Beyond just being helmed by women, these films also centre a female perspective.

Hollywood is still very much a male-dominated space. While strides are being made towards gender parity, there is still a long way to go before we see equal representation. According to The Celluloid Ceiling, an annual report by Dr Martha M Lauzen of the San Diego State University’s Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film, women accounted for 16% of directors working on the 250 top-grossing movies of 2023. This International Women’s Day, we celebrate some of the year’s best movies directed by women, in the hope that there will be space for more women behind the camera in the years to come.

Past Lives

© A24

One of the most acclaimed movies of 2023, Past Lives is a plot-light but emotion-heavy drama about asking yourself the question, “What if?”. The movie, about a Korean immigrant who is married to an American man and reconnects with her childhood sweetheart, is partially drawn from writer-director Celine Song’s real life, and grapples with ideas of fate.

Song tells Jezebel: “[The movie is] about that moment where I was sitting between my childhood sweetheart and my husband, and it really was about this feeling of being able to transverse a kind of space like that in that moment.” The film the synthesis of her experiences as a woman, as an immigrant, and an artist. Despite – or maybe because of – its cultural and era specificity, it possesses a wide and universal appeal.

Barbie

© 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

The highest-grossing film of 2023 is also the highest-grossing film to ever be directed by a woman. Greta Gerwig ascended to the Hollywood big leagues with Barbie, a movie that garnered critical acclaim and sustained a worldwide cultural conversation. Barbie dolls themselves have long been controversial – while they have been criticised for presenting unrealistic beauty standards to young girls, they are also acknowledged for serving as aspirational figures for them, depicting a wide range of professions that women can enter. The movie directly reckons with the public perception of the Barbie brand. “It most certainly is a feminist film,” Gerwig tells ABC. “It’s… diving into the complexity of [the Barbie legacy] and not running away from it.” she adds.

While some have called the movie preachy, many have praised it for packaging its important themes in a fun, accessible way.

The Marvels

© 2024 MARVEL

In 2019, Captain Marvel became the first superhero movie led by a woman to make over a billion dollars at the box office. This sequel features a team up between Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Kamala Khan/Ms Marvel (Iman Vellani), and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). When their powers become entangled, the three women must cooperate to stop a cosmic threat. Nia DaCosta, who was 31 at the time of making the film, became the youngest person and first Black woman to direct a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.

“These three women are basically like sisters: Carol’s the oldest, Kamala’s the youngest and Monica is in the middle,” DaCosta tells Variety. “[Carol] thinks she’s the only thing holding everything together, which is a story that a lot of women can relate to.” DaCosta adds.

Priscilla

© 2024 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Priscilla Presley, the wife of Elvis Presley, often plays second fiddle to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll in movies about their relationship. But this one, based on her autobiography Elvis and Me, places her perspective front and centre. Writer-director Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, Somewhere) has never been someone who makes explicitly feminist films, but in highlighting the perspectives of female characters who are often lonely, her films feel radical in their quiet way.

“I really just wanted to show this experience through [Priscilla’s] eyes, and then let the audience take it in however it affects them,” Coppola tells Deadline about Priscilla, which stars Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi. “It’s tricky, because you don’t want to be condoning things, but I thought her experience was unique and interesting enough just to present,” she adds, referring to the couple’s controversial relationship.

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret

© 2024 Lions Gate Films Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Judy Blume’s iconic 1970 novel Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret has resonated with many over the decades for dealing with topics such friendship and religion in a heartfelt yet frank way. Its approach scandalised people at that time, but many have come to embrace the story, and many mothers have passed the book on to their daughters.

The now-85-year-old Blume was famously protective over Margaret, resisting attempts to adapt the novel into a film for decades until being won over by writer-director Kelly Fremon-Craig after watching the latter’s critically acclaimed coming-of-age movie The Edge of Seventeen. Fremon-Craig’s big-screen adaptation retains the warmth and honesty of the book, and is the cinematic equivalent of receiving a big hug.

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