From packed out, pink-clad cinemas to thousands of social media memes, Barbie’s opening weekend was certainly one for the history books. The film, hailed as the ultimate “feminist fable”, saw Greta Gerwig break the domestic box office record for a female director, meaning there’s cause for celebration all round. And then we had The Substance: a record-breaking film that saw filmgoers intrigued by the interesting and fresh concept as well as the promise of body horror and grotesque boundaries. It is outrageously brilliant and an insightful commentary on how youth is still one of the most universal currencies for women.

Exploring the patriarchy and the impossibility of being a woman, many of us left cinemas feeling seen, inspired and maybe a little stressed from the body gore. With that in mind, it seems a good time to choose to watch some more incredible films made for (and by) amazing women.

Here are just a few of the brilliant feminist films streaming now, all of which aim to tackle a variety of important issues. But please note: this is in no way the definitive list; it’s just a jumping-off point.

The Substance

Demi Moore stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, an ageing actor and fading star whose career has petered out into a hosting spot on a daytime exercise TV show. When her boss, Harvey (Dennis Quaid), tells her she’s fired – “It stops after 50,” he says bluntly – she is left distraught.

Evidently, she has no sense of value beyond her public persona. So, soon enough, she turns to ‘the Substance’, a black market drug that promises to split her in two, with the new version becoming younger and more beautiful. The only catch is that the two selves must split their time, each living for seven days before swapping over.

The Substance is streaming on Mubi

Polite Society

This film follows martial artist-in-training Ria Khan (Priya Kansara), who believes she must save her older sister, Lena (Ritu Arya), from her impending marriage. After enlisting the help of her friends, Ria attempts to pull off the most ambitious of all wedding heists in the name of independence and sisterhood. It’s spunky, funny and packed full of action.

Polite Society is streaming on NOW

The Woman King

This award-winning film takes us back to the 1800s, where a group of all-female warriors protects the African kingdom of Dahomey with skills and fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen. Faced with a new threat, General Nanisca (Viola Davis) trains the next generation of recruits to fight against a foreign enemy that’s determined to destroy their way of life.

The Woman King is available to rent on Prime Video

Rocks

Rocks is filled to the brim with teenage girl power. And, despite taking a very realistic approach to the perils faced by young women today, this critically acclaimed coming-of-age movie is guaranteed to leave you feeling uplifted and hopeful for a brighter future, too. 

Rocks is available to rent on Prime Video

She Said

Based on true events, this film follows New York Times journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor as they investigate sexual abuse allegations against powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. The story they publish serves as a launching pad for the #MeToo movement, shattering decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault and harassment.

She Said is streaming on Netflix

Catherine Called Birdy

Written and directed by Lena Dunham, Catherine Called Birdy sends us rocketing back in time to 1290. There, we join Lady Catherine (known as Birdy, obviously) – aka the youngest child of Lord Rollo and Lady Aislin. When she learns that her parents plan to marry her off to a wealthy man in exchange for money and land, though, our spirited teen heroine decides to do anything and everything she can to put even the most vile of her suitors off. 

Catherine Called Birdy is streaming on Prime Video

Everything Everywhere All At Once

This Oscar winner follows a dissatisfied and overwhelmed laundromat owner (Michelle Yeoh) who discovers that she must connect with parallel universe versions of herself to prevent a powerful being from destroying the multiverse – all while contending with pressure from the IRS, her husband and her family.

Everything Everywhere All At Once is available to rent on Prime Video

On The Basis Of Sex

On The Basis Of Sex tells the true story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her struggles for equal rights and the early cases of a historic career that lead to her nomination and confirmation as US supreme sourt associate justice.

On The Basis Of Sex is streaming on Prime Video

Moxie

Based on the Jennifer Mathieu book of the same name, Moxie tells the story of a girl from a small town who, inspired by her mother’s Riot Grrrl past, starts a feminist revolution at her high school.

Moxie is streaming on Netflix

Till

Till brings us the true story of Mamie Till-Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who was brutally lynched in 1955 while visiting his cousins in Mississippi.

Till is streaming onNOW

Set It Off 

Set It Off follows four Black women in LA, all of whom are struggling to find a way to live freely under the boot of capitalism… so they take it upon themselves to start robbing banks. It’s not just a slick and star-studded heist movie, though: Set It Off also forces us to confront the many injustices visited upon Black women, too.

Set It Off is available to rent on Prime Video

Jane

Drawing from over 100 hours of previously unseen archival footage, director Brett Morgen tells the story of Jane Goodall, a woman whose chimpanzee research revolutionised our understanding of the natural world.

