What are movies without women?
This question might elicit some sexist answers. For decades, female characters have been limited to romantic interests, jealous girlfriends, and crazy women proclaiming their love for a man who couldn’t care less but was still the “hero of her heart” or the quintessential “knight in shining armor.” Women in films have come a long way, but still have a long way to go.
Nevertheless, a few films spanning decades, geographies, and languages showcase women’s lives as they are—human. Without trying to convince the world anymore of what it means for women to be treated as human beings, we delve into 10 movies that you should check out to learn how the world’s “second-class citizens” have lived, survived, and thrived through the ages.
Gaslight (1944)
The psychological term ‘gaslighting’ is said to have originated from this classic Ingrid Bergman film. Bergman plays Paula Alquist, a woman convinced by her husband of her insanity, which leads her to doubt her own experiences. This film is a remake of the 1940 British film of the same name, where a man convinces his wife that she is insane and then uses her supposed insanity to hide his criminal activities.
In this George Cukor directorial, Paula is slowly and steadily convinced of her mental degradation when she comes to live in the house of her murdered aunt Alice. Her husband Gregory (Charles Boyer) convinces not just her but everyone around her of her insanity and successfully isolates her, a tactic since associated with narcissist abusers.
Gaslight is now a cult classic, opening doors to understanding the relationship and marital abuse women experience at the hands of men they love. This manipulative tactic has since been studied extensively to understand society’s denial of women’s realities and systematic abuse, especially in a marriage. Watch it to know how subtle yet lethal gaslighting can be.
All About Eve (1950)
Bette Davis shines in his classic film about an aging actress, Margo, who befriends a young, aspiring actress hired as her assistant. Unfortunately, this young woman, Eve (Anne Baxter), soon takes over Margo’s career to establish her own. Her manipulations are caught later, but not before her schemes expose Hollywood’s and Broadway’s fixation with younger actresses. Instead of letting herself get caught in the web of using glamorized ideals of beauty and youthfulness for success, Margo chooses to step away from it.
The film is layered, complex, and on-your-face about the systemic exploitation of women actors in showbiz. All About Eve originated in an anecdote published by Mary Orr as a short story called The Wisdom of Eve. The film supposedly revived Bette Davis’s career and re-established her as a Hollywood icon. It has since achieved a cult status, inspiring many films over decades and becoming a famous pop culture reference.
You can also spot a young and relatively new Marilyn Monroe in the movie.
Mother India (1957)
A cult Hindi classic film celebrating the resilience of a poor yet ingenious woman, Mother India portrays the hardships of Radha (Nargis), a poor woman caught in the deceitful web of a lusty and powerful moneylender, Lala (Kanhaiya Lal). Forced to give up three-quarters of their crop to Lala to pay off his money, Radha and her family are crushed under his tyranny. Her husband Shamu (Raaj Kumar) abandons the family after he is incapacitated, while Radha is left to fend for her kids all by herself. Years later, her son Birju (Sunil Dutt) resorts to dacoity to extract revenge from Lala. To prevent him from kidnapping Lala’s daughter, Radha shoots him, thereby killing her son.
One of the most expensive films made for the time, Mother India is a post-independence film deeply rooted in nationalism. It strives to showcase Indian women as a symbol of resistance and sacrifice. Mother India was also the first Indian film nominated for the Academy Awards in 1958.
Trivia: The movie’s mother-son duo married in real life. Reportedly, a fire accident on the sets of Mother India was the starting point of the love story between actors Sunil Dutt and Nargis when he saved her from the flames.
Anthuleni Katha (1976)
This K Balachander directorial was made in Tamil and Telugu and remains a cult classic. The story revolves around a headstrong, tough-on-the-outside woman, Saritha (Jaya Prada), who takes charge of the family after her father abandons them. She is forced to work to fend for her mother, two sisters, a visually impaired younger brother, and an alcoholic brother. Unable to marry her lover because of familial responsibilities, she arranges for him to marry one of her sisters. When she sees her alcoholic brother Murthy (Rajnikanth) mending his ways, she accepts her employer’s proposal, Arun Ghosh (Kamal Haasan). But fate has something else in store when a murder causes her to sacrifice her life yet again.
Anthuleni Katha is a powerful depiction of the eldest daughter’s struggle to provide for her family while maintaining her sanity in a patriarchal world. Despite her family’s indifference to her sacrifice, she continues to take responsibility while letting her life pass by. Released during a time of gender bias and sex-selective pregnancies in India, Anthuleni Katha served as a reminder of a daughter’s capacity to be the head of the family and take care of them, attributes commonly associated with a son.
Arth (1982)
A radical movie for its times, Arth has since attained cult status as a film celebrating the emancipation of a married woman stuck in a moral rut and an identity crisis after being abandoned by her husband for another woman. Starring many of the best of Indian cinema – Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, and Raj Kiran – Arth was labeled an ‘arthouse’ film and, hence, had a niche audience at the time. However, its themes of infidelity, identity crisis, love and relationships, and a woman’s resolve to search for her identity beyond marriage and romance have since resonated with women across age groups.
