What are some movies about adult women "finding themselves"?
February 12, 2013 12:58 PM Subscribe
I know of Eat Pray Love, Under the Tuscan Sun, How Stella Got Her Groove Back... any others? Bonus points if they involve travel.
Response by poster: Oh, and also, does this genre of movie have a name?
posted by Anonymousness at 1:00 PM on February 12, 2013
posted by Anonymousness at 1:00 PM on February 12, 2013
Best answer: It's an ensemble piece, but the Judi Dench storyline in "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" fits that description.
posted by xingcat at 1:01 PM on February 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by xingcat at 1:01 PM on February 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
It's not travel, but Queen to Play is much better than the usual woman on journey of self-discovery flick.
posted by Ideefixe at 1:05 PM on February 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Ideefixe at 1:05 PM on February 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Oh, and also, does this genre of movie have a name?
Divorce porn.
posted by Tanizaki at 1:08 PM on February 12, 2013 [5 favorites]
Divorce porn.
posted by Tanizaki at 1:08 PM on February 12, 2013 [5 favorites]
And you might say Morvern Callar represents the seedy underbelly of this particular genre.
posted by mochapickle at 1:10 PM on February 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by mochapickle at 1:10 PM on February 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
Best answer: The Italian movie Bread and Tulips
posted by PussKillian at 1:11 PM on February 12, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by PussKillian at 1:11 PM on February 12, 2013 [3 favorites]
I came in here to suggest Shirley Valentine and Bread and Tulips.
posted by apricot at 1:14 PM on February 12, 2013
posted by apricot at 1:14 PM on February 12, 2013
A couple from the seventies:
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
An Unmarried Woman
posted by octothorpe at 1:20 PM on February 12, 2013 [3 favorites]
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
An Unmarried Woman
posted by octothorpe at 1:20 PM on February 12, 2013 [3 favorites]
The Nun's Story with Audrey Hepburn. Turner Classic shows it sometimes - in fact it's either aired already this month or is due to air very soon.
Quite a few years ahead of its time in some ways.
posted by Currer Belfry at 1:21 PM on February 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
Quite a few years ahead of its time in some ways.
posted by Currer Belfry at 1:21 PM on February 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh, and also, does this genre of movie have a name?
Divorce porn.
Perhaps one of the originators of the genre, The Divorcee. It starred Norma Shearer and was released in 1930.
posted by fuse theorem at 1:28 PM on February 12, 2013
Divorce porn.
Perhaps one of the originators of the genre, The Divorcee. It starred Norma Shearer and was released in 1930.
posted by fuse theorem at 1:28 PM on February 12, 2013
Best answer: Woman on Top (one of my all-time faves), Like Water for Chocolate, The Hours (oh god, The Hours), Orlando, Last Holiday...
I'll keep thinking...
posted by custardfairy at 1:38 PM on February 12, 2013
I'll keep thinking...
posted by custardfairy at 1:38 PM on February 12, 2013
Better than Chocolate (the mom's storyline, LGBT) is another. Sliding Doors. Love, Actually. Sunshine Cleaning. Muriel's Wedding. Living Out Loud, Hope Floats, Practical Magic
posted by custardfairy at 1:42 PM on February 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by custardfairy at 1:42 PM on February 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
Young Adult sort of fits this description, but not in a happy way.
posted by bewilderbeast at 2:01 PM on February 12, 2013
posted by bewilderbeast at 2:01 PM on February 12, 2013
Waitress
The Witches of Eastwick
Being John Malkovich
Away We Go
Annie Hall
(I don't know if a movie about just one woman finding herself counts, since you referred to "movies" about "women" finding themselves. I don't know if the plural has to apply within each movie. If so, then remove Annie Hall from the list.)
posted by John Cohen at 2:15 PM on February 12, 2013
The Witches of Eastwick
Being John Malkovich
Away We Go
Annie Hall
(I don't know if a movie about just one woman finding herself counts, since you referred to "movies" about "women" finding themselves. I don't know if the plural has to apply within each movie. If so, then remove Annie Hall from the list.)
