As film director Bong Joon Ho said at the 2020 Golden Globes, “Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.”
From the coast of Zanzibar to metropolitan Madrid, you can now immerse yourself in a completely new culture without leaving your home.
If you’re looking for a new TV series with empowering female characters and a unique culture, then look no further. These five shows are all set in various countries across the globe. Although they’re all in different languages, they do have a common theme: a fierce, well-developed female protagonist.
In today’s day and age, female representation often falls short, and studios fail to flesh out their female characters properly. It’s crucial that we elevate shows that are actively doing their part to bring diverse female voices to the film industry.
Here are five foreign-language TV shows that feature strong female leads.
1. The Exchange
Netflix’s first-ever original series from Kuwait takes place in 1987 and is based on the true story of two ambitious Arab women.
The show follows Munira, the first woman to work for the Bank of Tomorrow’s trading division and her cousin Farida, a recent divorcee who is in need of cash to support herself and her daughter without the help of a man. The cousins band together to navigate the patriarchal world and break the glass ceiling in the stock exchange.
The series is entirely spoken in Arabic and co-written by two women.
2. Queen Sono
Another first for Netflix, Queen Sono is their first African original series, taking place all over southwestern Africa.
The series follows Queen Sono, an undercover agent for South Africa’s Special Operations Group, as she seeks to take down the person behind the death of her mother, Safiya Sono, an anti-apartheid revolutionary. Over a dozen languages are spoken in this action-packed series filled with espionage, drama and a cutthroat female lead who performs her own stunts.
3. Cable Girls
Four young women, each fighting their own battle, meet at the National Telephone Company in Madrid, Spain, while vying for a job as a cable girl (a telephone operator).
This coveted job was the only way for these women to achieve their own sense of freedom at a time when misogyny was rampant. Flappers, murder, art deco, stolen identities, and theft are prominent themes in this Spanish telenovela. It also works to tackle issues such as domestic violence, female independence and toxic masculinity.
4. Midnight at the Pera Palace
A time travel mystery occurring right before the Turkish War of Independence, Midnight at the Pera Palace follows the story of a woman thrust into the past.
Esra, a journalist in Istanbul, is a not-so-great employee who is forced to write an article on the iconic Pera Palace. During her visit, she accidentally travels back in time to the Pera Palace in 1919. She must assume the identity, manners and role of a wealthy upperclasswoman that she indirectly murders.
At the same time, she is working to unravel a plot to kill Ataturk, the future founding father of Turkey. In this fantastical retelling of Turkish history, a woman is the one who saves Ataturk from assassination.
5. Girls From Ipanema
The beach, bossa nova music, and women’s rights go hand in hand in this Brazilian 1950s drama.
When Maria Luiza (Malu), a rich housewife, is cheated on and stolen from by her husband, she decides to channel her heartbreak into a thriving business. She opens a music club in the same space she and her husband planned to start a restaurant.
The plot revolves around the life of Malu and three of her friends, all fighting for their dreams. Lígia, a singer at her club, must sneak out of her house as her abusive husband bars her from performing. Adélia, a single Black mother, quits her job with a racist boss to join Malu as a business partner. Thereza, a writer for a women’s magazine, struggles to change the system as the only woman on the team.
The four female characters teach significant lessons about the cost of true freedom in a sexist and patriarchal world.
If you hope to expand your TV list outside the English language, these five foreign-language shows are a great place to start. Each offers a distinct cultural perspective alongside a stellar female lead.