Five definitive “womance”-movies
Last updated: October 1, 2026
Today I learned a new term that instantly made me feel a few years younger:womance. Apparently, it’s the female equivalent of a “bromance”, and naturally it got me thinking about which films capture that dynamic the best.
This list consists of five films that, in my opinion, portray a genuine, heartfelt, and entirely platonic bond between women. A sisterhood, if you will. Female lovers can have their own list another day.
Thelma & Louise (1991)
The film that immediately comes to mind when talking about female friendship and liberation is Thelma & Louise. It may be the safest pick imaginable, but leaving out Ridley Scott’s wonderful classic would be downright absurd.
Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis hit the road in their convertible Thunderbird, but the vacation quickly takes a darker turn. What begins as a search for freedom soon spirals into a desperate run from the law.
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Booksmart (2019)
Olivia Wilde’s coming-of-age comedy about best friends Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) is consistently charming and so effortlessly warm that it occasionally makes me wish I hadn’t been born with a penis.
Amy and Molly are the quintessential overachievers who, on the eve of graduation, begin questioning the choices they’ve made throughout high school. The duo suddenly realizes they probably should’ve spent less time buried in textbooks and more time actually enjoying themselves. Chaos, naturally, ensues.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
Now for a bona fide classic. None other than Marilyn Monroe shares the screen with Jane Russell in Howard Hawks’ sparkling 1953 comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Monroe and Russell play showgirls Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw, two women traveling across the Atlantic to Paris. Lorelei is soon to marry the wealthy Gus Esmond Jr., but her fiancé’s father despises the idea of the marriage and secretly places a private detective aboard the ship to France.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
Next up is the platonic friendship at the heart of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, where we follow four teenage girls preparing to spend their first summer apart. Oddly enough, the girls stumble upon a mysterious pair of jeans that somehow fits all four of them perfectly despite their completely different body types. Adventures and awkward situations inevitably follow.
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
One film that depicts female friendship and sisterhood with remarkable authenticity is Fried Green Tomatoes, starring Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy.
The story follows Evelyn Couch (Bates), a withdrawn and timid housewife. While visiting a relative at a nursing home, she meets the elderly yet spirited Ninny Threadgoode, who begins recounting stories from her youth and the people who shaped her life.
