When they say girlhood is a spectrum, this watchlist of female directed movies is what they mean
Alexa cue, “I’m just a girl…”
Girl math, girl dinner, behen code aren’t just pop culture neologisms lighting up our feeds and appearing in chats with our girlfriends. They’re emotions and shared experiences that bind women together, like the weirdness of period poop, the universal dread of navigating the dating pool, or the anxiety of puberty, first loves and that ever-raging battle with your mummy dearest. Girlhood is an intricate dance of conflicting feelings, shifting emotions, and relentless overthinking — the depths of which only another woman could ever truly comprehend.
Case in point: these growing pains were recently most tenderly captured by director Shuchi Talati in her much (and rightly) praised debut feature, Girls Will Be Girls. The coming-of-age tale follows teenager Mira Kishore who tries to balance academic pressures and a budding romance, while trying to fight off her mother’s increasing involvement in her life. The film explores themes of sexual awakening, mother-daughter dynamics and a teenager’s struggle to navigate her identity in a world trying to force one on her. It’s so relatable and raw that it almost feels like watching an action replay of your own teenage years.
This is what happens when women step behind the camera to bring to life stories of the female experience — their work often feels like an all-seeing mirror. Whether it’s going to impossible lengths for love, grappling with the complexities of motherhood, or clinging to the youth and beauty society has relentlessly sold us as our prime assets, these stories hit close to home.
We’ve rounded up nine recent movies by female directors that capture the diverse facets of womanhood from an intimate lens. These stories will make you laugh, cry, and most of all, feel seen.
9 movies by female directors that should be on your watchlist
Janet Planet, 2023
If you also feel like you live on planet mom 90 per cent of the time, then Annie Baker’s debut film, Janet Planet, will feel relatable. The film follows 11-year-old Lacy, who lives in Massachusetts with her single, acupuncturist mom Janet, and shares a close bond with her. Told from the perspective of Lacy, the film portrays how her world revolves entirely around her mom and how she perceives Janet’s life choices and decisions — such as her tendency to date men who aren’t right for her. The plot is a beautiful depiction of the close yet complex relationship between mothers and daughters. Baker, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2014 for her play The Flick, grew up in rural Massachusetts with a single mother, making the subject and story of this film extremely personal to her own experience.
The Substance, 2024
If you think wrinkles are the only terrifying part of ageing, think again. Demi Moore stars as a former Hollywood star Elisabeth Sparkle in this body horror that is like a scary commercial for anti-ageing creams. After getting fired from her TV aerobics show on her 50th birthday, Elisabeth’s despair leads her to a mysterious serum that creates a younger version of herself, Sue, who emerges from her back (we’re just as shocked!). Sharing one body, Elisabeth and Sue must switch every seven days in order to enjoy this second youth and keep Elisabeth from ageing even faster. But when their connection deteriorates and Sue begins to thrive in the spotlight, things get much worse for Elisabeth and her body than she’d ever imagined.
Director Coralie Fargeat, who won the award for best screenplay at Cannes 2024 for The Substance, said she wanted to make the film to show that a woman should be looked at for what she does and not her beauty or youth. Moore’s excellent performance even bagged her the Golden Globe award for Best Female Actor this year.
Lisa Frankenstein, 2024
For fans of gore, horror and all things freaky, director Zelda Williams’ romantic horror-comedy debut will be a treat. Set in 1989, the story follows Lisa Swallows, a misunderstood teen dealing with trauma of her mother’s murder, struggling to fit in at school. After a lightning strike at a cemetery reanimates a Victorian-era pianist who is lovesick for Lisa, who spends a lot of time talking to the zombie’s grave, Lisa’s life spirals into darkly comedic chaos.
Williams, who is the daughter of late Hollywood legend Robin Williams, combines her love for practical effects (special effects that are created physically on set without CGI or other post-production techniques) and ’80s horror and comedy, to create this labour of freaky love. If you loved Jennifer’s Body, we have no doubt Lisa Frankenstein will be right up your alley too.
The Children’s Train, 2024
Based on the novel of the same name by Viola Ardone, The Children’s Train transports you to 1946, to the aftermath of World War II in Italy. It follows the life of seven-year-old Amerigo from impoverished Naples, who is sent to northern Italy through the treni della felicità (trains of happiness) initiative, which offered southern children better living conditions with northern families. Taken in by Derna, a former partisan, Amerigo discovers music and a new way of life while grappling with homesickness, bullying and a strained relationship with his mother.
