osprey_archer | Female Friendship Movies

I have complained before about the “movies about female friendship” lists on the internet - why do they rec movies where the friendship isn’t very prominent? And also, why do the movies so often seem to be about the friendship’s destruction? Or at least end with someone dying of cancer? - and at last in conversation with

artemis_wandering I came to the obvious conclusion: I ought to write my own list.

Reader, this list got quite long. It became so unmanageable that I have decided that I had better break it into sublists. Current possible lists:

Children’s Movies. This list has a subset for movies about sisters, which I waffled about, because technically that’s quite a different thing… but ultimately it seemed impossible to make a list of movies about female friendship & not include My Neighbor Totoro, or for that matter The Parent Trap.

I still haven’t seen the original version, by the by. Perhaps I ought to get around to that.

Foreign Films

Movies with a Good Friendship Subplot

Southern Friendship Movies. Steel Magnolias ought by all rights to go here, but if I take it off the 80s list, then I only have two 80s movies and that’s not really a list anymore… I suppose the right thing to do is watch more 80s movies about female friendship. Any suggestions?

80s Movies currently contains Beaches and 9 to 5.

I also need suggestions for Older Movies, which is everything pre-1980. Currently this list contains Calamity Jane.

I suppose the original Parent Trap could go here, if I watch it and like it… And perhaps The Trouble with Angels, although it has been a loooong time since I’ve seen it and I would need to rewatch it, I think.

And then there’s the grab-bag list of all the movies that didn’t fit on any of the other lists. It seems like quite enough lists to be getting on with!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

thisbluespirit

It sounds like a good project! Mightn't it be better to keep with the topics and then put all films under them but indicate the year, and then you wouldn't need the older categories, and it might be more useful for finding things. People who don't like older stuff can see the date, while people who want X topic aren't going to miss it because it happened to come out in the 80s or earlier.

From:

osprey_archer

I tend to think of older movies as sort of a fandom in themselves, honestly - I have met people who just will. not. watch. black and white movies and I find this baffling, but you do you, weird people who don't like older movies, you do you.

However, eighties movies might be too recent to fall into this category? Hmm. In any case, if I don't find more movies to go into the older movie category, this will be a moot point...

I do like the idea of thematic organization, though - I was thinking about having a category for films with friendships between older women, although that would definitely overlap some of the other categories. Must contemplate how many times I would want to repeat one movie on multiple lists.

From:

thisbluespirit

I get that, but (having compiled unwisely epic online lists myself, if not for films) it's easy enough to put the year & (b&w) or something next to it. I don't think those people should be pandered to! Or arrange them on the themed list in chronological order by year? (You can tell I'm a librarian, sorry, it's all about how to construct the lists.)

It is a very good idea though. I'm sure I shall have some old suggestions for you, but my brain goes instantly blank when I try to think for them. Stage Door, though, might possibly have a man in it somewhere, so I'd say it counts.

From:

osprey_archer

List construction is a very important topic that rarely gets sufficient consideration. You can't just throw an unannotated list of titles together willy-nilly and call it a day!

I want to see Stage Door SO BADLY. I may have to see if Interlibrary loan will wing it to me.

From:

asakiyume

Yeah, I like the idea of a list for sisters or siblings more broadly. One thing that depressed my kids when they were kids was how many of their friends hated, or claimed to hate, their siblings, and I really think that's because that's what US culture makes the model. Sure, siblings are going to squabble/fight; people squabble/fight, but it's how you interpret it. It's not like Mae and Satsuki never fought, but it's what everyone's expectations, and consequently their own expectations, for themselves in relation to each other were.

From:

sovay

One thing that depressed my kids when they were kids was how many of their friends hated, or claimed to hate, their siblings, and I really think that's because that's what US culture makes the model.

Kids my own age would come over and assume that was how I felt about my brother—that I was bored or annoyed or embarrassed by him or I wouldn't want to include him in our activities—and these things were almost never true and it was weird. We didn't actually fight much. I certainly didn't want to do grown-up girl things and exclude the yucky boy. I don't understand why that's the supposed American norm, either. I saw it in movies and it made no sense even then.

From:

asakiyume

Right? It's like some weird element of Evil Universe Where Everyone Has Goatees that somehow got spliced into our reality/timeline.

