“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger

While there is a lot of media with female characters and even protagonists, the ratio of male to female character ratio in literature is roughly 4:1. So it’s not surprising that people would have to actively seek out media that specifically features women.

An internet user wanted to hear from other women what films they thought best depicted genuine “female rage” and netizens delivered. Revenge, rage, and frustration are all featured in people’s suggestions, so be sure to upvote your favorite examples as you scroll through and comment your own ideas below.

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“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Hidden figures - scene when he asks why it took so long to go to the bathrooms and back.

LorraineC94 , Hidden Figures Report

Final score:

144points

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“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger I’m gonna have to go with Ripley from the Aliens movies. She’s a calm, cool and collected competent female professional with a perfect amount of righteous indignation at the inhumane callousness of her corporate handlers and that epic “get away from her you b***h!” mama bear instinct that will always stand out to me.

Moon_Gurl22 , Alien Report

Final score:

131points

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“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

dinomiteous , Merrick Morton Report

Final score:

117points

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Part of the reason for this lack of representation is that women do not have nearly as much of a foothold in cinema as men. Only 18% of all Hollywood directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors are female. As a result, it’s not hard to imagine that stories of “female fury” are overlooked in favor of more male-centric narratives. It’s not impossible for a man to write an angry woman, but more likely that a woman would write a more lasting one.

If we think about the top films of any given year, between 10 and 20% will be headlined by a woman. Hence the need for viewers to actively reach out for advice on films that depict something specific from the perspective of a woman. This is similarly true for casting in general, for example, in 2014, only 28.1% of characters in 100 top-grossing films were female.

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Thelma and Louise!
Susan Sarandon & Gina Davis were amazing in the movie & perfectly cast.

Every_Vanilla_3778 , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc Report

Final score:

104points

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“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger The Menu

I saw in an interview with Anya Taylor Joy that (spoiler) the moment her character Margot finds out that Tyler brought her to the island knowing it will end in their deaths, the script said she would just sit there silently crying, but instead she was like "yeah nah, no woman would ever react like that, especially to finding out she was about to die" and instead had Margot slap and claw the bejeezus out of Tyler, as she should. I love her for that, and loved Margot overall.

ThrowRARAw , Eric Zachanowich Report

Final score:

103points

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“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger The Help

dancing_kween78 , Dale Robinette Report

Final score:

99points

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It’s similar in other roles. Amy Pascal is the studio chief for Sony, the only female leader in a major film studio. The same can, unfortunately, be said of pay as well. While times are changing and there is some variety in different cohorts, overall, in some years a Hollywood female actress will make just forty cents for each dollar earned by a male counterpart. Remember, in general, when people talk about the pay gap, it’s normally around 20% less, not 60%.

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger First Wives Club, especially Diane Keaton’s character, who tried so hard to be supportive and kind and kept getting shat on by life. Her blow ups were particularly well deserved.

princessawesomepants , Paramount Pictures Report

Final score:

89points

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“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger The girl with the dragon tattoo (swedish and american)

Affectionate_Bid4704 , Baldur Bragason Report

Final score:

89points

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“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Steel Magnolias

throw_away5430 , Steel Magnolias Report

Final score:

86points

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The few female specialists that do still make a name for themselves in Hollywood are often subject to rampant abuse and hateful comments. The website Sh*t People Say to Women Directors (& Other Women in Film) contains just a fraction of stories from the industry if you are curious to learn more. More darkly, the me too movement was a direct result of a male-dominated industry where abusers could limit access to talented women who opposed them.

#10

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger 'Girl, Interrupted' was probably the first movie I saw that portrayed female rage and mental illness in a sympathetic light. It really stuck with me

_catsimp , Columbia Pictures Report

Final score:

84points

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#11

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Promising young woman.

covert_wooper , Promising Young Woman Report

Final score:

79points

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#12

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger The Dressmaker is an excellent, gorgeous film and depicts female anger and vengeance.

Migraine_Megan , Ben King Report

Final score:

66points

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The question about female rage may have been sparked by the simple, but unfortunate fact that all too often a woman’s role in a film is to look nice. In the 56 top-grossing films of 2018 around the world, female characters were four times more likely than men to be shown wearing revealing clothing or be completely nude and nearly twice as likely to be shown as partially nude.

#13

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Hunger games

Dolphin_Moon , The Hunger Games Report

Final score:

66points

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#14

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger There are some moments / speeches from Angela Bassett (Queen Ramonda) in Black Panther 2 which are incredible, although rage mixed with anguish

ladysnaxalot , Annette Brown Report

Final score:

60points

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#15

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Midsommar, I feel like that one definitely shows how a lot of the times it is a slow burn thing and it doesn’t always start off as anger, but sadness and a feeling of betrayal

oriella_me , Midsommar Report

Final score:

59points

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This is equally as true for prime-time television, where women were overall the minority of characters anyway. In fact, unlike in other industries, the representation gap is actually growing in television. So, unfortunately, portrayals of accurate “female rage” are likely as few and far between as accurate portrayals of female anything. Hopefully, these statistics can be evened out and more than one in ten directors will actually be a woman.

