- yesterday
Dive into the world of cinema's most nuanced and compelling female characters! We're exploring the women who defy stereotypes, challenge expectations, and bring incredible depth to the big screen. From complex protagonists to unforgettable anti-heroines, these characters are anything but one-dimensional.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Evelyn, did you hear me?
00:02Sorry.
00:04What did you say?
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:07And today, we're counting down our picks for the female movie characters who were written and portrayed with true depth.
00:13We'll only be looking at fictional characters, not those based on real people.
00:17And we won't be including animated films.
00:19Those deserve their own list.
00:21I could go home to my parents, but I'd have to tell them the truth.
00:2520. Elle Woods, Legally Blonde
00:30And you didn't just get it in. I saw it in the June book a year ago.
00:34So if you're trying to sell it to me for full price, you picked the wrong girl.
00:37Most people in Elle's life assume she's ditzy and shallow, just because she's pretty, perky, and loves fashion.
00:43But she's actually brilliant.
00:45And when people underestimate her, Elle learns to use it to her advantage.
00:49She gets accepted to Harvard Law School without even trying that hard,
00:52and manages to get revenge on her bonehead ex-boyfriend and creepy law professor.
00:57Are you hitting on me?
00:59You're a beautiful girl.
01:02So everything you just said?
01:04I'm a man who knows what he wants.
01:07And I'm a law student who just realized her professor is a pathetic asshole.
01:11Her overt femininity isn't a facade.
01:13It's as much a part of her character as her intellect.
01:16Elle Woods gave audiences something we still rarely get to see on screen.
01:20An unapologetic girly girl with enough brains to outwit anyone in the Ivy League.
01:26Wouldn't you have heard the gunshot?
01:27And if in fact you had heard the gunshot,
01:29Brooke Windham wouldn't have had time to hide the gun before you got downstairs.
01:33Which would mean that you would have had to have found Mrs. Windham with a gun in her hand
01:37to make your story plausible.
01:39Isn't that right?
01:39You might think that a character can't have that much complexity
02:02when we only see a tiny snapshot of their life.
02:05But this French new wave film will prove you wrong.
02:08Cleo from 5 to 7 follows a young singer in real time,
02:12as she wanders around Paris waiting for the results of a biopsy
02:15to determine whether she has cancer.
02:17Cleo is initially portrayed as an unserious person fixated on her looks,
02:21who takes on different personas depending on who she's with.
02:24However, over the course of the film, she becomes introspective.
02:47She learns to recognize her own self-absorption
02:49and the fact that she's been performing a part rather than living authentically.
02:53It's a powerful journey that takes place in a mere 90 minutes.
03:09Number 18, Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games Franchise.
03:13I volunteer! I volunteer!
03:17I volunteer as tribute!
03:18From hardened survivalist to political mascot to true leader,
03:24Katniss goes through a major evolution over the course of this series.
03:27In the beginning, her only concern is keeping herself and her sister alive.
03:32In the games, she develops empathy for others,
03:34and her tough exterior begins to break down.
03:37You want mine too?
03:39No, that's okay.
03:42Here.
03:43The rebellion turns her into a symbol,
03:48and at first she simply goes along with it,
03:50but eventually she comes to desire real justice,
03:53not just for her family, but for everyone in the nation.
03:57The victors will be granted immunity,
03:59and you will announce that in front of the entire population of 13.
04:02You will hold yourself and your government responsible,
04:05or you will find another Mockingjay.
04:07That's it. That's her. Right there.
04:10Though the games left Katniss with deep emotional wounds,
04:13her growth as a person leads her to a peaceful life,
04:16and a chance for happiness at last.
04:19Someday I'll explain it to you.
04:22Why they came.
04:25Why they won't ever go away.
04:28Number 17.
04:29Alicia Huberman.
04:30Notorious.
04:32Don't you need a coat?
04:34You'll do.
04:35With a Nazi spy for a father,
04:38a tendency to drink too much,
04:40and a constantly rotating roster of boyfriends,
04:42Alicia's a bit of a train wreck.
