35 Best Movies Directed by Women on Netflix

Critics Consensus: An English remake of Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman, Tortilla Soup is as charming and flavorful as the dishes it features.

Synopsis: Three grown sisters, Maribel (Tamara Mello), Leticia (Elizabeth Peña) and Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors) try to cope and live with their father Martin (Héctor Elizondo) ;... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Héctor Elizondo, Jacqueline Obradors, Elizabeth Peña, Tamara Mello

Directed By: Maria Ripoll

Critics Consensus: Boosted by Meryl Streep's charismatic performance as Julia Child, Julie and Julia is a light, but fairly entertaining culinary comedy.

Synopsis: Frustrated with a soul-killing job, New Yorker Julie Powell (Amy Adams) embarks on a daring project: she vows to prepare all 524 recipes in Julia... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina

Directed By: Nora Ephron

Critics Consensus: American Honey offers a refreshingly unconventional take on the coming-of-age drama whose narrative risks add up to a rewarding experience even if they don't all pay off.

Synopsis: Star (Sasha Lane), an adolescent girl from a troubled home, runs away with a traveling sales crew that drives across the American Midwest selling subscriptions... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Sasha Lane, Riley Keough, Shia LaBeouf, McCaul Lombardi

Directed By: Andrea Arnold

Critics Consensus: The Old Guard is occasionally restricted by genre conventions, but director Gina Prince-Bythewood brings a sophisticated vision to the superhero genre - and some knockout action sequences led by Charlize Theron.

Synopsis: A group of mercenaries, all centuries-old immortals with the ability to heal themselves, discover someone is onto their secret, and they must fight to protect... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Charlize Theron, Chiwetel Ejiofor, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts

Directed By: Gina Prince-Bythewood

Critics Consensus: Elevated by a solid soundtrack and a terrific cast, Dumplin' offers sweetly uplifting drama that adds just enough new ingredients to a reliably comforting formula.

Synopsis: The plus-size, teenage daughter of a former beauty queen signs up for her mom's pageant as a protest that escalates when other contestants follow in... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Danielle Macdonald, Jennifer Aniston, Odeya Rush, Dove Cameron

Directed By: Anne Fletcher

Critics Consensus: The Breaker Upperers brings the laughs early and often, thanks to the dry wit -- and effervescent chemistry -- of writer-director-star duo Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami.

Synopsis: Two cynical women create an agency that helps break up couples in an attempt to avoid moving on with their lives.

Starring: Madeleine Sami, Jackie van Beek, James Rolleston, Celia Pacquola

Directed By: Madeleine Sami, Jackie van Beek

Critics Consensus: Carried by the infectious charms of Ali Wong and Randall Park, Always Be My Maybe takes familiar rom-com beats and cleverly layers in smart social commentary to find its own sweet groove.

Synopsis: Childhood sweethearts have a falling out and don't speak for 15 years. They reconnect as adults when Sasha runs into Marcus in San Francisco. Although... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Ali Wong, Randall Park, Keanu Reeves, Michelle Buteau

Directed By: Nahnatchka Khan

Critics Consensus: What Happened, Miss Simone? is a compelling -- albeit necessarily incomplete -- overview of its complex subject's singular artistic legacy and fascinating life.

Synopsis: Classically trained pianist, dive-bar chanteuse, black power icon and legendary recording artist Nina Simone lived a life of brutal honesty, musical genius, and tortured melancholy.

Starring: Lisa Simone Kelly, Roger Nupie, Al Schackman, George Wein

Directed By: Liz Garbus

Critics Consensus: Tender performances and a strong sense of style combine to create an eccentric, dreamy portrait of love and loneliness in On Body and Soul.

Synopsis: When a man and woman who meet at work begin to know each other, they discover that they have the same dreams at night, and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider, Ervin Nagy

Directed By: Ildikó Enyedi

Critics Consensus: Elevated by a bravura performance from Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Kindergarten Teacher is one American remake that retains its impact the second time around.

Synopsis: A teacher sees such great promise in her 5-year-old student that she goes to unreasonable lengths to protect his talent.

Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gael García Bernal, Michael Chernus, Anna Baryshnikov

Directed By: Sara Colangelo

Critics Consensus: Happy as Lazzaro uses a friendship's ups and downs as a satisfyingly expansive canvas for a picture rich with thematic and cinematic depth.