From:

osprey_archer

Yes! I'm pretty sure we've talked about this before, the US model where siblings are supposed to squabble constantly and barely tolerate each other - where it's expected to the point that young people will talk up their bad relationships to their siblings because that's what they're supposed to do. How did that become the dominant model? Wouldn't everyone be happier if we expected siblings to be fond of each other and have each other's backs?

Of course some people's relationships with their siblings won't be like that, but that's true of any kind of relationship.

I think that dominant model even obscures when sibling relationships have gone really wrong. If the kids are supposed to squabble and be at each other's throats all the time, it's harder to tell that no, this is really beyond normal sibling squabbling, there's an actual problem here.

From:

asakiyume

I'm sure we have talked about it; it's one of my bugbears (... an odd idiom).

And good point about obscuring when there's an actual, serious problem.

From:

osprey_archer

A very reasonable bugbear, I feel!

And it's a trope that leads to bad writing/lazy characterization, too. Instead of trying to give the sibling characters some depth, creators can just lard them up with traits that have been agreed to mean "irritating character" - older sister painting her nails; younger brother holding something icky in his hands - and not give them any development beyond that. It's not like the main character needs to have any sibling relationship deeper than cranky irritation, right?

From:

asakiyume

I laughed when I read this because it's **always** doing the nails or holding something icky--ALWAYS. Those two things. And that's it for characterization.

From:

sartorias

Oh, you have got to watch the original Parent Trap. I saw and loved it as a kid, and while bits of it are dated, the sheer exuberance of Hayley Mills is just so much fun! And nobody croaks!

From:

the_rck

The Parent Trap, original flavor, was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid. I really loved the impersonation and the old family secrets. The romance/reconciliation part was never my jam, but the other stuff--? Yes!

From:

sartorias

Yup, yup, yup.

Ditto on the Evil Stepmonster/ and Maureen O'Hara, but it is clear watching it as an adult that those women are having a terrific time. Including the wicked mother in law.

From:

the_rck

My husband gives me really weird looks when I tell him that part of what I like about a given movie or play is that the actors are obviously having a blast. He's never done theater, so I think he just doesn't actually see it.

The place where I lost sympathy with the potential step-mother was the comment about a boarding school in Switzerland, but that was a lot less nasty than she could have been. Though I suppose it's high Evil for a Disney movie from the era.

From:

sartorias

I know! That was an eye roller for me as a kid, who dearly would have loved a boarding school anywhere. But of course the threat was to tear the girl from her family, and of course her bond with her dad was really tight. That was fun to see back in the days when dads were suit-wearing and aloof.

From:

osprey_archer

I love the remake, and I loved Hayley Mills in the movie that I saw her in, so I'm super looking forward to seeing the original. I'm thinking it will be the perfect movie for a gloomy winter day: like sunshine in a box.

From:

sartorias

Oh, good idea! It's even fairly long for a kids' movie. Definitely in two parts.

From:

the_rck

I took the easy route and searched the video category in my library's catalogue for 'female friendship' as a subject tag. It brought up a lot of things that I side-eyed because they looked/sounded like they were focused on women who loathed each other, always had and always would, or like they were actually focused on men with the female characters centered on the guy (specifically, here, I'm thinking of a David Boreanaz movie where he's an 'older man' who ends up having sex with three teenage girls who decide to share him. Oh, no! What a dilemma for him!).

The following are things I haven't seen, so I'm including the date (if there are question marks, the only date in the record was that of the DVD issue) and the blurb from the catalogue. The blurbs should be taken with the same sort of grain of salt that similar rapidly produced blurbs require.

White Rainbow | Sveta ambara (2005) - Hindi (catalog not 100% reliable in identifying Indian languages). "Four remarkable women struggle to overcome the image and reality of being widows in modern Indian society."

Antonia (2006) - Portuguese. "A soulful look into the lives of four women living on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Detrmined to escape their poverty-stricken lives, they learn that out of struggle comes strength and the courage to continue on."

Bridesmaids (2011) - "Annie's life is a mess. But when she finds out her lifetime best friend is engaged, she simply must serve as Lillian's maid of honor. Though lovelorn and broke, Annie bluffs her way through the expensive and bizarre rituals. With one chance to get it perfect, she'll show Lillian and her bridesmaids just how far you'll go for someone you love."