04:45Despite this,
04:46she reluctantly gets recruited to use her connections to spy for the U.S.
04:50She develops a romance with a fellow agent,
04:52which immediately gets thrown into turmoil
04:54when she's instructed to seduce one of her father's associates.
04:57It was a wonderful race.
04:58Did you have much money on the winner?
05:00I didn't see the race.
05:01Didn't you?
05:02I thought I saw you looking through your field glasses.
05:04I was watching you and your friend,
05:05Mr. Devlin.
05:07I presume that's why you left my mother and me.
05:09You had an appointment to meet him.
05:10Ingrid Bergman's portrayal of Alicia makes the character work.
05:14In the hands of a less talented actor,
05:16Alicia could have become a pawn being used by the men around her for their own ends.
05:20But Bergman plays her as deeply conflicted,
05:23torn between her past and her future,
05:24and unsure of where her loyalties should lie.
05:28Oh, please, Alex.
05:30You'll love him.
05:31No, of course not.
05:32Please go.
05:33For what it's worth,
05:34as an apology,
05:35your wife is telling the truth.
05:37I knew her before you,
05:38loved her before you,
05:39but I wasn't as lucky as you.
05:41Sorry, Alicia.
05:42Please go.
05:43Good night.
05:45Number 16.
05:46Cassie Thomas,
05:48Promising Young Woman.
05:49She's not careful.
05:50Someone's going to take advantage,
05:51especially the kind of guys in this club.
05:54She's kind of hot.
05:56Her life fell apart after her best friend was assaulted
05:59and later took her own life when her assailant went free.
06:02Now she spends her evenings hanging out in bars,
06:05pretending to be drunk and entrapping other abusers.
06:08Although her revenge quest might be deeply cathartic for many viewers,
06:12she's far from flawless.
06:13Some of her actions are almost as shocking as those of the people she's coming for.
06:17Oh, wait.
06:19I have her phone.
06:21She'll be wanting that later.
06:25You're crazy.
06:27No.
06:29Tell me what room my daughter is in right now.
06:31I told you the same room Nina was in.
06:34Cassie is a seductress,
06:35a vigilante,
06:37and a deeply wounded young woman,
06:39all hiding beneath the exterior of a fragile and vulnerable Mark.
06:42What do you want, money?
06:44You blackmailing me?
06:44I want you to tell me what you did.
06:50Are you talking about...
06:52What do you think I'm talking about?
06:54I didn't do anything.
06:56We were kids.
06:57If I hear that one more time.
07:00Number 15.
07:01Dr. Louise Banks.
07:02Arrival.
07:08Dr. Banks.
07:11You can stop.
07:12This gorgeous sci-fi from director Denis Villeneuve stars Amy Adams as a linguist
07:19who must learn to communicate with a newly arrived alien species.
07:22The film addresses deep themes about connection and human behavior,
07:26and it rests almost entirely on Adams' shoulders.
07:29Louise goes into the project terrified,
07:55both of the aliens and of her own potential for failure.
07:58As she begins to understand the alien's language,
08:01she becomes more confident and determined to keep the peace at any cost.
08:06We need to find out, do they make conscious choices,
08:08or is their motivation so instinctive that they don't understand a why question at all.
08:14And biggest of all, we need to have enough vocabulary with them that we understand their answer.
08:20She learns things about herself and the choices she'll be forced to make
08:23that have her, and the audience, questioning everything they know.
08:27I'm curious, are you dreaming in their language?
08:41I may have had a few dreams, but I don't.
08:43I don't think that that makes me unfit to do this job.
08:53Number 14. Mildred Hayes.
08:55Three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri.
08:57Oh, no, just some of the guys on the team was giving me crap.
09:00Crap about what?
09:01About the billboards, Mildred.
09:04Which is what I've come to have a word with you about.
09:07Well, proceed.
09:08Frances McDormand won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Mildred,
09:12a woman determined to get justice for her murdered daughter.
09:15Although she's willing to do just about anything to force the police into action,
09:19she's also dealing with her own unresolved grief,
09:22anger, and guilt over the mistakes she made as a mother.
