(Photo by A24. Thumbnail: Pixar, Vertical Entertainment, Compass International Pictures. Courtesy Everett Collection)
The 100 Best Movies Written by Women
Welcome to our guide of the best movies written by women: These are highly Certified Fresh films (nothing on the list falls below 95%) whose screenplay credit goes in part or fully to women.
The journey begins nearly a century ago with 1925’s Battleship Potemkin, written by Nina Agadzhanova, inspired by her own participation in Soviet uprisings. Just two years later, Metropolis, cinema’s first sci-fi feature masterpiece, emerged out of Germany, written by Thea von Harbou. The 1930s were one of those peak decades for movies, in no small part thanks to King Kong (co-written by Ruth Rose), The Wizard of Oz (co-written by Florence Ryerson), and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Walt Disney had hand-picked Dorothy Ann Blank, a movie magazine writer, to identify and adapt tales into animation. Snow White was the first, and in the process Blank founded the studio’s Story Development Department.
Women were a driving force behind Alfred Hitchcock’s best romantic psychological thrillers. Joan Harrison became the first woman to be nominated for Best Screenplay with Foreign Correspondent at the 13th Academy Awards, with the also Harrison-written Rebecca winning Best Picture that night. Sally Benson and Hitchcock’s wife Alma Reville co-wrote Shadow of a Doubt. Elizabeth Reinhardt co-wrote Laura, and Strangers on a Train was co-written by Czenzi Ormonde, who also acted as Hitchcock’s chauffeur as he never learned how to drive.
Suso Cecchi d’Amico helped lay the foundations of key Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves, along with Luchino Visconti’s opulent epic The Leopard. Betty Comden and Adolph Green were showered with Oscar, Tony, and Grammy nominations and wins throughout their six-decade musical-writing partnership, with Singin’ in the Rain their most enduring work.
Novelist Leigh Brackett adapted Rio Bravo and The Big Sleep, and worked on an early draft of The Empire Strikes Back, though she died before the movie came out. George Lucas’ earlier feature, American Graffiti, was co-written by Gloria Katz, who would go on to doctor the script to A New Hope, infusing Star Wars with its trademark sense of humor and fleshing out Princess Leia’s personality and arc. Another sci-fi classic of the era, E.T., was written by Melissa Mathison.
After Sofia Coppola‘s Lost in Translation Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay and nom for Best Director (only the third woman to be nominated at the time in Academy history), representation in the industry has been a constant topic of conversation and controversy. Ever since, there has been a consistent rise in critically acclaimed films solely written and directed by women. The players include Dee Rees (Pariah, Mudbound), Céline Sciamma (Tomboy, Portrait of a Lady on Fire), Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said), Haifaa al-Mansour (Wadjda), Jennifer Kent (The Babadook), Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night), Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Anna Rose Holmer (The Fits), Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women), Chloé Zhao (The Rider), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Eliza Hittman (Never Rarely Sometimes Always), Channing Godfrey Peoples (Miss Juneteenth), and more.
In our latest update, we’ve added Till (Chinonye Chukwu), EO (Ewa Piaskowska), and Sissy (Hannah Barlow).
Read on to see the full list of the 100 best movies of all time written by women. Click through on each title for full credits.
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