It’s International Women’s Day, and we’re feeling empowered, so we’ve compiled 6 feel-good movies that showcase some very feisty women who won’t be beaten.
1. Thelma & Louise (1991)
Selfies, guns, line dancing, high-speed car chases and Brad Pitt; what’s not to love about this feel-good film? Leaving behind an overbearing husband and a non-committal boyfriend, Thelma and Louise (played by Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon) embark on a road trip that lands them in hot water. It might not end on a conventional high note, but this is quite possibly the ultimate female friendship movie of all time.
2. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)
A film adaptation of two novels by Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood tells the story of New York playwright, Sidda Lee Walker (Sandra Bullock) who is dragged home by friends of her estranged mother on a family peace-making mission. The film features mother-daughter strife, alcoholism and four women who formed a secret society of feminist empowerment and friendship 60 years earlier.
3. Steel Magnolias (1989)
Not your average chick flick, Steel Magnolias is one of the best films with strong female leads out there. Starring Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley Maclane, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts, this feel-good (and tearjerker) film showcases the love between a mother and her child, as well as the unbreakable bond between true friends.
4. First Wives Club (1996)
When friendship becomes a partnership: The First Wives Club stars Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton who play women looking for justice after their husbands leave them for younger women. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Fellas, you have been warned.
5. Erin Brokovich (2000)
Julia Roberts plays the amazing Erin Brokovich, a mother of three who, despite a lack of formal training in law, becomes a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brings down a California power company accused of polluting a city’s water supply. Super mum, super woman and a super motivating film.
6. Shirley Valentine (1989)
A middle-aged housewife from Liverpool, Shirley Valentine is an extraordinary and hilarious woman trapped in an ordinary life until she goes on well-deserved holiday to Greece, where she begins to see everything (Including herself) in a different and better light. Leaving her miserable husband and brat of a daughter behind to fend for themselves, we wonder what took her so long.
