank, Brenda Blethyn, Sam Claflin, Frank Grillo
Votes: 3,614
Helping others heals the grief.
6. Temple Grandin (2010 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 107 min | Biography, Drama
A biopic of Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who has become one of the top scientists in the humane livestock handling industry.
Director: Mick Jackson | Stars: Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, David Strathairn, Catherine O'Hara
Votes: 32,565
My name is Temple Grandin. I'm not like other people. I think in pictures and I connect them.
7. Tootsie (1982)
PG | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Michael Dorsey, an unsuccessful actor, disguises himself as a woman in order to get a role on a trashy hospital soap.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman
Votes: 114,599 | Gross: $177.20M
Dustin: "There's too many interesting women I have not had the experience to know in this life because I have been brainwashed. 'Tootsie' was never a comedy for me."
8. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.
Directors: Victor Fleming, King Vidor | Stars: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr
Votes: 428,483 | Gross: $2.08M
Oh dear! I keep forgetting I'm not in Kansas!
9. Mildred Pierce (2011)
TV-MA | 67 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Divorced single mom Mildred Pierce decides to open a restaurant business, which tears at the already-strained relationship with her ambitious elder daughter, Veda.
Stars: Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce, Evan Rachel Wood, Brían F. O'Byrne
Votes: 24,079
10. Thelma & Louise (1991)
R | 130 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
Two best friends set out on an adventure, but it soon turns around to a terrifying escape from being hunted by the police, as these two women escape for the crimes they committed.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen
Votes: 173,004 | Gross: $45.36M
11. A Walk to Beautiful (2007)
Not Rated | 85 min | Documentary
"A Walk to Beautiful" tells the story of five women in Ethiopia suffering from devastating childbirth injuries. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women ... See full summary »
Director: Mary Olive Smith | Star: Catherine Hamlin
Votes: 201
Few of us in developed countries can imagine that this happens regularly to women, even in 'developed countries.'
12. The Reader (2008)
R | 124 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.
Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Bruno Ganz, Jeanette Hain
Votes: 259,767 | Gross: $34.19M
Controversial. Powerful. Complex. Subtle. Winslet's tour de force.
13. Wild (I) (2014)
R | 115 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
A chronicle of one woman's 1,100-mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent personal tragedy.
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée | Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Gaby Hoffmann, Michiel Huisman
Votes: 138,812 | Gross: $37.88M
Witherspoon delivers a believable performance of a woman's humbling transformation.
14. Babette's Feast (1987)
G | 103 min | Drama
During the late 19th century, a strict religious community in a Danish village takes in a French refugee from the Franco-Prussian War as a servant to the late pastor's daughters.
Director: Gabriel Axel | Stars: Stéphane Audran, Bodil Kjer, Birgitte Federspiel, Jarl Kulle
Votes: 22,025 | Gross: $4.40M
How generosity opens hearts and palates.
15. The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)
PG | 122 min | Comedy, Drama
The Kadam family leaves India for France where they open a restaurant directly across the road from Madame Mallory's Michelin-starred eatery.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Helen Mirren, Om Puri, Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon
Votes: 87,582 | Gross: $54.24M
A rigid widow learns flexibility.
16. Woman in Gold (2015)
PG-13 | 109 min | Biography, Drama, History
Maria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family.
Director: Simon Curtis | Stars: Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Brühl, Katie Holmes
Votes: 63,197 | Gross: $33.31M
Tenacity.
17. Elizabeth (1998)
R | 124 min | Biography, Drama, History
The early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch.
Director: Shekhar Kapur | Stars: Cate Blanchett, Liz Giles, Rod Culbertson, Paul Fox
Votes: 105,089 | Gross: $30.08M
Self-explanatory.
18. 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: 201,922 | Gross: $71.51M
Single mom moves into a small village (read, small-minded) and proceeds to not only make a living to support her daughter, but teaches the villagers about pleasure and love.
19. Bless Me, Ultima (2012)
PG-13 | 106 min | Biography, Drama, History
A drama set in New Mexico during WWII, centered on the relationship between a young man and an elderly medicine woman who helps him contend with the battle between good and evil that rages in his village.
Director: Carl Franklin | Stars: Luke Ganalon, Joseph A. Garcia, Miriam Colon, Benito Martinez
Votes: 1,592 | Gross: $1.55M
20. Still Alice (2014)
PG-13 | 101 min | Drama
A linguistics professor and her family find their bonds tested when she is diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.
Directors: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland | Stars: Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth
Votes: 143,453 | Gross: $18.75M
It takes guts to watch this film, but Moore makes it worthwhile.
21. Philomena (2013)
PG-13 | 98 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman's search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Mare Winningham
Votes: 103,780 | Gross: $37.71M
22. Seraphine (2008)
Unrated | 125 min | Biography, Drama
In 1912 German collector Wilhelm Uhde rents a flat in Senlis to write and take a break from Parisian life. He hires a 48-year old cleaning lady, Séraphine. Some time later, he notices a small painting on wood at a local notable home.
