Cinema Femme’s Top 10 Films of 2025

I often think about a particular scene from the second series of “Fleabag” as the year draws to a close. Kristin Scott Thomas’s character, Belinda, is at a bar with the show’s titular heroine (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) after winning an award. Their discussion, however, steers away from her esteemed accomplishment and instead focuses on menopause, celebrating the liberation it brings from certain kinds of pain. Thomas observes that women’s deepest struggles are often internal—a “fight within”—contrasting this with men’s external “wars” and “ridiculousness.”

This year, more than ever, cinematic releases seemed to reflect this inner pain and struggle faced by women. Films like “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” portrayed the battle for balance and caregiving. “The Kidnapping of Arabella” explored the journey to self-discovery. “Die My Love” tackled a woman’s struggle with mental illness. “Shari & Lamb Chop” highlighted a talented woman fighting for her place in a male-dominated industry. And “April” starkly showed women dangerously seeking abortions in secret, fearing imprisonment for exercising a basic human right to health and protection.

Simultaneously, films such as “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners” addressed the cataclysms within our country, reflecting the realities of racism and the battles young people face against authoritarianism, all currently visible through the lens of our present-day experience.

And finally, to touch on our number one film of the year, “Sorry, Baby,” its writer/director Eva Victor gives one of the best performances of the year as Agnes, who deals with sexual assault, and struggles to move on in an institution that covers for men’s bad behavior. A classic story, but the way Agnes deals with this internally, and outwardly is beautiful. But again, why? If you look around us, it all seems pretty accurate.

And I cannot go on without touching on our number four film, Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” the fight to save a six-year-old girl in a car that has exploded within a cross fire. It is heartbreaking, and the voice of that real little girl, Hind Rajab, will stay reverberating in my soul, because we stand witness to this story of horrific things that are happening, these “wars” that men fight, for corrupt reasons, and as a result, put our lives at risk. These silly wars, that cause so much pain, when we, as women, are dealing with so much already internally. 

The Cinema Femme contributors have collaboratively selected our collective Top 10 films. This list reflects our personal favorites, each of which was chosen on the merits of its quality, not the gender of its creator. Each contributor’s individual favorites can be found at the end of this piece. We wish you all Happy Holidays and look forward to a hopeful 2026!

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1. Sorry, Baby

Winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, “Sorry, Baby” is an extraordinary showcase for Eva Victor as writer, director, and performer. They star as Agnes, a young academic whose natural wit persists—even intrudes—amid profound emotional rupture. After a traumatic encounter with her college professor (Preston Decker), Agnes attempts to steady herself through her bond with her best friend Lydie (Naomi Ackie), a tentative intimacy with neighbor Gavin (Lucas Hedges), and the quiet comfort of a stray cat she impulsively adopts. Yet “Sorry, Baby” never suggests healing as something conferred by others. Agnes’s journey is hers alone—often isolating, often painfully still—especially as the world around her continues on with an obliviousness that at times borders on the absurd. Victor captures this emotional dissonance with remarkable precision, crafting a film that is funny, devastating, and achingly human.

A Profound Experience of Rewriting: Eva Victor on Sorry, Baby

2. One Battle After Another

It makes sense that Paul Thomas Anderson’s exhilarating new comic thriller is being widely hailed as the film of the year, since even its title is reflective of how 2025 has been an endless struggle for those seeking to preserve democracy. In an astonishing film debut, Columbia College Chicago graduate Chase Infiniti plays the daughter of Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio), an ex-revolutionary whose family becomes targeted by an old enemy (Sean Penn). The film’s backdrop of a fascist regime overtaking America and its theme of a younger generation having to fight the same battles as their parents could not be timelier, yet Anderson’s picture is, first and foremost, a grand, often irreverent entertainment. Its truly awesome climactic chase scene is made all the more impactful by Infiniti’s potent mixture of vulnerability and fierce strength. Even Benicio Del Toro at his most quietly uproarious cannot steal the picture from her. 

3. April

Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili’s second feature follows Nina, a skilled obstetrician accused of malpractice after a baby dies during delivery. As an investigation unfolds, it threatens to expose Nina’s illegal practice of providing abortions to women in her rural Georgian community. Fiercely devoted to her patients, Nina must navigate moral isolation in a society that both depends on and condemns her. Set against the stark beauty of the Georgian countryside, “April” employs a mesmerizing visual and sonic language to create an immersive meditation on bodily autonomy, endurance, and survival. It will forever stand as an enduring example of why cinema will always be best experienced on the big screen.

Sundance 2025: Dea Kulumbegashvili on April

4. The Voice of Hind Rajab

Kaouther Ben Hania has emerged as one of the most vital voices in contemporary international cinema, moving fluidly between documentary and narrative form with fearless formal invention. Based on devastating real events, Ben Hania’s new film reconstructs emergency phone calls made on January 29, 2024, as Palestine Red Crescent volunteers attempt to rescue five-year-old Hind Rajab, trapped in a car under active fire in Gaza. Set entirely within a call center and using the original audio recordings of Hind’s pleas—performed onscreen by Palestinian actors—the film transforms a single space into a harrowing testament to urgency, courage, and unimaginable loss.