Jane is streaming on Disney+

Wadjda

The first Saudi Arabian-produced film ever to be directed by a woman, Haifaa Al-Mansour, Wadjda tells the story of a rebellious Saudi girl, who enters a school competition solely so that she can win enough money to buy her own bicycle.

Wadjda is streaming on Apple TV+ 

Misbehaviour

The warm and funny Misbehaviour takes us back in time to 1970, when the Women’s Liberation movement decided to stage a protest at the Miss World competition. It doesn’t side with one particular type of woman or branch of feminism, though, presenting the Miss World contestants as smart, capable women with their own political agendas. And, in the process, it allows for well over 50 shades of grey.

Misbehaviour is streaming on NOW

The Watermelon Woman 

In this rollicking, sexy, and utterly engaging film (which boasts that elusive 100% ‘fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes), an aspiring Black lesbian filmmaker researches an obscure 1940s Black actor billed as the Watermelon Woman.

The Watermelon Woman is streaming on Prime Video

The Witch

Horror fans will definitely want to watch (or rewatch) The Witch, which serves as a terrifying feminist folktale about a young woman rejecting society and its restrictions on her movement.

The Witch is available to rent on Prime Video

Mustang

Nominated for a best foreign language Oscar in 2016 and the winner of four César awards in France, Mustang is “incredible and super feminist”, promises Stylist’s Moya Crockett. Directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven, it uses the story of five orphaned sisters to sensitively explore the subservient role that women have been assigned in some religion-dominated cultures.

Mustang is available to rent on Prime Video

Suffragette

Suffragette tells the compelling story of the passionate and violent fight for the female vote in late 19th and early 20th century Britain.

Suffragette is available to rent on Prime Video

The Real Queens Of Hip-Hop

The Real Queens Of Hip-Hop: The Women Who Changed The Game takes an intimate look at the evolution and impact of women emcees and rappers, told by the trailblazing artists who helped create a musical and cultural empire. 

The Real Queens of Hip-Hop: The Women Who Changed the Game is streaming on Disney+

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night 

Every bit as creepy as it is cool, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night sees a skateboarding vampire prey on the residents of a worn-down Iranian city. Or, more specifically, its male residents who disrespect women.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is available to rent on Prime Video

Working Girl

When a secretary’s idea is stolen by her boss, she seizes an opportunity to steal it back by pretending to have her boss’s job.

Working Girl is streaming on Disney+

Erin Brockovich 

This addictive melodrama tells the true story of Erin Brockovich, who brought a small town to its feet and a huge company to its knees.

Erin Brockovich is streaming on Netflix

The Color Purple 

Featuring an award-winning performance from Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple brings Alice Walker’s powerhouse novel – all about a Black woman’s struggle to find her identity after suffering four decades of abuse – to life on screen.

The Color Purple is streaming on NOW

Obvious Child 

Jenny Slate’s Obvious Child is a romcom with a difference, spinning a boldly hilarious (and deeply empathetic) story about a woman who gets an abortion and lives happily ever.

Obvious Child is available to rent on Prime Video

Persepolis 

As warm and witty as it is heartbreaking, Persepolis is the critically acclaimed adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic memoir. Go in expecting to have your eyes opened wide as it details what it was really like to be a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

Persepolis is available to rent on Prime Video

9 To 5 

Sick of being overlooked because of their gender, 9 To 5 sees three female secretaries get revenge on their tyrannical and sexist boss. How? Why, by abducting him and running the business themselves, of course.

9 To 5 is streaming on Disney+

She’s Gotta Have It 

In Spike Lee’s breakout film, Brooklyn-based artist Nola Darling struggles to maintain control of her life as she divides her time between her friends, her job, and her three lovers.

She’s Gotta Have It is streaming on Netflix

Support The Girls

Named by former President Barack Obama as one of his favourite films of 2018, Support The Girls follows Lisa, the general manager at Double Whammies, a highway-side ‘sports bar with curves’, who has her normally unstoppable optimism and faith – in her girls, her customers, and herself – tested over the course of a long, strange day.

Support The Girls is streaming on Netflix

Hidden Figures 

Based on a true story, Hidden Figures follows Nasa mathematicians Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson as they overcome sexism in the workplace to play a pivotal role in astronaut John Glenn’s launch into orbit.

Hidden Figures is streaming on Disney+

Girlhood

In Céline Sciamma’s vibrant coming-of-age film, Girlhood, fiercely smart and independent teenager Marieme joins an all-girl gang in the projects of Paris… with unexpected consequences.

Girlhood is streaming on Prime Video

Images: Mubi; A24; Netflix; Universal; Prime Video; Sarah Gavron; Warner Bros