Director: Martin Provost | Stars: Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent, Geneviève Mnich
Votes: 6,543 | Gross: $0.88M
23. Three Colors: Blue (1993)
R | 94 min | Drama, Music, Mystery
A woman struggles to find a way to live her life after the death of her husband and child.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Juliette Binoche, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Benoît Régent
Votes: 110,462 | Gross: $1.32M
24. Burlesque (I) (2010)
PG-13 | 119 min | Drama, Music, Musical
A small-town girl ventures to Los Angeles and finds her place in a neo-burlesque club run by a former dancer.
Director: Steve Antin | Stars: Cher, Christina Aguilera, Alan Cumming, Eric Dane
Votes: 93,138 | Gross: $39.44M
The music is fantastic and Cher & Aguilera's stunning talent no surprise. But watch Cher's performance as the aging, wise maven who is graceful enough to step aside. It's not an overt part of the plot and Cher pulls it off with subtlety and elegance.
25. Saving Grace (2000)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Crime
A small-town English widow, facing financial troubles after her husband's suicide, turns to agriculture of an illegal kind.
Director: Nigel Cole | Stars: Brenda Blethyn, Craig Ferguson, Martin Clunes, Tchéky Karyo
Votes: 19,325 | Gross: $12.12M
26. Chicago (2002)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Crime, Musical
Two death-row murderesses develop a fierce rivalry while competing for publicity, celebrity, and a sleazy lawyer's attention.
Director: Rob Marshall | Stars: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Taye Diggs
Votes: 243,302 | Gross: $170.69M
Hyperbole for fun, but situations so common, every woman can relate. Plus, the music is great.
27. Coco Before Chanel (2009)
PG-13 | 105 min | Biography, Drama
The story of Coco Chanel's rise from obscure beginnings to the heights of the fashion world.
Director: Anne Fontaine | Stars: Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain
Votes: 42,096 | Gross: $6.11M
“How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.”
28. Testament of Youth (2014)
PG-13 | 129 min | Biography, Drama, History
A British woman recalls coming of age during World War I - a story of young love, the futility of war, and how to make sense of the darkest times.
Director: James Kent | Stars: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Taron Egerton, Dominic West
Votes: 30,499 | Gross: $1.82M
Based on the best-selling WWI memoir of Vera Brittain, a leading writer, feminist, and pacifist.
29. Joy (I) (2015)
PG-13 | 124 min | Biography, Drama
Joy is the story of the title character, who rose to become founder and matriarch of a powerful family business dynasty.
Director: David O. Russell | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Edgar Ramírez
Votes: 145,116 | Gross: $56.45M
30. Suffragette (2015)
PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, History
In 1912 London, a young working mother is galvanized into radical political activism supporting the right for women to vote, and is willing to meet violence with violence to achieve this end.
Director: Sarah Gavron | Stars: Carey Mulligan, Anne-Marie Duff, Helena Bonham Carter, Meryl Streep
Votes: 44,738 | Gross: $4.69M
Few realize how much it cost those women who fought for equality.
31. Room (I) (2015)
R | 118 min | Drama, Thriller
A little boy is held captive in a room with his mother since his birth, so he has never known the world outside.
Director: Lenny Abrahamson | Stars: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Sean Bridgers, Wendy Crewson
Votes: 450,365 | Gross: $14.68M
How a mother's love can survive anything.
32. The Scandalous Lady W (2015 TV Movie)
87 min | Drama, History, Romance
An 18th-century drama details the scandalous life of Lady Seymour Worsley.
Director: Sheree Folkson | Stars: Natalie Dormer, Craig Parkinson, Aneurin Barnard, Shaun Evans
Votes: 2,846
33. Our Brand Is Crisis (2015)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama
A battle-hardened American political consultant is sent to help re-elect a controversial president in Bolivia, where she must compete with a long-term rival working for another candidate.
Director: David Gordon Green | Stars: Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Joaquim de Almeida
Votes: 23,261 | Gross: $7.00M
Sometimes, you just have to walk away from everything to save your soul.
34. Queen of the Desert (2015)
PG-13 | 128 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
A chronicle of Gertrude Bell's life, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Nicole Kidman, James Franco, Robert Pattinson, Damian Lewis
Votes: 12,573
She defined worlds.
35. Carol (2015)
R | 118 min | Drama, Romance
An aspiring photographer develops an intimate relationship with an older woman in 1950s New York.
Director: Todd Haynes | Stars: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Kyle Chandler
Votes: 142,336 | Gross: $12.71M
36. Truth (I) (2015)
R | 125 min | Biography, Drama, History
Newsroom drama detailing the 2004 CBS "60 Minutes" report investigating then-President George W. Bush's military service, and the subsequent firestorm of criticism that cost anchor Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes their careers.