Arth is believed to be a semi-autobiographical movie about its writer-director Mahesh Bhatt’s real-life relationship with actor Parveen Babi. The movie has been a part of film studies worldwide, including at The University of Iowa.
The Color Purple (1985)
An adaptation of Alice Walker’s book of the same name, The Color Purple, is a brutal yet honest take on the lives of Black women, their everyday struggles of existence, and the abuse they suffer at the hands of white folks as well as their men. The movie follows the life of Celie Harris (Whoopi Goldberg), who is subjected to incest, sexism, sexual abuse, violence, and domestic abuse at the hands of her stepfather and husband. She soon meets two seemingly strong women, Sofia (Oprah Winfrey) and Shug Avery (Margaret Avery). Separated from her children and sister Nettie (Akosua Busia), Celie longs for a life beyond suffering and prolonged abuse. The film showcases the long-term impact of child sex abuse and society’s continuous abhorration of strong-willed, independent women.
The Color Purple was directed by Steven Spielberg, who was initially hesitant to explore a story based on the Deep South and felt a director of color should direct this film. Additionally, author Alice Walker was unhappy with Hollywood’s treatment of African-American characters and initially resisted an adaptation. The film was also controversial for its subtle themes of homosexuality between Celie and Shug Avery. Nonetheless, The Color Purple is regarded as one of the finest feminist films and inspired a 2023 adaptation.
Steel Magnolias (1989)
A light-hearted yet thought-provoking film about sisterhood and solidarity, Steel Magnolias has remained a favorite among women across age groups worldwide. A group of women in a small Louisiana town share a remarkable bond despite their differences and deal with a patriarchal society in their unapologetic way. Things take a tragic turn when they lose one of their own, Shelby (Julia Roberts), to complications from type 1 diabetes. Starring Dolly Parton, Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, and Olympia Dukakis, Steel Magnolias has attained a cult status and remains one of the most endearing movies on sisterhood and grief and solidarity.
Trivia: The character of Shelby was based on screenplay writer Robert Harling’s sister, Susan, who died in 1985 from complications arising out of type 1 diabetes. The film was based on a play of the same name by Harling in an attempt to come to terms with his sister’s untimely demise.
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon will forever be remembered for their indomitable performance in this epic road thriller. Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon) are on the run from the law (and their emotionally absent men) after they kill a rapist. Since the women have no evidence of the crime, they flee, fearing police prosecution. The film follows a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase with guns, explosions, and two women choosing their independence above all else. An on-your-face take on casual sexism, women’s freedom and social space, Thelma & Louise is an intense depiction of women’s liberation, rejection of sexist double standards, and a commentary on the justice system, where survivors of sexual violence are often prosecuted and criminalized more than the perpetrator.
The film’s climax has been the hallmark of road thrillers since 1991. It inspired many similar scenes in movies with cars flying off the cliffs. Brad Pitt also plays a minor yet significant role in the film.
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017)
It would still be hard for people to imagine that the inventor of Wifi and Bluetooth was a beautiful actress called Hedy Lamarr. Born during a time of Nazism reigning supreme, Lamarr ultimately ran away from the fascist regime and became a Hollywood actress in the 1940s. However, her acting job did not deter her from inventions. She co-invented a radio guidance system during World War II, among other technologies. The documentary Bombshell explores Lamarr’s life as an inventor, her trials and tribulations as a revolutionary woman courageous enough to run (literally) from a bad marriage, and her contributions to humanity via science and technology.
Hedy Lamarr is now known as the ‘mother of wifi.’ Her collaboration with fellow innovator and film producer Howard Hughes proved to be a game-changer in wireless communication. She received a patent for ‘frequency hopping’ that could prevent secret messages from being intercepted. She donated this technology to the US military to help fight the Nazis.
Persepolis (2007)
Based on Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel of the same name, Persepolis is a French animated film chronicling the life of a young Iranian woman, Marji, against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The film is presented in black-and-white, precisely like the graphic novel. It follows a recap of Marji’s struggles while fighting for her right to survive in Iran and Vienna amid religious prosecution and curtailing of women’s rights. She endures expulsion from a Catholic school, wears Western clothes, and buys Western music despite the ban, thus risking arrest and battling homelessness in a foreign country. Persepolis chronicles her journey and eventual exile to Paris.
Author Marjane Satrapi has laid bare her experience in the book, and the movie adaptation closely follows her autobiography. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 80th Academy Awards, making Satrapi the first woman to be nominated in the category. Unfortunately, Satrapi lives in exile in Paris, away from her family in Iran. Persepolis has faced heavy prosecution and controversies in Iran and Tunisia and was initially banned in Lebanon. It is now available on streaming apps.
List Courtesy of Neha Jha
Feature Image Credit from ‘All About Eve’ from 20th Century Fox via TCM