The 20 Best Movies Directed by Women

Across four decades and nearly every genre — gut-punch war dramas, candy-colored teen comedies, slow-burn arthouse romances, even a blockbuster or two — these are the films that prove the director's chair was always theirs. Which one tops your list?

1

The Hurt Locker

Kathryn Bigelow's tense 2008 Iraq War thriller about a reckless bomb-disposal expert, which made her the first woman to win the Best Director Oscar.

1000pts

2

The Babadook

Jennifer Kent's 2014 Australian psychological horror about a grieving mother haunted by a storybook monster.

785pts

3

Lost in Translation

Sofia Coppola's 2003 melancholic comedy about two Americans forming an unlikely bond in a Tokyo hotel.

635pts

4

Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi's 2007 animated coming-of-age film about a girl growing up during the Iranian Revolution.

635pts

5

Past Lives

Celine Song's 2023 romantic drama about two childhood friends reconnecting decades after one emigrated from Korea.

603pts

6

Big

Penny Marshall's 1988 fantasy comedy about a boy who wakes up in a grown man's body, the first film by a woman to gross over $100 million.

603pts

7

Selma

Ava DuVernay's 2014 historical drama chronicling Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1965 voting-rights march.

603pts

8

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Celine Sciamma's 2019 French romance about a painter and her subject falling in love on an isolated island.

603pts

9

Daughters of the Dust

Julie Dash's lyrical 1991 film about a Gullah family at the turn of the century, the first by a Black woman to get U.S. theatrical release.

603pts

10

Boys Don't Cry

Kimberly Peirce's 1999 drama based on the true story of trans man Brandon Teena, earning Hilary Swank an Oscar.

603pts

11

Wonder Woman

Patty Jenkins's 2017 superhero blockbuster about the Amazonian warrior Diana entering the world of men during WWI.

568pts

12

American Psycho

Mary Harron's 2000 satirical horror about a wealthy Wall Street banker leading a murderous double life.

568pts

13

The Piano

Jane Campion's 1993 Palme d'Or-winning period drama about a mute Scottish woman and her piano in colonial New Zealand.

528pts

14

Fish Tank

Andrea Arnold's 2009 British drama about a volatile teenage girl on an Essex housing estate.

528pts

15

Clueless

Amy Heckerling's 1995 teen comedy reimagining of Jane Austen's Emma in Beverly Hills high school.

483pts

16

Lady Bird

Greta Gerwig's 2017 coming-of-age film about a strong-willed Sacramento teenager and her mother.

483pts

17

Winter's Bone

Debra Granik's 2010 Ozarks drama about a teenage girl searching for her father to save her family's home.

483pts

18

Nomadland

Chloe Zhao's 2020 Best Picture winner following a woman living as a modern-day nomad across the American West.

431pts

19

The Farewell

Lulu Wang's 2019 dramedy about a family hiding a terminal diagnosis from their beloved grandmother.

431pts

20

Promising Young Woman

Emerald Fennell's 2020 revenge thriller about a woman avenging a trauma from her past.

431pts