#16

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger G.I Jane, when she finally tells them......... *Suck my d**k!*

Granny_knows_best , G.I. Jane Report

Final score:

58points

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#17

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Monster

Han_Solo077 , Newmarket Films Report

Final score:

53points

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#18

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Angela Basset- Waiting to Exhale.

LeMeowLePurrr , Waiting to Exhale Report

Final score:

49points

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#19

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Gone Girl. Specifically the "cool girl" monologue.

shymilkshakes , Gone Girl Report

Final score:

44points

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#20

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Clem in Eternal Sunshine. So much rage & anger & resentment in such a realistic way.

voiceinheadphone , Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Report

Final score:

44points

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#21

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Mr Hollands Opus, the scene where his wife has a breakdown for not being able to communicate with her son.

Bambers12 , Buena Vista Pictures Report

Final score:

37points

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#22

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Not quite rage per say, but the scene in Princess Kaguya (Ghibli film) after a man dies in pursuit of her hand in marriage, she breaks everything around her and runs back to her hometown as a streak of destruction across the countryside. The film is animated and this scene is drawn with mostly strokes of thick black charcoal and really shows the raw emotion of anger, sorrow, and frustration. The whole scene felt like a very realistic reaction as well as accurate portrayal of the anger inside of women.

cryselephantine , Hatake Jimusho Report

Final score:

36points

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#23

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger I like Florence Pugh’s monologue as Amy in Little Women to Teddy about being a woman in that time. I thought that was excellently done. The whole film isn’t about that. But that scene was A+

thememorist , Wilson Webb Report

Final score:

36points

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#24

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Set it off

NoFox1391 , D Stevens Report

Final score:

35points

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#25

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger couldn’t choose just one, so:
gone girl
the virgin suicides
pearl and x
midsommar
raw
the vvitch
black swan
possession
heavenly creatures
i’m obsessed with feminine rage, and i have sooo many book recs about it as well!

eperszezon , Fox Searchlight Pictures Report

Final score:

33points

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#26

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Hereditary

bingobr0nson , Hereditary Report

Final score:

32points

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#27

Obligatory not a film but the first series of Killing Eve. Particularly Sandra Oh's character.

Pepys-a-Doodlebugs Report

Final score:

31points

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#28

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger I like “The Break Up.” Jennifer Anniston’s character did a great job of illustrating how women can get frustrated in a relationship even when they like the guy.

dont-forget-to-smile , The Break-Up Report

Final score:

30points

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#29

I think Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster both portray anger/rage very well in Carnage. That pent up anger and resentment finally forcing its way out is something that I think a lot of us can relate to.

leedzah Report

Final score:

25points

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#30

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Ladybird

_xiaomints , Lady Bird Report

Final score:

23points

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#31

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Not a movie, but season 4, episode 13 of The Sopranos ("Whitecaps"). Oh my god, I could really feel Carmela's anger and hurt through her acting, it brought me to tears. I do believe Edie Falco won an Emmy for her performance in that episode.

ggc5009 , Getty Images Report

Final score:

13points

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#32

Rage comedy: Bridesmaids

manicmonday76 Report

Final score:

12points

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#33

Maybe more like internalized shame/anger, but Portrait of a Lady on Fire

TheGoldenGooch Report

Final score:

9points

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#34

Harley Quinn: birds of prey

yourgracesansa Report

Final score:

7points

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#35

“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger Enough. J-Lo’s performance is perfect.

CapnSeabass , Enough Report

Final score:

6points

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What do you think ?

Molly Whuppie 1 year ago

Kill Bill should definitely be on this list.

27points

Jo Cooper 1 year ago

I was just thinking that, especially the animated O-Ren Ishii scene.

5points

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Helena 1 year ago

Kill Bill should BE the list

3points

Mary Bank 1 year ago

I was just coming on here to put that. Like how the heck did that get missed?!

2points

CanadianDimes 1 year ago

I wish all of these had an explanation, not just some of them. The title of the film alone isn’t enough to explain why it’s a good example of feminine rage. I want to know why people think that!

22points

P.C. 1 year ago

Yeah. I was expecting to see elaboration. Some did better than others, at least listing the moment/woman in the movie.

Leo Domitrix 1 year ago

I'm not sure what counts as "female rage". It's just rage. Occasionally psychotic homicidal stuff ("Monster" for example). But nobody mentioned Norma Rae. One woman vs the company, holding the sign "UNION". That was epic.

11points

Daffydillz~ 1 year ago

Norma Rae is a phenomenal movie. Have you seen Sally Field in the movie Sybil? Another great movie from this time period is Silkwood. This drama is based on the true story of Karen Silkwood (Meryl Streep), who works at a nuclear facility, along with her boyfriend, Drew Stephens (Kurt Russell), and their roommate, Dolly Pelliker (Cher). When Karen becomes concerned about safety practices at the plant, she begins raising awareness of violations that could put workers at risk. Intent on continuing her investigation, Karen discovers a suspicious development: She has been exposed to high levels of radiation.

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“Female Rage”: 30 Films That Accurately Portray A Woman’s Anger

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