The recent announcement of the results of two polls – one conducted by the BBC asking a bunch of critics for their favourite films directed women, won by Jane Campion’s The Piano, the other Sight & Sound’s annual look at the films of the year, won by Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir – got me thinking about my own favourite movies directed by women. Initially I thought I’d try to compile a top ten for myself, but that proved far too difficult, so in the end I opted for a list of 50, which felt about right as long as I could limit each director to one film only. To keep to that number, however, I also felt I should exclude documentaries and shorts (thus rendering ineligible such great movies as Shirley Clarke’s Portrait of Jason and Forugh Farrokhzad’s The House, not to mention some of the finest work by Agnès Varda, pictured above). Even then, I ended up feeling regret at having to leave out some other favourites. Then too, of course, there were titles that simply slipped my mind, and still others that for one reason or another I haven’t yet seen. So apologies if some of your own favourite films or filmmakers don’t appear. For better or worse, this list is mine, with all the pros and cons conferred by subjective viewing experience, taste and opinion. Moreover, since I published this list, a reader pointed to the regrettable omission of Elaine May’s Mikey and Nicky – a wonderful movie I confess simply slipped my mind. But then maybe I would have chosen May’s superb A New Leaf instead. We all make mistakes; I certainly do, all the time.
Whatever, the list is posted not as an antidote to the BBC poll but simply as a reminder that there are a great many other terrific films by women not mentioned on the BBC list. If you’re interested in movies made by women – and why wouldn’t you be? – the alphabetically ordered list below is, perhaps, a resource for further research. I haven’t checked which of the titles below are available on one platform or another (and some of them, I confess, I haven’t seen for many years), but most, I hope, you should be able to find with a little effort. Finally, if by any chance you’re wondering whether I have an absolute favourite among the 50, all I can say is that any number-one film would probably change on a daily basis. So I won’t proffer one.
All Is Well Eva Trobisch, 2018, Germany
Angels Wear White Vivian Qu, 2017. China
The Apple Samira Makhmalbaf, 1998, Iran
The Ascent Larisa Shepitko, 1977, Russia
Beau Travail Claire Denis, 1999, France
The Bigamist Ida Lupino, 1953, USA
Black Shack Alley Euzhan Palcy, 1983, Martinique-France
Blue Car Karen Moncrieff, 2002, USA
Boys Don’t Cry Kimberley Peirce, 1999, USA
The Boys Next Door Penelope Spheeris, 1985, USA
Capernaum Nadine Labaki, 2018, Lebanon
La Captive Chantal Akerman, 2000, France-Belgium
Cléo de 5 à 7 Agnès Varda, 1961, France
Clueless Amy Heckerling, 1995, USA
Daisies Vera Chytilova, 1966, Czechoslovakia
Dance, Girl, Dance Dorothy Arzner, 1940, USA
Faithless Liv Ullmann, 2000, Sweden
La Fiançée du pirate Nelly Kaplan, 1969, France
Flowers from Another World Icíar Bollaín, 1999, Spain
Free Radicals Barbara Albert, 2003, Austria
Girl Friends Claudia Weill, 1978, USA
Gisela Isabelle Stever, 2005, Germany
Happy as Lazzaro Alice Rohrwacher, 2018, Italy
The Headless Woman Lucrecia Martel, 2008, Argentina
Hour of the Star Suzana Amaral, 1982, Brazil
The Hurt Locker Kathryn Bigelow, 2008, USA
Lifelong Asli Özge, 2013, Turkey
Lourdes Jessica Hausner, 2009, France-Austria
Meek’s Cutoff Kelly Reichardt, 2010, USA
Mug Malgorzata Szumowska, 2018, Poland
À ma soeur! Catherine Breillat, 2001, France
Reinventing Marvin Anne Fontaine, 2017, France
Rien à faire Marion Vernoux, 1999, France
The Selfish Giant Clio Barnard, 2013, GB
Shock Waves: Diary of My Mind Ursula Meier, 2018, Switzerland
Shoes Lois Weber, 1916, USA
The Silences of the Palace Moufida Tlatli, 1994, Tunisia
The Souvenir Joanna Hogg, 2019, GB
Sweetie Jane Campion, 1989, Australia
Things to Come Mia Hansen-Løve, 2016, France
Toni Erdmann Maren Ade, 2016, Germany
Walking and Talking Nicole Holofcener, 1996, USA
Wanda Barbara Loden, 1970, USA
Water Lilies Céline Sciamma, 2007, France
We Don’t Want to Talk About It Maria-Luisa Bermberg, Argentina, 1993
Western Valeska Grisebach, 2017, Germany-Bulgaria
Will It Snow for Christmas? Sandrine Veysset, 1996, France
Winter’s Bone Debra Granik, 2010, USA
Yes Sally Potter, 2004, GB
You Were Never Really There Lynne Ramsay, 2017, UK-USA
You can check out the BBC and Sight & Sound polls online. Mark Cousins’ documentary celebrating women filmmakers (in, I’m sure, considerably more detail and after far more extensive research than I have been able to conduct) will be released next year.
notes and observations by Geoff Andrew 