Pitch Perfect (?2013?) - "Arriving at her new college, Beca finds herself not right for any clique but somehow is muscled into one that she never would have picked on her own: alongside mean girls, sweet girls and weird girls whose only thing in common is how good they sound when they sing together. When Beca leads this a cappella singing group out of their traditional arrangements and perfect harmonies into all-new mash-ups, they fight to climb their way to the top of college music competitions."

The Heat (2013) - "Uptight FBI agent Sarah Ashburn ... and foul-mouthed Boston cop Shannon Mullins ... couldn't be more incompatible. But when they join forces to bring down a ruthless drug lord, they become the last thing anyone expected-- buddies"

For a Good Time Call--
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2011) - Chinese. "Centuries ago, two 'sworn sisters' are isolated by their families, but stay connected through a secret language written in the folds of a white silk fan. Now in modern-day Shanghai, their descendents must draw inspiration from the past as they struggle to maintain their own eternal bond in the face of life's complications. What unfolds are two stories, generations apart, but everlasting in their universal notion of love, hope and friendship."

Laggies (2014) - "In the throes of a quarter-life crisis, Megan panics when her boyfriend proposes, then, taking an opportunity to escape for a week, hides out in the home of her new friend, sixteen-year-old Annika, who lives with her world-weary single dad."

Miss You Already (2015) - "It's an honest and powerful story following two best friends, Milly and Jess, as they navigate life's highs and lows. Inseparable since they were young girls, they can't remember a time they didn't share everything, secrets, clothes, even boyfriends, but nothing prepares them for the day Milly is hit with life-altering news. A story for every modern woman, it celebrates the bond of true friendship that ultimately can never be broken, even in life's toughest moments."

Very Good Girls (?2014?) - "New York City girls lose their virginity after high school and end up falling for the same guy. The long time friendship is tested for the first time."

Ghost World (2001) - "Two friends graduate from high school and find life in the real world difficult. Becky sets her sights on Josh, on whom both girls have a crush, and their friendship is changed forever.
An idiosyncratic portrait of adolescent alienation. Set during the malaise-filled months following high-school graduation, the film follows the proud misfit Enid (Thora Birch), who confronts an uncertain future amid the cultural wasteland of consumerist America. As her cynicism becomes too much to bear even for her best friend, Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson), Enid finds herself drawn to an unlikely kindred spirit: a sad-sack record collector many years her senior (Steve Buscemi)."

Bride Wars (?2009?) - "Emma and Liv have been best friends since childhood. Each has always dreamed of an extravagant wedding at the Plaza Hotel. When both friends get engaged in the same week, they rush to the exclusive wedding planner Marion St. Claire to book the perfect weddings for them at the Plaza. The reservations get mixed up and both weddings end up scheduled on the same day and, since there are no other suitable openings available at the Plaza, the friends find themselves in the impossible situation of having to decide who will sacrifice her long-held dream and change venues. Neither is willing to give up her plans for a perfect wedding and they turn against one another. From blue hair to rumors of pregnancy and embarrassing home videos accompanying one bride's walk down the aisle. Now they will have to try and salvage a friendship."

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (?2005?) - "A story about a special summer in the lives of four lifelong friends who are separated for the first time. The young women find a pair of jeans that fits each of them perfectly and they decide to use the pants as a way of keeping in touch."

Frances Ha (2012) - "Greta Gerwig is radiant as a woman in her late twenties in contemporary New York, trying to sort out her ambitions, her finances, and, above all, her tight but changing bond with her best friend, Sophie (Mickey Sumner). Meticulously directed by Noah Baumbach (Kicking and Screaming) with a free-and-easy vibe reminiscent of the French New Wave's most spirited films, and written by Baumbach and Gerwig with an effortless combination of sweetness and wit, Frances Ha gets at both the frustrations and the joys of being young and unsure of where to go next. This wry and sparkling city romance is a testament to the ongoing vitality of independent American cinema."

Friends with Money (?2006?) - "Establishes a diverse and dynamic range of relationships among long-time girlfriends, their spouses, and the way in which money (or lack of it) affects them all. The have-not of the group is Olivia. She is a teacher-turned pot-smoking housecleaner in the upscale neighborhoods of West Los Angeles. She's drifting on a sea of uncertainty, while her friends Franny, Christine, and Jane cope with the relatively enviable problems of wealthy discontentment. All four women have personal crises to resolve. Olivia tries to juggle the affections of a likable louse and a lonely slob who is secretly rich. Humor and melancholy are intertwined as these women go about their daily routines, attending benefits, chatting over meals, and doting over Olivia in their closed circle of friendships."

