Hot girl summer has officially been replaced. The season now belongs to the whimsical, wistful, and wonderfully weird girls.
Whether they’re eccentric dreamers, social outcasts, gothic heroines, or women who refuse to fit neatly into a box, these are the 10 weird girl movies you need to watch this summer.
10. Amélie (2001)
Young Amélie is a shy and quirky waitress, working in a Paris café and secretly spending her days improving the lives of strangers. Whether it’s returning lost treasures or matchmaking for the lovelorn, Amélie lives her life through these anonymous acts of kindness.
Yet, she realizes that she is struggling to pursue her own happiness. Things take a turn when she starts to grow fascinated with an eccentric photo collector named Nino. With its dreamy visuals and magical realism, ‘Amélie’ will make you believe that the world is full of tiny wonders waiting to be noticed.
Related: Top 10 Women Authors’ Movies Inspired by Their Lives
9. Marie Antoinette (2006)
Sofia Coppola’s retelling of France’s iconic queen into a pastel-colored coming-of-age story will forever be a beloved weird girl movie. The film follows Marie Antoinette’s arrival as a teenage bride to her rise and eventual downfall as queen of France.
Rather than focusing on political events, the movie focuses on themes of loneliness, youth, and desire for freedom at the absurdly lavish and extravagant royal court.
8. Welcome To The Dollhouse (1995)
Seventh grade is not fun for anybody. Especially not for Dawn Wiener, who gets bullied at school, overlooked at home, and constantly overshadowed by her siblings. And that’s just the beginning, because after getting rejected by her crush, her whole life seems to be falling apart.
‘Welcome to the Dollhouse’ might sound like every teen movie you’ve ever seen. But Dawn Wiener has that strange charm and stubborn determination that make her cinema’s most authentic weird girl ever.
7. The Favourite (2018)
Set in the court of Queen Anne, ‘The Favourite‘ is a darkly funny period drama that revolves around a bizarre power struggle between two women competing for the Queen’s affection.
Lady Sarah Churchill has been the queen’s closest confidante for the longest time. Until her ambitious cousin Abigail arrives and immediately crawls up the social ladder. What follows is a wicked game of manipulation, seduction, and betrayal.
6. Ghost World (2001)
After graduating high school, best friends Enid and Rebecca are navigating adulthood with zero ideas about it. So, they decide to play a prank on a lonely middle-aged record collector.
What results is a touching but tragic story about the complications of growing up and social isolation. Few teen movies have captured this strange feeling of watching everyone else move forward while you remain hopelessly disconnected, like ‘Ghost World’.
In Case You Missed It: 10 Films That Let Women Be Flawed, Complex and Real
5. Frances Ha (2012)
She has only one dream: to become a professional dancer. But life rarely goes according to plan. What Frances has to do instead is drift between apartments, struggle financially, and watch her best friend move on without her.
Bouncing around New York City, Frances desperately tries to build a future while maintaining her infectious optimism. She is wonderfully awkward, impulsive, and strangely charming, and will show you that adulthood is often less about having answers and more about learning how to keep moving forward.
4. Mulholland Drive (2001)
There has never been another film quite like David Lynch’s surreal masterpiece, ‘Mulholland Drive’. An unknown woman becomes the sole survivor of a brutal accident but suffers from mass amnesia.
Fortunately, she finds the aspiring actress Betty and the two team up to uncover her identity. But what follows is a labyrinth filled with mysteries that leaves both of them, as well as us, questioning our reality.
3. Poor Things (2023)
Bella Baxter is unlike any heroine we’ve ever encountered. Portrayed by Emma Stone, Bella is brought back to life by the mad scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter. She enters the world with childlike curiosity to navigate the complex and unfamiliar Victorian society.
But Bella is determined to experience everything life has to offer and heads on a globe-trotting adventure. The movie brilliantly combines gothic horror, dark comedy, and feminist satire. And in the middle of it is the ultimate weird girl icon.
2. Daisies (1996)
Two rebellious young women, both named Marie, have seen through the hypocrisy of society. They don’t give a hoot about morality and social norms and decide that if the world is spoiled, they should be spoiled too.
Marie 1 and Marie 2 take on an adventure of chaotic pranks, manipulating men, causing destruction, and treating social rules as a joke. The plot is secondary in this film, which is absolutely pure female anarchy.
1. The Worst Person In The World (2021)
Julie is approaching thirty, and her life is still a mess. She changes careers repeatedly, jumps between relationships, constantly second-guesses her every decision, and is overwhelmed by the endless possibilities that are in front of her.
After facing this existential dread, Julie heads on a journey to find meaning and purpose in life. Little by little, she subverts everything she once knew. The movie is an honest and raw portrayal of the uncertainty of modern life through the restless, contradictory, but ultimately humane, weird girl icon Julie.
You Might Also Like To Read: Top 12 Movies With Problematic Women We Can’t Help But Love
