Women’s History Month is an annual observance that is dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the achievements and lasting impact of women throughout history. Film is one of the most powerful ways to tell a story, offering audiences a chance to experience women’s perspectives, struggles, and triumphs across different time periods and cultures. Watching films directed by women or centered on female experiences can deepen our understanding of the emotional and historical realities women have faced. Whether through stories of grief, ambition, creativity, or resistance, these 5 films highlight the complexity and strength of female characters while celebrating the voices behind the scenes who bring them to life.Â
- Hamnet (2025)Â
- Hamnet is a biographical drama adapting Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, which is about the 16th century marriage of Agnes and William Shakespeare. The film focuses on their relationship, familial life, and devastating grief following the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. The film is directed by Chloe Zhao, and she provides a female directorial perspective on a story about a woman’s experience with profound loss and endurance.
- Petite Maman (2021)
- Petite Maman is a French fantasy-drama directed by Celine Sciamma. It follows 8-year-old Nelly, who meets Marion, a young version of her mother, while grieving her grandmother. The film focuses on empathy, feelings of grief, childhood memories, and complex mother-daughter relationships. The story is praised for its quiet, emotional, and visually poetic approach to storytelling, and is frequently recommended as a must-watch film for Women’s History Month.Â
- Wuthering Heights (2011)Â
- Andrea Arnold’s 2011 adaptation of Wuthering Heights is a raw, sensory, and visceral retelling of Emily Brontë’s novel that specifically focuses on the childhood and adolescence of Heathcliff and Catherine. Heathcliff forms a deep, passionate, and elemental connection with Catherine as they wander the moors together. Catherine, loving Heathcliff, chooses her social status and marries the wealthy Edgar Linton. This causes Heathcliff to disappear and return years later as a changed, wealthy man to take revenge on Catherine and Edgar. The film highlights the suffocating limitations placed upon women in that era, focusing specifically on the “cold-stone realities” of survival and patriarchal control.Â
- Julie & Julia (2009)Â
- Julie and Julia is a biographical comedy-drama that intertwines the lives of legendary chef Julia Child in 1949 Paris with aspiring blogger Julie Powell in 2002 NYC. The film explores themes of female autonomy, the support of family and friends, and the therapeutic power of food, highlighting how both women use culinary arts to transform their lives.Â
- Little Women (2019)
- Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of Little Women is a non-linear coming-of-age drama that follows the four March sisters: Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth in post-Civil War Massachusetts. The film focuses on their struggles with love, art, poverty, and societal expectations of women in this era. The story moves between childhood and adulthood, contrasting their youthful innocence with the harsh realities of growing up and moving on. This adaptation is celebrated for making the characters feel more modern, focusing on their desires to be someone and walk away from patriarchal society, but still emphasising that just because your dreams are different from others does not mean that they are unimportant.Â
Together, these films demonstrate the many different ways women’s stories can be told. From the intimate mother-daughter connection in Petite Maman to the creative determination of Julie & Julia and the timeless struggles portrayed in Little Women, each film highlights a different facet of women’s experiences across generations. Taking the time to watch and reflect on these narratives is one small but very meaningful way to appreciate the voices and contributions of women.