Waiting to Exhale (1995) - "The story of four African-American women who journey through a modern labyrinth of husbands and lovers, jobs and makeovers."

Steam (2007) - "The lives of three very different women are linked only by the steam room at the local gym. All three women are 'stuck' in life and are unable to overcome what is keeping them from growing and thriving in their lives. Each will embark on a risky relationship that will lead them to themselves."

Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) - "A chance encounter in a nursing home leads to an unexpected friendship between a dowdy housewife and a spry octagenarian who tells her the story of a fiercely independent woman half a century ago, inspiring the housewife to change her life, often with hilarious results."

The Secret Life of Bees (2008) - "Lily Owens is a young girl who lives on the peach farm that her abusive father owns. Rosaleen is a black woman hired by Lily's father to be a stand in mother for Lilly. Rosaleen insults some of the biggest racists in their town. Lily and Rosaleen run away to a town Lily believes that her mother once lived in. They go to live with the three Boatwright sisters on their honey farm. She finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping."

Baby Mama (?2008?) - "Kate is a successful and single businesswoman who has long put her career ahead of a personal life. At 37, she's finally determined to have a child on her own. Unable to get pregnant, a driven Kate allows South Philly working girl Angie Ostrowiski to become her unlikely surrogate. After learning that Angie is pregnant, Kate goes into precision nesting mode. She reads childcare books, baby-proofs the apartment and researches top pre-schools. But, Kate's well-organized strategy is turned upside down when her Baby Mama shows up at her doorstep with no place to live. Structured Kate tries to turn vibrant Angie into the perfect expectant mom. In a battle of wills, they prepare for the baby's arrival. They soon discover that there are two kinds of family: the one you're born to and the one you make."

The Last Word (?2017?) - "Harriet is a retired businesswoman who tries to control everything around her. When she decides to write her own obituary, a young journalist takes up the task of finding out the truth, resulting in a life-altering friendship."

The Wedding Song (2008) - French. "Two 16-year-old girls have an intense friendship while living in Nazi-occupied Tunis in 1942. Nour is a Muslim who eagerly anticipates her wedding to a handsome cousin. Myriam is a French Jew who is furiously resisting her betrothal to a much older doctor. However, his money is needed by her family to pay fines imposed by the Nazis."

Just Like a Woman (2012) - "Two women, barely more than casual acquaintances, escape the prisons of their unhappy marriages and embark on a revealing journey of self discovery which leads them to the importance-and true meaning-of friendship."

Kamikaze Girls (2004) - Japanese. "Two young Japanese women, a self-absorbed daydreamer and a rebellious biker, form an unlikely friendship."

Foreign Letters (?2012?) - "Ellie, a 12-year-old immigrant girl from Israel, is lonely and homesick. Life brightens when she meets Thuy, a Vietnamese refugee her age. Trust slowly builds as the two teach each other about life in America. As Ellie and Thuy become inseparable, they eventually hurt and betray each other. Ellie must give up her most prized possession, in order to save their friendship."

Luv ka the end (?2011?) - Hindi. "Rhea is the quintessential girl next door, in love with Luv Nanda, the richest, most popular boy in college. On the eve of her 18th birthday, they plant to take their relationship to the 'next level'. When accidentally she finds out Luv is not as nice as she thought he was, Rhea decides to not get mad, but to get even and bring Luv Nanda down, all in the span of one night with the help of her friends. Buckle up for one crazy night as the girls discover the meaning of love, life, and friendship."

Rich and Famous (1981) - "The long-standing friendship between two women is threatened when one becomes immediately successful as a writer while the other continues to strive for literary recognition."

Close to Home (?2007?) - Hebrew. "Two female soldiers, one rebellious and one controlled, find friendship with one another while patrolling the streets of Jerusalem."

Mom's Night Out (2014) - "All Allyson and her friends want is a peaceful, grown-up evening of dinner and conversation, a long-needed moms' night out. But in order to enjoy high heels, adult conversation, and food not served in a paper bag, they need their husbands to watch the kids for three hours - what could go wrong?"