posted by John Cohen at 2:15 PM on February 12, 2013
Muriel's Wedding
(kind of a down-and-dirty version of "finding yourself" but I love that movie)
posted by Katine at 2:17 PM on February 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
(kind of a down-and-dirty version of "finding yourself" but I love that movie)
posted by Katine at 2:17 PM on February 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:20 PM on February 12, 2013
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:20 PM on February 12, 2013
Going In Circles - divorce porn with bonus roller derby stories!
posted by restless_nomad at 2:25 PM on February 12, 2013
posted by restless_nomad at 2:25 PM on February 12, 2013
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:27 PM on February 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:27 PM on February 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
In a weird way, The Painted Veil does this.
posted by BibiRose at 2:33 PM on February 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by BibiRose at 2:33 PM on February 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
Roman Holiday, sorta.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:43 PM on February 12, 2013
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:43 PM on February 12, 2013
Fried Green Tomatoes
posted by bunderful at 2:55 PM on February 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by bunderful at 2:55 PM on February 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
Todo Sobre mi Madre
posted by hannahelastic at 3:00 PM on February 12, 2013
posted by hannahelastic at 3:00 PM on February 12, 2013
The Contender - with the wonderful Joan Allen
The Spitfire Grill
Miss Congeniality
Whip It, starring Ellen Page
Punchline. A bad movie, but the Sally Field's character's transformation is a good story.
It's Complicated. Terrible, but it fits the theme.
posted by valannc at 4:26 PM on February 12, 2013
The Spitfire Grill
Miss Congeniality
Whip It, starring Ellen Page
Punchline. A bad movie, but the Sally Field's character's transformation is a good story.
It's Complicated. Terrible, but it fits the theme.
posted by valannc at 4:26 PM on February 12, 2013
Shopgirl
Persuasion
Coco Before Chanel
Persepolis
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 4:39 PM on February 12, 2013
Persuasion
Coco Before Chanel
Persepolis
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 4:39 PM on February 12, 2013
The Tango Lesson
La Lectrice
84 Charing Cross Road
Does Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs count?
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:14 PM on February 12, 2013
La Lectrice
84 Charing Cross Road
Does Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs count?
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:14 PM on February 12, 2013
It's not divorce porn, but Truly, Madly, Deeply (bonus: includes Alan Rickman).
posted by Lexica at 7:45 PM on February 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Lexica at 7:45 PM on February 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
What about Happy Go Lucky?
posted by toomuchkatherine at 8:12 PM on February 12, 2013
posted by toomuchkatherine at 8:12 PM on February 12, 2013
Now, Voyager is probably classic Hollywood's greatest treatment of this trope, and the fact that the story is a good deal more complicated than a simple linear "finding herself" makes it all the greater.
posted by La Cieca at 11:11 PM on February 12, 2013
posted by La Cieca at 11:11 PM on February 12, 2013
Salmonberries, staring kd lang and directed by Percy Adlon. Involves travel between Alaska and Germany.
posted by salishsea at 10:37 AM on February 13, 2013
posted by salishsea at 10:37 AM on February 13, 2013
In Her Shoes (the Cameron Diaz character).
posted by yawper at 11:36 AM on February 13, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by yawper at 11:36 AM on February 13, 2013 [1 favorite]
Funny, Ha-hah.
Me, You, and Everyone We Know...
Lost in Translation (minus Bill Murray parts).
Mulholland Drive...
posted by stratastar at 2:44 PM on February 13, 2013
Me, You, and Everyone We Know...
Lost in Translation (minus Bill Murray parts).
Mulholland Drive...
posted by stratastar at 2:44 PM on February 13, 2013
La vraie nature de Bernadette (Urban woman "goes back to the land").
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 4:19 PM on February 13, 2013
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 4:19 PM on February 13, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:59 PM on February 12, 2013 [7 favorites]