09:25Her relationship with her son, who is still very much alive,
09:29becomes strained over her obsession.
09:32Hey there.
09:33You know who threw that can?
09:36What can?
09:39How about you, sweetheart?
09:41You know who threw that can?
09:42Like most of the characters on our list,
09:44she's admirable in some ways and deeply flawed in others.
09:47And like any real human,
09:49she's a complicated mix of strengths and weaknesses.
09:52The more you keep a case in the public eye,
09:54the better your chance start getting it solved.
09:56It's in all the guidebooks, Charlie.
09:58How much these billboards cost?
10:00About the same as a tractor trailer.
10:02Number 13, Brian E. Tallis, Atonement.
10:07If I fell in, would you save me?
10:09Of course.
10:17As a young child, she accidentally ruins two people's lives
10:21when she wrongly accuses her sister's boyfriend, Robbie, of assault.
10:25She makes things worse when she lies to the police inspector,
10:28claiming that she actually saw the attacker's face.
10:30I saw him.
10:31I saw him with my own eyes.
10:36Well done, darling.
10:38Robbie is sent to prison.
10:40And it isn't until years later,
10:42after he's been drafted into the Second World War,
10:44that Bryony realizes what she's done.
10:46Let him now speak, or forever hold his feet.
10:58Was the accusation truly an innocent mistake?
11:00Or was it motivated by jealousy and an immature desire to be a hero?
11:04That's the question Bryony will spend the rest of her life agonizing over.
11:08Did you think it then?
11:09Yes, yes and no.
11:10And what's made you so certain now?
11:12I grew up.
11:12Growing up?
11:13I was 13.
11:14How old do you have to be to know the difference between right and wrong?
11:17Number 12, Nicole Barber, Marriage Story.
11:20You're being so much like your father.
11:23Do not compare me to my father.
11:24I didn't compare you to him.
11:25I said you were acting like him.
11:27You're exactly like your mother.
11:28Everything you're complaining about her, you're doing.
11:30There's a reason critics and audiences alike loved this movie.
11:33It's probably one of the most realistic portrayals of divorce ever put on screen.
11:38Nicole is torn between her feelings for Charlie and her need to reclaim her sense of self.
11:43She spent years putting his career and ambitions first,
11:46and he doesn't seem especially grateful.
11:48But she's not exactly perfect herself.
11:57While she and Charlie initially agree to separate amicably,
12:00Nicole later hires a tough lawyer and turns the proceedings into an ugly fight.
12:05Caught in the middle is their son, Henry.
12:07And at times, both parents are guilty of neglecting his needs while caught up in their own struggles.
12:12Nicole feels as authentic and complicated as any real-life human.
12:17I realized I...
12:18I didn't ever really come alive for myself.
12:21I was just feeding his aliveness.
12:24Number 11, Lisa Rowe, Girl Interrupted.
12:27Hey, Ronnie.
12:29Uh, yes?
12:30Got any hot fudge?
12:31Yes.
12:32Yeah?
12:33Can I have a vanilla sundae with hot fudge?
12:37And, uh, sprinkles.
12:39Rainbow, not chocolate.
12:41Okay.
12:42Portraying mental illness on screen can be tricky.
12:45It's easy to resort to stereotypes that depict sufferers as victims or dangerous villains.
12:50Lisa is diagnosed as a sociopath,
12:52and while she is prone to violent outbursts,
12:54there's more to her than meets the eye.
12:56I'm playing the villain, baby.
12:58Just like you want.
12:59Try to give you everything you want.
13:00No, you don't.
13:01She brags about being free from the constraints of civilized society,
13:05but she's actually yearning to be understood and desperate to make connections with those around her.
13:10Even she doesn't quite seem to know why she lashes out at people,
13:13or why more people don't behave the way she does.
13:16Lisa Rowe.
13:19Highs and lows increasingly severe.
13:22Controlling relationships with patients.
13:25No appreciable response to meds.
13:28No remission observed.
13:30That was before you ran away.
13:31We are very rare, and we are mostly men.