Synopsis: Lazzaro, a good-hearted young peasant, and Tancredi, a young nobleman cursed by his imagination, form a life-altering bond when Tancredi asks Lazzaro to help him... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Adriano Tardiolo, Alba Rohrwacher, Agnese Graziani, Tommaso Ragno

Directed By: Alice Rohrwacher

Critics Consensus: Miss Americana provides an engaging if somewhat deliberately opaque backstage look at a pop star turned cultural phenomenon.

Synopsis: Pop singer Taylor Swift reveals intimate details of her life while showcasing backstage and onstage concert footage.

Starring: Taylor Swift, Stephen Thomas Hatez

Directed By: Lana Wilson

Critics Consensus: Set It Up follows the long-established outlines of the rom-com template -- and in the process, proves there's still substantial pleasure to be wrought from familiar formulas.

Synopsis: Two overworked and underpaid assistants come up with a plan to get their bosses off their backs by setting them up with each other.

Starring: Zoey Deutch, Glen Powell, Lucy Liu, Taye Diggs

Directed By: Claire Scanlon

Critics Consensus: Sand Storm marks an impressive first feature for debuting writer-director Elite Zexer that offers a perceptive -- and crucial -- look at patriarchal traditions.

Synopsis: In Southern Israel, a teen's (Lamis Ammar) forbidden love affair challenges the traditions of her Bedouin mother and father.

Starring: Lamis Ammar, Ruba Blal, Haitham Alomari, Khadija Al Akel

Directed By: Elite Zexer

Critics Consensus: Private Life uses one couple's bumpy journey to take an affecting look at an easily identifiable - and too rarely dramatized - rite of adult passage.

Synopsis: A couple coping with infertility struggle to keep their marriage going as they navigate through the world of adoption and assisted reproduction.

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Kathryn Hahn, Kayli Carter, Molly Shannon

Directed By: Tamara Jenkins

Critics Consensus: Natalia Dyer's charming performance -- and writer-director Karen Maine's sensitive work -- will leave audiences saying Yes, God, Yes to this coming-of-age dramedy.

Synopsis: A Catholic girl finds herself having tempting thoughts after an AOL chat turns unexpectedly racy.

Starring: Natalia Dyer, Christian Adam, Susan Blackwell, Alisha Boe

Directed By: Karen Maine

Critics Consensus: Brilliantly brought to life by tenderly empathetic performances from Jay Duplass and Edie Falco, Outside In tells a sobering -- yet thoroughly absorbing -- story.

Synopsis: An ex-convict tries to readjust to life in his small town and forms an intense relationship with his former high school teacher.

Starring: Jay Duplass, Edie Falco, Kaitlyn Dever, Ben Schwartz

Directed By: Lynn Shelton

Critics Consensus: To All the Boys I've Loved Before plays by the teen rom-com rules, but relatable characters and a thoroughly charming cast more than make up for a lack of surprises.

Synopsis: A teenage girl's love letters are exposed and wreak havoc on her life.

Starring: Lana Condor, John Corbett, Noah Centineo, Emilija Baranac

Directed By: Susan Johnson

Critics Consensus: American Factory takes a thoughtful -- and troubling -- look at the dynamic between workers and employers in the 21st-century globalized economy.

Synopsis: In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant. Early days of hope and optimism... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Sherrod Brown

Directed By: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert

Critics Consensus: An unpredictable supernatural drama rooted in real-world social commentary, Atlantique suggests a thrillingly bright future for debuting filmmaker Mati Diop.

Synopsis: Arranged to marry a rich man, young Ada is crushed when her true love goes missing at sea during a migration attempt -- until a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Mama Sané, Amadou Mbow, Ibrahima Traoré, Amina Kane

Directed By: Mati Diop

Critics Consensus: For viewers in search of an uncommonly smart, tender, and funny coming-of-age story, The Half of It has everything.

Synopsis: A shy, introverted student helps the school jock woo a girl whom, secretly, they both want.

Starring: Leah Lewis, Daniel Diemer, Alexxis Lemire, Enrique Murciano

Directed By: Alice Wu

Critics Consensus: Pick of the Litter has all the fluffy adorableness audiences expect from a puppy documentary, along with a story that's as edifying as it is heartwarming.

Synopsis: Following five spirited puppies from the moment they're born through their quest to become guide dogs for the blind.

Directed By: Dana Nachman, Don Hardy

Critics Consensus: 13th strikes at the heart of America's tangled racial history, offering observations as incendiary as they are calmly controlled.