The film delves into different aspects of motherhood, and how childhood experiences can follow people into their adulthood. The Italian language movie is directed as well as co-written by Cristina Comencini, who has previously been nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006 for her movie La Bestia nel Cuore (Don’t Tell).
All We Imagine as Light, 2024
The Malayalam language movie that won the Grand Prix at the 77th Cannes Film Festival is finally available for streaming and Payal Kapadia’s masterpiece is a must-watch. All We Imagine as Light follows Malayali nurses Prabha and Anu navigating friendship, love and urban life in Mumbai. Prabha, an uptight and moralistic woman, is longing for her estranged husband who is apparently living in Germany. Carefree Anu is keeping her relationship with a Muslim man, a secret from everyone. When Anu and Prabha journey to Ratnagiri to help an older colleague Parvaty relocate after facing eviction from her Mumbai home, both women undergo self-reflection on their identity, intimacy and what home really means to them.
All We Imagine as Light is woven with threads of different stories that Kapadia heard and shared over the years, be it the conversations she had with the nurse who was hired to care for her nani or observing the life of migrants in Mumbai. Kapadia showcases the non-glamorous side of the city with this movie, highlighting social isolation, loneliness and the feeling of being displaced from your home.
MyLek, 2024
Another mother-daughter story, this Marathi language film, directed by Priyanka Tanwar will tug at your heartstrings and make you want to go and hug ma. The plot follows Sharvari, a single mother in London, balancing her dream of opening a Maharashtrian restaurant while raising her 13-year-old daughter, Myra. While Sharvari struggles with getting her dreams off the ground, Myra battles adolescence, endometriosis and striving to meet her mother’s athletic aspirations for her. This light-hearted movie by Tanwar is a beautiful depiction of single motherhood, in all its messy yet comforting glory. The narrative often feels like a mirror to your own teenage years complete with the self-talk that comes along with being an adolescent.
Watch it on Amazon Prime Video
In Her Place, 2024
Who said murder only leads to dark places? In this case, it leads to illuminating lessons in self-discovery and breaking free from the shackles of patriarchy. This Spanish historical crime drama is based on the true story of writer María Carolina Geel, who in 1955 killed her lover at the Crillón Hotel. In Her Place, follows Mercedes a shy legal secretary who works for the judge assigned to Geel’s case and becomes captivated by Geel’s trial. As Mercedes becomes engrossed in María Carolina’s defiance of societal norms, she begins questioning her own identity and desires.
The plot progresses as Mercedes begins identifying with Geel’s experiences as a woman in society, pushing her to reclaim her autonomy and identity in a patriarchal society. The movie is directed by Maite Alberdi whose 2020 film The Mole Agent was the first Chilean documentary film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
My Old Ass, 2024
If you could give your 18-year-old self some advice, what would it be? Director Megan Park attempts to answer that very question in My Old Ass, a humorous but touching coming-of-age film. After drinking mushroom tea during a camping trip to celebrate her 18th birthday, Elliot meets her future self, who warns her about life choices, including a boy named Chad, who complicates her understanding of love and identity. How older Eliott’s advice and warnings affect the 18-year-old Eliott’s experience of life forms the rest of the plot. The story blends humour with important messages about knowing yourself and living in the moment.
With My Old Ass, Park, who’s known for her film The Fallout starring Jenna Ortega, wanted to make a movie that was nostalgic and uplifting. She wanted people to step into the summers of their youth and take a stroll down memory lane, something that she successfully achieves with the narrative and direction of the film.
Stream it on Amazon Prime Video
Tuesday, 2024
If you need a good cry, consider streaming Tuesday. Directed by award-winning Croatian filmmaker Daina Oniunas-Pusić, Tuesday is a fantasy drama set in London. The film follows a terminally ill 15-year-old, Tuesday, as she faces her last days, while her mother Zora struggles with denial and grief. The story takes a surreal turn when a shape-shifting macaw, representing Death, visits Tuesday to take her soul. As Zora desperately tries to stop the inevitable, she and Tuesday embark on a journey of acceptance, winding through sadness, love and eventually closure. By giving death the shape of a parrot and Tuesday’s friendly and empathetic approach to her impending fate, Pusić adds a surreal layer to the otherwise deeply heavy subject of the film. The film intends to break down the messy emotions surrounding loss and grief into parts of life that simply need to be accepted.