13:35Lisa thinks she's hot shit because she's a sociopath.
13:37Number 10.
13:39Christine Ladybird McPherson.
13:41Lady Bird.
13:42Call me Ladybird like you said you would.
13:44You should just go to City College.
13:46You know, with your work ethic, just go to City College and then to jail,
13:49and then back to City College,
13:50and then maybe you'd learn to pull yourself up and not expect everybody to do everything.
13:54We knew Greta Gerwig was a brilliant writer-director way back in 2017.
13:59Her debut film follows a high school senior struggling to find her identity and her place in the world.
14:05Lady Bird is a whirlwind of contradictions.
14:08She claims she hates Sacramento, but she writes about it with reverence in an essay.
14:12She wants to think of herself as deep and wise,
14:15but she's impulsive and worried about what others think of her.
14:18Why didn't you just say pick up your feet?
14:20I didn't know if you were tired.
14:21You were being passive-aggressive.
14:22No, I wasn't.
14:23I'm so infuriating.
14:24Will you stop yelling?
14:24I'm not yelling.
14:26Oh, it's perfect.
14:27Do you love it?
14:28Like any normal teenager, she loves her mother Marion, yet the two clash constantly,
14:34partly because Marion is an equally complex figure.
14:37I wish that you liked me.
14:40Of course I love you.
14:45But do you like me?
14:47It's not the only time Saoirse Ronan has played a deeply conflicted character,
14:51even on this list.
14:52Her turn as Jo March in Little Women earned her critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination.
14:58Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts.
15:07And they've got ambition, and they've got talent, as well as just beauty.
15:11And I'm so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for.
15:16I'm so sick of it.
15:19But I'm so lonely.
15:22Even if you've never seen this all-time classic film, you've probably heard some of Norma Desmond's iconic lines.
15:44Gloria Swanson gave the biggest performance of her life as the washed-up silent film star
15:52who's convinced that her big comeback is just over the horizon.
15:56Her behavior can be cruel, even monstrous.
15:58Yet by the end, we can't help but pity her.
16:01Haven't they got any eyes?
16:02Have they forgotten what a star looks like?
16:04I'll show them.
16:05I'll be up there again, so help me.
16:07The Hollywood studio system used her up, then discarded her.
16:11And even her longtime director will no longer return her phone calls.
16:15She hides in her mansion because she fears the outside world
16:18and can't face the changes the last few decades have brought.
16:22Norma, you're a woman of 50. Now grow up.
16:25There's nothing tragic about being 50, not unless you try to be 25.
16:29Norma might be a murderer and manipulator, but she's also extremely human.
16:34Number 8. Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo and the girl in the spider's web.
16:41She's one of the best investigators I have, as you saw from her report.
16:44Fox?
16:45I'm concerned you won't like her.
16:49She's different.
16:50In what way?
16:52In every way.
16:54Lisbeth's early life was basically hell.
16:57At the mercy of evil men, she was abused, assaulted, and institutionalized.
17:01No wonder she's made it her life's work to avenge other victims.
17:05Who are you?
17:09You should ask yourself that question.
17:12She's incredibly smart and a brilliant hacker.
17:15And she uses those tools to get close to and blackmail her targets.
17:19What do they say?
17:21If you had to sum it up.
17:23They say I'm insane.
17:24No, it's okay, you can not, because it's true.
17:30I am insane.
17:32She can be kind and even loving to the few people she cares about,
17:35but her ruthlessness and brutality know no bounds.
17:39Lisbeth is doing good by taking down abusers,
17:41but we also suspect that she enjoys inflicting pain and torment on them.
17:45The writer of wrongs.
17:49The girl who hurts men, who hurt women.
17:53Are those lucky ladies?
17:56Number 7.
17:57Red, Adelaide, Us.
18:03We can't talk about these characters without spoilers,
18:06so here's your warning.
18:08Throughout this movie, the Tethered are depicted as sub-human monsters,
18:11whose only goal is destroying their counterparts and escaping their underground prison.
18:16That is, until we learn that Adelaide herself was a Tethered.