Synopsis: Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation's prisons are disproportionately filled with... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Michelle Alexander, Bryan Stevenson, Van Jones, Newt Gingrich

Directed By: Ava DuVernay

Critics Consensus: Mudbound offers a well-acted, finely detailed snapshot of American history whose scenes of rural class struggle resonate far beyond their period setting.

Synopsis: Set in the rural American South during World War II, Dee Rees' Mudbound is an epic story of two families pitted against one another by... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige

Directed By: Dee Rees

Critics Consensus: A fresh, funny coming-of-age story rooted in realistic characters and anchored with a meaningful message, Rocks is as solid as its title suggests.

Synopsis: A teenage girl in London is forced to care for her younger brother after being abandoned by their mother, relying on friendship, strength, and resilience... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Bukky Bakray, Ruby Stokes, Sarah Niles, Sharon D Clarke

Directed By: Sarah Gavron

Critics Consensus: Beychella forever.

Synopsis: This intimate, in-depth look at Beyoncé's celebrated 2018 Coachella performance reveals the emotional road from creative concept to cultural movement.

Starring: Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams

Directed By: Beyoncé

Critics Consensus: Like the cheekily named store at this documentary's center, Circus of Books proves there are countless stories below the surface if we're only willing to look.

Synopsis: In 1976 a couple take over an adult book store, and the store becomes the biggest distributor of gay porn in the United States.

Starring: Karen Mason, Rachel Mason, Larry Flynt, Jeff Stryker

Directed By: Rachel Mason

Critics Consensus: Whose Streets? takes a close-up look at the civil unrest that erupted after a shocking act of violence in Ferguson, Missouri - and the decades of simmering tension leading up to it.

Synopsis: An account of the Ferguson uprising as told by the people who lived it. The filmmakers look at how the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown... View Full Synopsis

Directed By: Sabaah Folayan

Critics Consensus: The Forty-Year-Old Version opens a compelling window into the ebbs and flows of the artist's life -- and announces writer-director-star Radha Blank as a major filmmaking talent with her feature debut.

Synopsis: Radha, a down-on-her-luck NY playwright, is desperate for a breakthrough before 40. But when she foils what seems like her last shot at success, she's... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Welker White, Reed Birney, Radha Blank, Peter Kim

Directed By: Radha Blank

Critics Consensus: A galvanizing glimpse behind the scenes of a pivotal election, Knock Down the House should prove engrossing for viewers of all political persuasions.

Synopsis: A young bartender in the Bronx, a coal miner's daughter in West Virginia, a grieving mother in Nevada, and a registered nurse in Missouri build... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Directed By: Rachel Lears

Critics Consensus: Lady Bird delivers fresh insights about the turmoil of adolescence -- and reveals writer-director Greta Gerwig as a fully formed filmmaking talent.

Synopsis: A teenager (Saoirse Ronan) navigates a loving but turbulent relationship with her strong-willed mother (Laurie Metcalf) over the course of an eventful and poignant senior... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Timothée Chalamet, Lucas Hedges

Directed By: Greta Gerwig

Critics Consensus: Shirkers uses one woman's interrogation of a pivotal personal disappointment to offer affecting observations on creativity, lost opportunity, and coming to terms with the past.

Synopsis: In 1992 teenager Sandi Tan shoots Singapore's first road movie with her enigmatic American mentor, Georges, who then absconded with all of the footage. The... View Full Synopsis

Directed By: Sandi Tan

Critics Consensus: The Square offers an electrifying -- and edifying -- ground-level glimpse of life inside a real-life political revolution.

Synopsis: Egyptian revolutionaries battle their leaders and regime to build a new society.

Starring: Ahmed Hassan, Khalid Abdalla, Magdy Ashour, Ramy Essam

Directed By: Jehane Noujaim

Critics Consensus: Harrowing yet essential viewing, Athlete A shines an unforgiving light on horrific abuses -- as well as the culture that allowed them to continue unabated for years.

Synopsis: Reporters from The Indianapolis Star expose Dr. Larry Nassar's sexual abuse of young gymnasts.

Starring: Maggie Nichols, Jerry Moran, Jennifer Sey

Directed By: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk

Critics Consensus: As entertaining as it is inspiring, Crip Camp uses one group's remarkable story to highlight hope for the future and the power of community.

Synopsis: A groundbreaking summer camp galvanizes teens who have disabilities.

Starring: Dennis Billups, HolLynn D'Lil, Judith Heumann, Denise Sherer Jacobson

Directed By: James Lebrecht, Nicole Newnham