To start out in style: My favorite female characters

1. Scarlett O'Hara, Gone with the Wind
Everybody's favorite btch... and, if not, most certainly mine. The amazing Vivien Leigh gives life to one of the most compelling characters ever filmed: a spoiled, decided, passionate, stubborn, beautiful Southern belle that seems to rather out of place in such a male-driven society as Civil War Atlanta was - and yet, she succeeds at the game of survival, gaining admirers and enemies along the way (the latter having been, mostly, unsuccessful at recovering from the war) Being the one character I feel closest to, I have something to say in Scarlett's defense: she didn't have the time to grow up. The circumstances forced her to quickly turn from a spoiled brat to a widow of war, to suddenly the person in charge of her entire family- in what other way, but clinging to the same teenage ideals, in hopes of being saved from it all! (main teenage ideal being, of course, the very bland Ashley Wilkes)



2. Clementine Kruczynski, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Gorgeous, creative, fun, unpredictable and yet loaded with insecurities; Kate Winslet's most natural performance presents us with the ultimate Charlie Kaufman heroine: fantastic, intimidating, and still very human. As it has been pointed out in the past by others much more articulate than myself, Clementine is the very figure of the 21st century female. We're told right from the start, as she introduces herself in a train, that she's a "vindictive little btch" and that she "applies [her] personality from a paste ". Is it really true? Hardly. But it's obvious that's what she thinks of herself, which is what makes her such a fantastic character - her humanity, her flaws, her honesty about herself. A complete mess of hidden emotions... which is basically why I relate to her so much.



3. Mrs. Robinson, The Graduate
Trapped in a life she didn't plan, Anne Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson is a woman in her 40's, stuck in a marriage with no love, in a life with no emotion. That solution of splitting up and start over isn't plausible... we are, in the end, talking about a 60's housewife, Heaven forbids she'd break up her family because of that silly desire to actually live. The grand solution: preying on 20 year-olds for her own amusement. Being the most decided character in the film (and definitely the best written one), Mrs. Robinson makes the screen vibrate with her appearance: confident, knowledgeable, attractive, intelligent, she's got everything going for her - save that small detail of a life ruined at adolescence thanks to a mistake in the monthly countdown. But I'm sure dear ol' Benjamin Braddock doesn't mind... or at least at the very beginning. And, when I grow up, I want to be just like Mrs. Robinson.



4. Tess Harding, Woman of the Year
The godly Katharine Hepburn plays (as she so often did) the very dilemma of the 20th century female: work vs. family. Tess Harding is a cultured, well-mannered, intelligent, attractive and rather intimidating woman, that seems to get more work done than any of her male counterparts. With an educated opinion on every matter, exuding confidence - and completely unable to make a sandwich. In other words, a great companion, but a deficient wife - must we remain with the traditional standarts to achieve a sort of social perfection? One of many Kate Hepburn roles where she tries to prove otherwise.



5. Bridget Jones, Bridget Jones's Diary
Renée Zellweger's turn as the witty Londoner is, basically, every woman. The expectations that are much too high, the inability to decide (from "what to wear" to "which guy to pick"), the endless dieting, the doing and saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Every single one of Bridget's complexes is a reflection of those of the rest (or at least most) of us. And that's why I love her.



6. Céline, Before Sunset
Julie Delpy's neurotic, beautiful, intelligent and cynical - and yet beyond sweet at the new perspective of re-found love. An uneventful love life has made her focus on her career, thinking she was doomed to eternal loneliness... overanalytical, cynic, and yet still, quite deep inside, very much the romantic, Céline's reactions are the very pillar Before Sunset stands in.



7. Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany's
Has anyone ever been more divine? Against Truman Capote's wishes, Audrey Hepburn was cast as his novella's heroine (the story's core changing quite a bit) In both story and movie, however, a fabulous figure with few cares in the world - a wild spirit completely in tune with the big city, but not so much with herself. A nameless vision wearing une petite robe noire around the streets of New York City... as much an icon of the town as the Empire State Building, Woody Allen and the Sex and the City girls - sharp, beautiful, fun, a bit "cuckoo" (I love that word...) and wildly chic.



8. Elizabeth Bennet, Pride & Prejudice
The Jane Austen heroine, as interpreted by Keira Knightley in the 2005 adaptation, is one of the loveliest characters ever filmed. Filled with expectations of marriage only when in love, and to just the right man, Lizzie is not your typical boring 19th century beauty: she's witty, charming, well-read and (duh) quite proud.



9. Sally Albright, When Harry Met Sally
In one of the most candid and fun performances of all time, Meg Ryan introduces us to the fun, loving, neurotic and sweet specimen that is Sally Albright, a girl that, like so many others, only wants to find love - her views, however, change through the course of her life. At the beginning of the film, while discussing the ending of Casablanca, she bluntly says "I don't want to spend the rest of my life in Casablanca married to a man who owns a bar!" - ten years later, discussing it again, she's reminded of such a comment. Thoughtfully, Sally replies "I'd never say that..." Had age turned her into a romantic? Was she idealizing love?



10. Maggie Pollitt, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
I couldn't possibly leave out an Elizabeth Taylor role! From Tennesse Williams's original Pulitzer-winning play, comes a stunning, vibrant, decided and highly sexual woman who's determined to win back the love of an estranged (and quite possibly, closeted bisexual) husband that won't take her back... of course, played wonderfully by The Goddess herself.