Director: James Vanderbilt | Stars: Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Dennis Quaid, Elisabeth Moss
Votes: 21,229 | Gross: $2.54M
We may not always win when we fight for the truth, but we will still have our souls.
37. Leonie (2010)
PG-13 | 102 min | Biography, Drama
A film about the life and relationships of the early 20th century American educator, editor, and journalist Leonie Gilmour, the mother of the acclaimed artist and architect Isamu Noguchi.
Director: Hisako Matsui | Stars: Emily Mortimer, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Shidô Nakamura, Christina Hendricks
Votes: 606
38. Coco Chanel (2008 TV Movie)
PG | 139 min | Biography, Drama
The life story of legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel.
Director: Christian Duguay | Stars: Barbora Bobulova, Shirley MacLaine, Olivier Sitruk, Valentina Lodovini
Votes: 3,815
Elegance is refusal. ~ Coco Chanel
39. The Promise (2011)
356 min | Drama, Mystery, War
A young British girl travels to Palestine, retracing the steps of her grandfather - a British soldier stationed there in the 1940s.
Stars: Claire Foy, Christian Cooke, Itay Tiran, Katharina Schüttler
Votes: 2,170
Does not simply the complex issues of 1948 or today but instead tackles the right and wrong of both sides while telling the story of this amazing young woman.
40. The New World (2005)
PG-13 | 135 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of the English exploration of Virginia, and of the changing world and loves of Pocahontas.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale
Votes: 89,830 | Gross: $12.71M
When worlds collide so much is obliterated ... but not everything.
41. We of the Never Never (1982)
G | 134 min | Biography, Drama
Jeannie Gunn faced being the only civilised woman in an uncivilised land. A story of personal triumph about one woman who reached out in a hard, hostile, prejudiced world and managed to find love.
Director: Igor Auzins | Stars: Angela Punch McGregor, Arthur Dignam, Martin Vaughan, Lewis Fitz-Gerald
Votes: 470
Tenacity and heart can accomplish anything. An epic story in a stunning, epic land.
42. Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun (1988 TV Movie)
192 min | Drama
The singular life of Beryl Markham - renowned aviatrix, author and adventurer - is depicted. Raised by her father in colonial East Africa, Beryl hunted with the Maasai, bred thoroughbred ... See full summary »
Director: Tony Richardson | Stars: Stefanie Powers, Claire Bloom, Peter Bowles, Brian Cox
Votes: 95
Markham is one of my heroes. She had the courage of a lion and her soul belonged to Africa.
43. Australia (2008)
PG-13 | 165 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In 1939, an Englishwoman inherits a sprawling ranch in northern Australia and reluctantly makes a pact with a stockman to drive 2000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape.
Director: Baz Luhrmann | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Shea Adams, Eddie Baroo
Votes: 129,722 | Gross: $49.55M
Gorgeous. Epic. Romance. And cheeky bastards.
44. Bomb Girls (2012–2014)
TV-14 | 60 min | Drama, War
A drama about World War II women at work in a munitions factory.
Stars: Meg Tilly, Jodi Balfour, Charlotte Hegele, Antonio Cupo
Votes: 4,575
45. Without You (2011–2012)
60 min | Drama, Mystery
Ellie's beloved husband is killed in a car accident. A woman was in the car with him and killed too. Who was she? Was he having an affair? Was it an accident?
Stars: Anna Friel, Marc Warren, Barnaby Kay, Olivia Poulet
Votes: 663
46. The Dressmaker (I) (2015)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Drama, Western
A glamorous woman returns to her small town in rural Australia. With her sewing machine and haute couture style, she transforms the women and exacts sweet revenge on those who did her wrong.
Director: Jocelyn Moorhouse | Stars: Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 65,317 | Gross: $2.02M
Kate Winslet nails it again with a fantastic, all-star Aussie cast including Hugo Weaving as the cross-dressing policeman. Jocelyn Moorhouse (Proof) directing. Lots of folks say they didn't get it, but pay no attention to those morons-- if you have a wicked sense of humor and an appreciation for sweet revenge, this film will make you laugh and cry and laugh again.
47. Confirmation (2016 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 110 min | Biography, Drama, History
Judge Clarence Thomas' nomination to the United States Supreme Court is called into question when Anita Hill, a former colleague, testifies that he sexually harassed her.
Director: Rick Famuyiwa | Stars: Kerry Washington, Wendell Pierce, Greg Kinnear, Jeffrey Wright
Votes: 5,601
48. Maleficent (2014)
PG | 97 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A vengeful fairy is driven to curse an infant princess, only to discover that the child could be the one person who can restore peace to their troubled land.
Director: Robert Stromberg | Stars: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Lesley Manville
Votes: 400,126 | Gross: $241.41M
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