Girls Trip (2017) - "When four lifelong friends travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival, sisterhoods are rekindled, wild sides are rediscovered, and there₂s enough dancing, drinking, brawling and romancing to make the Big Easy blush."

Afternoon Delight (?2014?) - "Rachel is a quick-witted yet tightly coiled thirty-something bored with her daily routine of preschool auctions and a lackluster sex life and career that has gone kaput. Looking to spice up her marriage, Rachel takes her husband Jeff to a strip club and meets McKenna, a stripper she becomes obsessed with saving. Rachel adopts McKenna as her live-in nanny, wreaking havoc on her friends, family, and herself."

Attenberg (2010) - Greek. "A wonderfully deadpan, surprisingly touching coming-of-age story. 23-year-old Marina lives in a small, factory town by the sea where she passes her time watching Sir David Attenborough's nature programs, listening to the proto-punk songs of Suicide, goofing with her only friend Bella, and tending to her ailing father. When a visiting engineer comes to town, the two form a tentative relationship that pushes Marina into contact with the strange and complex world of adulthood."

Violette (2013) - French. "Violette LeDuc is one of the foremost French writers of the twentieth century. In a beautifully mounted production, director Martin Provost depicts LeDuc's extraordinary life, from her low beginnings as the illegitimate daughter of a servant girl to becoming ensconced in France's literary elite. Violette LeDuc is determined, obsessed even, to make something of her life. Writing is her ticket out of misery, and with the encouragement and mentorship of Simone de Beauvoir, she achieves renown."

In Bloom (2013) - Georgian. "Early '90s, in Tbilisi, the capital of the newly independent Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The country is facing violence, war on the Black Sea coast, and vigilante justice that plague society. But for Eka and Natia, fourteen-year-old inseparable friends, life just unfolds - in the street, at school, with friends, or Eka's elder sister. Although they are already dealing with men's dominance, early marriage, and disillusioned love, for these two girls in bloom, life just goes on."

Calendar Girls (2003) - "When Chris' best friend Annie loses her husband, Chris derives a scheme to memoralize him. The two women, along with some of their friends - all fiftysomething women - will make a nude calendar to raise money for the hospital where he died. The calendar becomes hugely popular. Based on actual events, this story carefully balances the stories of several women as it follows the media explosion. A moving tale of loss, determination, and the perils of fame."

The Trouble with Angels (1966) - "Two mischievous students turn convent school upside down with their pranks. During Christmas break, Mary remains at the school and is touched by the Sisters' celebration of the Yule. Their graduation is both a relief and a celebration for the Mother Superior."

Tu dors Nicole (2014) - French. "Nicole is adrift after college graduation, working a dead-end summer job and spending evenings with her best pal, Veronique. When her older brother Remi unexpectedly returns with his bandmates in tow, disrupting the girls' half-baked summer, it becomes clear to Nicole that something must and will change."

From:

the_rck

Karen Cries on the Bus (2011) - "Karen has left her slimy but successful husband Mario after ten years of marriage. She needs a fresh start to find out who she is and who she could be, despite her husband's proclamation that she can do absolutely nothing. She walks out into Bogotá with no job, no friends, and hardly any money, but catches a break when she meets a hairdresser named Patricia at a cheap flophouse. With her younger and seemingly stronger friend by her side, Karen takes her first steps towards independence and self-discovery."

Queen of Earth (2015) - "Catherine has entered a particularly dark period in her life: her father, a famous artist, has recently died, and on the heels of his death she's dumped by her boyfriend James. Looking to recuperate, Catherine heads out to her best friend Virginia's lake house for some much needed relaxation. Tranquility eludes her, however, as she's instantly overcome with memories of time spent at the same house with James the year before."

Le pont du Nord (1981) - French. "Marie has just been released from prison, and encounters the paranoid loner Baptiste. They follow Marie's ex-lover Julien and his talismanic briefcase as Paris begins to open up to them as a series of enigmatic clues. The city is a labyrinth of possibilities but no certainties, a place of fantastical fables (here be dragons) and the brute realities of the street."

Me Without You (2002) - "Growing up in the London suburbs in the 1970s, friendships between best friends endure hard drugs, random sex, manipulation, betrayal, and lots of other saucy stuff."

