Best movies that are oscar winners or nominees in actress in a leading role category

The Help(2011)

Combined Rating:
83
Combined Critics Rating: 75

An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.



The English Patient(1996)

Combined Rating:
83
Combined Critics Rating: 77

At the close of WWII, a young nurse tends to a badly-burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair.



Spencer(2021)

Combined Rating:
83
Combined Critics Rating: 84

During her Christmas holidays with the royal family at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England, Diana Spencer, struggling with mental health problems, decides to end her decade-long marriage to Prince Charles.



In the Bedroom(2001)

Combined Rating:
82
Combined Critics Rating: 82

A New England couple's college-aged son dates an older woman who has two small children and an unwelcome ex-husband.



The Devil Wears Prada(2006)

Combined Rating:
82
Combined Critics Rating: 74

A smart but sensible new graduate lands a job as an assistant to Miranda Priestly, the demanding editor-in-chief of a high fashion magazine.



Notes on a Scandal(2006)

Combined Rating:
82
Combined Critics Rating: 78

A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her 15-year-old students. However, her intentions with this new "friend" also go well beyond platonic friendship.



Julie & Julia(2009)

Combined Rating:
82
Combined Critics Rating: 77

Julia Child's story of her start in the cooking profession is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell's 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child's first book.



Loving(2016)

Combined Rating:
82
Combined Critics Rating: 86

The story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose arrest for interracial marriage in 1960s Virginia began a legal battle that would end with the Supreme Court's historic 1967 decision.



Bombshell(2019)

Combined Rating:
82
Combined Critics Rating: 79

A group of women take on Fox News head Roger Ailes and the toxic atmosphere he presided over at the network.



Requiem for a Dream(2000)

Combined Rating:
81
Combined Critics Rating: 73

The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep.



Something's Gotta Give(2003)

Combined Rating:
81
Combined Critics Rating: 74

A swinger on the cusp of being a senior citizen with a taste for young women falls in love with an accomplished woman closer to his age.



Florence Foster Jenkins(2016)

Combined Rating:
81
Combined Critics Rating: 80

The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.



Network(1976)

Combined Rating:
81
Combined Critics Rating: 75

A television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit.



Driving Miss Daisy(1989)

Combined Rating:
81
Combined Critics Rating: 76

An old Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur in the American South have a relationship that grows and improves over the years.



Thelma & Louise(1991)

Combined Rating:
81
Combined Critics Rating: 75

Two best friends set out on an adventure but it soon turns around to a terrifying escape from being hunted by the American police as these two girls escape for the crimes they committed!



Boys Don't Cry(1999)

Combined Rating:
81
Combined Critics Rating: 75

Female-born Teena Brandon adopts his male identity of Brandon Teena and attempts to find himself and love in Nebraska.



Monster's Ball(2001)

Combined Rating:
80
Combined Critics Rating: 74

After a family tragedy, a racist prison guard reexamines his attitudes while falling in love with the African American wife of the last prisoner he executed.



Vera Drake(2004)

Combined Rating:
80
Combined Critics Rating: 82

Abortionist Vera Drake finds her beliefs and practices clash with the mores of 1950s Britain--a conflict that leads to tragedy for her family.



The Reader(2008)

Combined Rating:
80
Combined Critics Rating: 72

Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.



My Week with Marilyn(2011)

Combined Rating:
80
Combined Critics Rating: 75

Colin Clark, an employee of Sir Laurence Olivier's, documents the tense interaction between Olivier and Marilyn Monroe during the production of The Prince and the Showgirl (1957).




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