When Cinema Becomes a Witness: Kaouther Ben Hania on The Voice of Hind Rajab

5. Die My Love

Many viewers will see a “crazy” woman in this film—a woman seemingly beyond repair. But Jennifer Lawrence portrays Grace with such empathy that the film resists that dismissal entirely. As someone who has struggled with mental health, I believe Grace will be okay. “Die My Love” is a deeply moving work, and Lynne Ramsay’s direction renders its pain with startling beauty.

6. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Mary Bronstein’s long-awaited second feature is a raw, darkly absurd exploration of caregiving, motherhood, and emotional survival. Anchored by a visceral performance from Rose Byrne, the film blurs the line between lived experience and expressive fiction. Developed while Bronstein was caring for her seriously ill daughter, the project evolved from a place of personal crisis into an uncompromising work of cinema.

“It’s Not Autobiographical—But It’s All Emotionally True”: Mary Bronstein on If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

7. Franz

The great Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland affirms she is as audacious and brilliant as ever with this wholly unique blend of biography and literary adaptation, weaving vignettes from landmark writer Franz Kafka’s life with dramatizations of his work. Provocative, disorienting, and deeply political, Franz reaffirms Holland’s belief in cinema as a moral force—particularly in times of rising authoritarianism. And in the title role, uncanny lookalike Idan Weiss is an utter revelation.

Kick Out the Conventions: Agnieszka Holland on Franz, The Secret Garden, and More

8. Sinners

At a time when algorithms, mergers and AI are threatening to suppress any shred of creativity in Hollywood, the massive success of Ryan Coogler’s bloody, blues-filled blockbuster must be hailed as a resounding victory for personal filmmaking. Michael B. Jordan—the De Niro to Coogler’s Scorsese—seamlessly portrays twin brothers whose attempt to start a juke joint in Mississippi circa 1932 is thwarted by both Klansmen and vampires. The more inhumane the local whites prove to be, the more seductive a life as a member of the undead is to the Black citizens. The film’s horror elements may not be especially memorable, but its clear-eyed portrait of racism and the vitality of artistic expression is endlessly provocative. In a tour de force shot, Coogler illustrates how the work of Black musicians has reverberated throughout human history, punctuated by a post-credits scene with Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy that elevates the entire picture.

9. Shari & Lamb Chop

Lisa D’Apolito’s warm and incisive documentary offers a long-overdue portrait of Shari Lewis, a pioneer of children’s television whose imagination shaped generations. From her early success to her triumphant late-career resurgence, the film honors Lewis’s artistry, discipline, and enduring magic.

Lisa D’Apolito on Her Timely Documentary Shari & Lamb Chop

10. The Kidnapping of Arabella

Carolina Cavalli’s latest feature is a stylized, tender, and delightfully strange road movie—a coming-of-age story told in reverse. Premiering at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, where Benedetta Porcaroli won Best Actress in the Orizzonti section, the film cements Cavalli as one of the most original voices in contemporary cinema.

Reclaiming the Self: Carolina Cavalli on the Strange Beauty of The Kidnapping of Arabella

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Contributor Top 10 Films

Rebecca Martin Fagerholm

1. The Chronology of Water
2. April
3. Armand
4. The Voice of Hind Rajab
5. No Mercy
6. Rental Family
7. Die My Love
8. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
9. Hedda
10. Shari & Lamb Chop

Anna Pattison

1. Misericordia
2. Blue Moon
3. Baltimorons 
4. The Perfect Neighbor
5. The Kidnapping of Arabella
6. The Librarians
7. Companion
8. Mastermind
9. Sorry, Baby
10. Weapons

Peyton Robinson

1. One Battle After Another
2. Sorry, Baby
3. Two Women
4. Lurker
5. Sinners
6. East of Wall 
7. Predators
8. Die My Love
9. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
10. Twinless

Emily Jacobson

1. Sorry, Baby
2. Frankenstein
3. Sentimental Value
4. Sinners
5. Black Bag
6. One Battle After Another
7. Weapons
8. Bugonia
9. Presence
10. It Was Just An Accident

Davide Abbatescianni

1. Flophouse America
2. Cover Up
3. All That’s Left of You
4. Calle Malaga
5. Late Shift
6. Coexistence, My Ass!
7. Don’t Call Me Mama
8. Solomamma
9. Franz
10. My Dear Theo

Matt Fagerholm

1. Sorry, Baby
2. Pee-Wee as Himself
3. Shari & Lamb Chop
4. Weapons
5. The Plague
6. Hamnet
7. One Battle After Another
8. Sound of Falling
9. The Voice of Hind Rajab
10. It Was Just an Accident 

Elisa Shoenberger

1. Sinners
2. Frankenstein
3. Love + War
4. Sally
5. Celtic Utopia
6. The Thursday Murder Club