Trigger (2011) - "Inspired by the classic film 'My Dinner with Andre'. The story of two lifelong friends, Victoria and Kathryn, who started a neighborhood band together. Ten years after their band, Trigger, came to an end, the dysfunctional duo join forces once more for a benefit concert in Toronto. After their decade-long estrangement, the two women come together for dinner, the concert, and the after-party, with the chance and hope of recapturing their once-magical connection."

Paradise Road (1997) - "Fact-based recounting of a group of women who are imprisoned on the island of Sumatra by the Japanese during World War II and used music as a relief to their misery."

Le amiche (1955) - Italian. "A young woman returns to her home town of Turin to set up a new fashion salon and gets involved with a troubled woman and her three wealthy friends."

Moscow does not believe in tears (1980) - Russian. "A romantic comedy about three young, working-class, country girls, who go to Moscow in 1958 to seek work, men, and success. Looks at the results of their expedition in 1978."

Spring Breakdown (2008) - "Three thirty-something women attempt to break the monotony in their lives by vacationing on South Padre Island during collegiate spring break."

Live-in Maid | Cama Adentro (2004) - "When Buenos Aires is plunged into an economic meltdown, Bebe faces a crisis and is unable to pay her longtime maid, Dora. The two realize that in order to survive, they must put aside their class resentments."

The Living Dead Girl (1982) - French. "Catherine Valmont, one of the living dead, seeks her blood sister Hélène with whom she had made a pact that if she died, Hélène would follow. But if Catherine is to remain in the land of the living, she must have the blood of others."

Princesas (2005) - Spanish. "Caye, a Madrid prostitute, comes to the aid of Zulema, a Dominican streetwalker beaten by a government official blackmailing her for free sex. They form a strong bond and imagine themselves as royalty, to offer them a glimpse of hope."

From:

the_rck

Sister Act - Whoopi Goldberg plays a lounge singer who witnesses a murder and is put in witness protection in a convent until it's time for her to testify.

Outrageous Fortune - Two women who hate each other gradually become friends as they work together to track down the guy who was sleeping with both of them. Spy hijinks, comedy, and actual friendship.

The Joy Luck Club - This is a generational story, too. Four mothers who are immigrants from China and their four daughters and their relationships. Thing one may require a box of tissues.

Spy - Melissa McCarthy's CIA agent character moves from desk work to field work and interacts with her boss (female), her best friend (female), the villain (female), and a couple of guys who are supporting characters. The focus never shifts away from her.

Hidden Figures - The female friendships here are secondary, but I think they're important to the characters.

Tinkerbell movies - All of the Tinkerbell movies include a group of several female fairies who are friends.

Barbie movies - These movies are really surprisingly good at having lots of female characters who all have agency. The male characters are often kind of decorative.

Frozen - For the sisters list.

Various adaptations of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma.

LEGO Friends movies - Actually, I haven't watched any of these, but the whole point of them is focus on friendship between female LEGO mini-figs, so I assume they'd fit. They may be abysmal, but some of the LEGO movies/shows have been excellent, so maybe they're okay.

From:

osprey_archer

I have been meaning to see Hidden Figures roughly since Hidden Figures came out, so perhaps this will finally give me the push that I need to do it.

And Spy sounds delightful! Melissa McCarthy is always a lot of fun, and I love slightly goofy spy movies.

From:

the_rck

Spy is a wonderful movie. They don't mock McCarthy's character at all. The CIA gives her terrible cover identities, but the movie expects viewers to be on McCarthy's character's side on those even while laughing. There are some Yuletide fics for the canon, and there's one F/F story that I reread because it makes me laugh every time and because it gets the characters right.

From:

konstantya

the_rck mentioned it up above, but YES, definitely recommend Kamikaze Girls if you haven't already seen it. (What the blurb above does not mention is that the "self-absorbed daydreamer" is really into gothic lolita/Rococo fashion, which makes her friendship with a tough-talking tomboyish biker all the more awesome, in my opinion.)

Also, while I don't know if I'd go so far as to call the female relationships in the film friendships, per se (it's been a number of years since I saw it, so it's hard to remember), I'd still highly recommend Zero Focus (1961, Japanese). Ostensibly, it's about a woman trying to figure out what happened to her husband, but what really made it stick with me is that, about half-way through, the focus shifts and it instead becomes ALL ABOUT the women--their relationships to each other, and their relationships to society (which, in this case, is post-WWII Japan). (Aside from that, it's also just a good, solid, noir-style mystery.)