18:19Red switched places with her when they were both children
18:22and grew up on the surface in a loving home.
18:24This proves that, as the film's title suggests,
18:27The Tethered Are Us.
18:30Tethered together.
18:32When the girl ate,
18:35her food was given to her.
18:37Warm and tasty.
18:41But when the shadow was hungry,
18:44she had to eat rabbit.
18:46Raw and bloody.
18:48If Red is a monster, then Adelaide is too.
18:51The only difference is that one was raised in privilege
18:54and the other in darkness.
19:09Number 6.
19:10It's Marianne, Portrait of a Lady on Fire,
19:13a.k.a. Portrait de la jeune fille en feu.
19:15Imagine finding the love of your life,
19:29but knowing the two of you can never be together.
19:31That's exactly what happens to Marianne and Héloïse.
19:34The film takes place in France in the late 1700s,
19:37a society in which the women have next to no freedoms
19:40and their love is completely forbidden.
19:43Stop.
19:44What?
19:49What are you doing?
19:49Even in her work as a professional artist,
19:54Marianne must navigate a male-dominated world
19:57that enforces limits on her ability to advance in her career.
20:00Her feelings for Héloïse are complicated by the knowledge
20:03that Héloïse will be married off to a rich man,
20:06and Marianne feels she has no right to ask her to resist that fate.
20:09The film is a heartbreaking portrait of love and grief
20:12in a hostile world.
20:13Bella actually starts out as a simple character.
20:35She has the body of an adult and the mind of a toddler,
20:38though she learns and matures very rapidly.
20:41This becomes a problem for her lover, Duncan.
20:43Who liked being able to control her.
20:46You're always reading now, Bella.
20:49You're losing some of your adorable way of speaking.
20:53I'm a changing-able feast, as are all of we.
20:56Apparently, according to Emerson, disagreed with by Harry.
20:59Come, come, just come.
21:02You were in my son.
21:03We follow Bella as she discovers
21:05and reacts to all the wonderful and terrible parts of life.
21:08Love, pleasure, jealousy, poverty, and greed.
21:12Must be hot.
21:13We must go help them.
21:17As she grows, she becomes strong-willed and independent,
21:20uninterested in conforming to society's demands.
21:23Her journey is one of the most profound
21:25and funniest ever put on film.
21:27Number four, Oren Ishii, Kill Bill, Volume 1.
21:49By 20, she was one of the top female assassins in the world.
21:56As a young child, she watched her parents get murdered in front of her by a Yakuza boss.
22:01That's bound to have lasting effects on a kid.
22:03But instead of grieving, Oren wanted revenge.
22:06She became an elite assassin by age 11.
22:09And by the time we meet her in Kill Bill, she has power over the entire Tokyo underworld.
22:14She's sensitive about her mixed heritage and has no problem brutally murdering anyone who questions her.
22:20As your leader, I encourage you from time to time and always in a respectful manner to question my logic.
22:28If you're unconvinced, a particular plan of action I've decided is the wisest, tell me so.
22:34But allow me to convince you, and I promise you right here and now, no subject will ever be taboo.
22:41Except, of course, a subject that was just under discussion.
22:44We can only guess at what's going through her head at any given moment.
22:48The Bride is another fascinating character.
22:51We never learn much about her backstory.
22:53We don't even find out her real name until Volume 2.
22:56But she's just as vicious and hell-bent on revenge as Oren.
23:00You may not be able to fight like a samurai.
23:06But you can at least die like a samurai.
23:09Number 3.
23:10Ada McGrath, The Piano
23:12This 19th century Scottish woman is so complicated, she doesn't even understand herself.
23:32The motivations behind many of her actions remain a mystery throughout the film.
23:36Ada hasn't spoken aloud since she was a young child.
23:39And no one, including Ada, can explain why.
23:43The voice you hear is not my speaking voice, but my mind's voice.
23:49She also has a daughter, and we never learn who the father is.
23:53At the beginning of The Piano, Ada is married off to a wealthy colonizer in New Zealand.
23:57But she begins a passionate affair with a local man.