I still haven't seen it, myself, but a friend told me the Penelope Cruz/Salma Hayek film Bandidas was a lot of good, lady-centric fun. (Two women team up to become bank robbers in late 19th century Mexico! Seriously, why have I not gotten around to watching this yet???) I also kind of want to rec Imagine Me and You (2005)? Technically it's a lesbian romance, but the romance is born out of friendship, and I just remember the relationship (and the movie in general) being really sweet.

From:

osprey_archer

Not only have I seen Kamikaze Girls, but I wrote fic for it! Because it is THE BEST. How could they possibly blurb it without mentioning Momoko's love of lolita fashion? Momoko would probably be so offended.

And Bandidas is also THE BEST, although unlike Kamikaze Girls there were some weird directorial decisions in there that mean that it falls apart a bit as it goes along. I think the filmmakers were afraid to let Maria and Sara become the Robin-Hood-type socialist bank robbers that they seem to be turning into, so instead they get saddled with a banker dude, who brings things down a bit.

But it's still well worth seeing and I just kind of ignore that the banker dude exists. The swashbuckling hijinks are A++.

I've been contemplating doing a list of lesbian movies as a sort of companion piece for the friendship movies, so I may just add Imagine Me and You to my list of movies to watch for that! Also The Girl King. And The Handmaiden, that Korean film Tumblr went briefly gaga over last year...

Basically I need a buddy for lesbian movie watching marathons.

From:

konstantya

Ah, I thought you might have already seen Kamikaze Girls! (After I posted my comment, I got a weird feeling of deja vu, like I'd posted or otherwise read about it on your journal before. XD) And I feel I must have read the fic you wrote for it (!!!), but maybe I missed it? It's going on my to-do list, at any rate.

And good to know the swashbuckling hijinks in Bandidas hold up! :DDD Maybe I can get around to watching it over the holidays or something.

I feel you on the need for genre-specific movie buddies (lesbian or otherwise). Life happened, and the friend who was my go-to period drama buddy for YEARS now lives an hour and fifteen minutes away with two young kids. Good for her, but bad for my deep, deep love of historical costume porn, heh.

From:

osprey_archer

Noooo, so sad about your period drama buddy. (Well, as you say, it's good for her, but still.) It's especially important for period dramas: you totally need someone to squee with about the costume porn!

As well as a lesbian movie buddy, I also hope to one day find a silent movie buddy. And a Bollywood buddy would be good too...

From:

konstantya

Apologies for the late reply, but YES, re: the costume porn, EXACTLY. (I really do try to be happy for her, and most of the time I succeed, but occasionally the selfish, human part of me is like, "Your children have ruined our friendship," pfft.)

This provides little real-life consolation, I know, but if we lived closer, I would totally be your silent movie buddy!

From:

osprey_archer

Hopefully when the children are older, you'll be able to have period piece marathons again? Just think of all the period pieces that will have accrued by then!

Honestly the biggest problem with the internet is that you make all sorts of wonderful friends... who you will meet in person maybe once or twice in your life, if that. Gah!

From:

sovay

I also need suggestions for Older Movies, which is everything pre-1980. Currently this list contains Calamity Jane.

Off the top of my head—

The protagonists of George Cukor's Girls About Town (1931) are a pair of glamorous call girls who live with one another, never fall out over a man (although one of them has an A-plot romance), and in one case help the wife of a lovestruck mark get her man back.

Dorothy Arzner's Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) is entirely about female friendship and community and the way it is so often reduced by patriarchy to a zero-sum game and how to get out of the game without giving up on what you want to do with your life.

The main characters of Leslie Howard's The Gentle Sex (1943) are all new recruits to the ATS and the focus is explicitly on their relationships with one another and with other women, with men existing as colleagues or romantic prospects but not as the main attraction. It's one of the still-too-few movies I've seen where two women have a fight over something that matters (and is not a man) and one of them is really in the wrong and it is not used to write her off as a villain, a bitch, an acceptable target; she has to rethink what she's said and done, but she's not cast out forever.

It's hard for me to categorize John Cromwell's Caged (1950) as a movie about female friendship, but it is a movie set in a women's prison in which there are almost no male characters except for walk-ons and memories and therefore all major conflicts and camaraderie (queer and otherwise) are between women. There are friendships in it. The film's point is just mostly the need for prison reform.

There is suprisingly good female friendship in Fritz Lang's The Blue Gardenia (1953), a second-wave noir that puts its female protagonist in the normally male position of having gone home drunk with a stranger and woken up hungover to a dead body. Her roommates are at first willing to believe the media's broad-brush sensationalist assertions that a woman who finds herself in that position must be a treacherous, murderous femme fatale: then when they find out it's her, they do what they can to support her.

On the modern front, Terry Jones' Personal Services (1987) is on the one hand a slightly black comedy about a working-class single mother who becomes a nationally notorious call girl and madam, but its core characters are three best friends, all women, one of them a trans woman (played by a cis male actor, because it was 1987, but otherwise one of the more nuanced trans characters I've seen from the time, including the part where she is accepted unequivocally as a woman by the narrative and everyone who knows her), and they are always there for each another.

You might be able to count Neil Jordan's Byzantium (2012) because while the protagonists of that one are a mother and daughter, they are only about fifteen years apart in age and have been immortal since the 1820's anyway, which makes their relationship complex and not entirely analogous to anything human.

If you accept "movies with a good friendship subplot" in addition to "movies where the friendship is the A-plot," that widens the field considerably: William Wellman's Night Nurse (1931) and Busby Berkeley's Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) are two of the pre-Code movies that come to mind where female friendships are taken for granted as a positive part of the landscape.

Edited Date: 2017-11-11 03:06 am (UTC)

From:

osprey_archer

Aaaah, I thought you would probably have some good recs.

I remember reading your post about Dance, Girl, Dance; I'll definitely have to watch that one. (And who can resist Lucille Ball, anyway?) And Caged sounds - I was going to say delightful, but that's probably not the right word for a movie about the need for prison reform. Interesting, though. Possibly harrowing, but probably in a good way?

I think I've heard of Fritz Lang before, but I can't for the life of me remember where... But the idea of a noir film that foregrounds female friendship sounds quite exciting. (And I looked Lang up. He directed M. One of the noir greats!)

The narrator in The Gentle Sex sounds like a total ass, though. How present is he in the movie? Does he back off and let the story take over at some point, or does he keep up a running commentary throughout?

I've got enough new movies on my plate for this project that movies with a good friendship subplot will probably have to take a back burner to movies where the plot is more prominent,

From:

sovay

Aaaah, I thought you would probably have some good recs.

I'm glad to be able to help!

And Caged sounds - I was going to say delightful, but that's probably not the right word for a movie about the need for prison reform. Interesting, though. Possibly harrowing, but probably in a good way?

I should just try to write about it. Some of it is harrowing; some of it is the weird paradoxical Code-era writing of women where we understand that the protagonist is following a plummeting moral arc, but on the other hand she's gaining strength and confidence and agency and it's hard not to root for her to take the control of her life that she can, even (perhaps, in 1950, especially) if that means kicking straight life in all senses to the curb.

How present is he in the movie? Does he back off and let the story take over at sxome point, or does he keep up a running commentary throughout?

He is an ass, and deliberately so, but I did not find him obtrusively present. He's more of an intermittent frame device than a running commentator.

I've got enough new movies on my plate for this project that movies with a good friendship subplot will probably have to take a back burner to movies where the plot is more prominent

Fair enough. I do recommend both Night Nurse and Gold Diggers of 1933 on their own merits.

From:

vcmw

Quite new, but I didn't spot it in scanning the list: the new Ghostbusters movie?
It seemed to me that the plot of that movie is driven by the deep broken history of one friendship between two women and resolved as that friendship heals as they build a larger group of female friends.

From:

osprey_archer

Yes, that's definitely going to be on one of the lists somewhere! This post is not so much a list itself as brainstorming about how to organize the list into smaller lists so its very length doesn't make it all but unusable.

I super loved Ghostbusters. I could list a lot of things I love about it (EVERYTHING HOLTZMAN EVER) but I think my very favorite bit was the part at the end where Erin leaps into the ghost abyss to rescue Abby, because that kind of "I will follow you LITERALLY INTO HELL if I have to!" loyalty is my jam and it's almost always given to male characters. GO FOR IT, ERIN. YOU SAVE YOUR FRIEND.