24:00The film seems to explore the process of learning to truly know another person,
24:04or yourself, through communication that runs deeper than language.
24:08At night, I think of my piano in its ocean grave.
24:16And sometimes of myself, floating above it.
24:21Number 2.
24:22Evelyn Wong, Everything Everywhere All at Once
24:25If you haven't seen the spectacular, absurdist, comedy, family, drama, sci-fi, kung fu movie that swept the Oscars,
24:39what are you waiting for?
24:41Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn Wong in this universe and all the others.
24:44And over the course of the film, she discovers talents and abilities within herself that she never thought were possible.
24:51As she crisscrosses time and space, she taps into her other identities and experiences.
24:56First to fight her enemies, and then ultimately to understand them.
24:59Along the way, she discovers that her unfulfilling life as a laundromat owner and her strained relationship with her family aren't burdens.
25:22They're actually the most important things in all of the multiverse.
25:25These are direct indications that there's an impingement on the nervous system.
25:35With a little bit of help, we should be seeing things get nice and straight.
25:43You might feel a little sore, but everything's looking pretty good.
25:47Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
25:51Nina Sayers, Black Swan.
25:53By the end of this film, neither Nina nor the audience knows who she really is.
25:58Good.
26:05It's fun.
26:06My mom is done.
26:09Dorothea Fields, 20th Century Women.
26:12She struggles to balance competing roles as mother, friend, and independent woman.
26:16Do you think you're happy?
26:19Like, as happy as you thought you'd be when you were my age.
26:26Seriously?
26:27You don't ask people questions like that.
26:30You're my mom.
26:34Especially your mom.
26:36Annie Wilkes.
26:37Misery.
26:38Delusion.
26:39Violence.
26:40And childish fury combine to make her a terrifying villain.
26:43How could you?
26:46She can't be dead.
26:49Misery Chastain cannot be dead.
26:52Annie in 1871, women often died in childbirth.
26:56But a spirit is the important thing, and a misery spirit is still alive.
27:00I don't want her spirit!
27:02I want her!
27:04And you murdered her!
27:05Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
27:10about our latest videos.
27:12You have the option to be notified for occasional videos, or all of them.
27:16If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
27:22Number 1.
27:23Amy Dunn.
27:24Gone Girl.
27:24You need a diary.
27:27Minimum 300 entries on the Nick and Amy story.
27:31Start with the fairy tale early days.
27:33Those are true, and they're crucial.
27:36You want Nick and Amy to be likable.
27:38Is she an abused and neglected wife?
27:40A calculating killer?
27:41Or both?
27:42We don't know who to trust in this tense psychological thriller.
27:46And that's what makes it so entertaining.
27:48After she catches her husband, Nick, cheating, Amy concocts an elaborate plan to frame him for
27:53her murder.
27:54Nick Dunn took my pride, and my dignity, and my hope, and my money.
27:59He took and took from me until I no longer existed.
28:03That's murder.
28:04Let the punishment fit the crime.
28:06Even though she commits some truly horrifying deeds, many of the women in the audience might
28:11still find themselves rooting for her.
28:13Being lied to, manipulated, and taken for granted by mediocre men is an all-too-common
28:19experience after all.
28:20Rosamund Pike's performance makes Amy believable as both the smart and classy wife, and the
28:25cold, vindictive villain.
28:27You can admire her.
28:28Just do not cross her.
28:30Nick teased out in me things I didn't know existed.
28:34A lightness, a humor, an ease.
28:36But I made him smarter, sharper.
28:40I inspired him to rise to my level.
28:43Which of these complex female characters do you find the most fascinating?
28:47Let us know in the comments below.
28:48You mustn't give your heart to a wild thing.
28:51The more you do, the stronger they get.
28:53Until they're strong enough to run into the woods or fly into a tree.
28:57And then to a higher tree.
28:58And then to the sky.
28:59Bye-bye.
28:59Bye-bye.
Recommended
25:58
|
Up next
1:18:36
17:51
1:52:09
37:24
59:51
0:30
1:31:28
1:59:57
1:43:40
12:15