Best Female Lead movies of 1980s

Actors : Jodhi May, Barbara Hershey, David Suchet, Jeroen Krabbé,
Directors : Chris Menges,

A White enclave in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the 1960s. Molly Roth, 13 years old, is the daughter of leftist parents, and she must piece together what's happening around her when her ...

Actors : Frances McDormand, Mai Zetterling, Brian Cox, Brad Dourif,
Directors : Ken Loach,

When an American human rights lawyer is assassinated in Belfast, it remains for the man's girlfriend, as well as a tough, no nonsense, police detective to find the truth... which they soon ...

Actors : Francesca Neri, Óscar Ladoire, Fernando Guillén Cuervo, María Barranco,
Directors : Bigas Luna,

The story of a young woman's descent into the kinky and dangerous sexual underground in Madrid.

Actors : François Cluzet, Marie Trintignant, Nils Tavernier, Isabelle Huppert,
Directors : Claude Chabrol,

Marie Latour, a woman of limited schooling, raises two children in a ratty flat during World War II in occupied France. In 1941, her husband Paul returns from German captivity, too weak to ...

Actors : Julie Hagerty, Glenda Jackson, Tom Conti, Jeff Goldblum,
Directors : Robert Altman,

This is an insane and fast-paced romantic comedy about a bizarre dinner date among Bruce (Goldblum) and Prudence (Hagerty), and their lunatic therapists, and Bruce's jealous, gun-wielding ...

Actors : Jessica Tandy, Mandy Patinkin, Kelly McGillis, Jeff Daniels,
Directors : Peter Yates,

In 1950s America, an FBI agent and a blacklist victim uncover a plot to smuggle Nazi war criminals into the country.

Actors : Natasha Richardson, Frances Fisher, William Forsythe, Ving Rhames,
Directors : Paul Schrader,

The true story of Patricia Hearst, a rich girl who was abducted by American revolutionaries in the 1970s. The time spent with her captors made her question her way of life and she joined ...

Actors : Ellen Barkin, Julian Sands, Gabriel Byrne, Isabella Rossellini,
Directors : Mary Lambert,

Claire (an American) wakes up in a terrible state at the end of a runway in Spain. As she tries to account for her state (blood-soaked and bruised), she has flashbacks from the past few ...

Actors : Peter Gallagher, Caris Corfman, Ian Holm, Coral Browne,
Directors : Gavin Millar,

Exploring the somewhat darker and more mysterious side of the Lewis Carroll's classic book, the movie follows Alice Liddell (the book's inspiration) as an old woman who is haunted by the ...

Actors : Maria Pakulnis, Grazyna Szapolowska, Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Aleksander Bardini,
Directors : Krzysztof Kieslowski,

It's 1982: Poland is under martial law, and Solidarity is banned. Ulla, a translator working on Orwell, suddenly loses her husband, Antek, an attorney. She is possessed by her grief, and ...

Actors : Susie Coelho, Lucinda Dickey, Adolfo Quinones, Michael Chambers,
Directors : Sam Firstenberg,

A developer tries to bulldoze a community recreation center. The local breakdancers try to stop it.

Actors : Patrick Lowe, Jennifer Rhodes, Kimberly McArthur, Crystal Bernard,
Directors : Deborah Brock,

Courtney Bates, the younger sister of Valerie, and her friends go to their condo for a weekend getaway, but Courtney can't get rid of the haunting feeling that a supernatural rockabilly driller killer is coming to murder them all.

Actors : Imanol Arias, Marta Fernández Muro, Helga Liné, Cecilia Roth,
Directors : Pedro Almodóvar,

A camp melodrama/comedy about Sexilia (a nymphomaniac), Sadec (a gay Islamic terrorist), Riza Niro (the son of the emperor of Tiran), and Queti (the daughter of a dry-cleaner). When Riza ...

Actors : Roz Kelly, Kip Niven, Chris Wallace, Grant Cramer,
Directors : Emmett Alston,

During a New Year's Eve celebration, a Los Angeles disc jockey receives a phone call saying that when New Year's strikes in each time zone, someone will be murdered - and she will be the last one.

Actors : Rebecca Balding, Jeff Harlan, Anne-Marie Martin, Fred McCarren,
Directors : James L. Conway,

Otherworldly creatures inhabit the bootleg tunnels underneath a small town mining community, and they kill any of the townsfolk who invade their home.

Actors : Noufou Ouédraogo, Adama Ouédraogo, Roukietou Barry, Fatimata Sanga,
Directors : Idrissa Ouedraogo,

A small African village. The story focuses on Bila, a ten year old boy who befriends an old woman, Sana. Everybody calls her 'Witch' but Bila himself calls her 'Yaaba' (grandmother). When ...

Actors : Lun Hua, Lung Wei Wang, Hou Hsiao, Chia-Hui Liu,
Directors : Chia-Liang Liu,

The workers of a dye factory have their pay cut by 20% when the factory owner brings in some Manchu thugs to try and increase production. Desperate to reclaim their full wages, the workers ...

Actors : Sylvia Kristel, Eric Brown, Patrick Piccininni, Howard Hesseman,
Directors : Alan Myerson,

An immigrant housemaid seduces a 15-year-old boy and later fakes her own death as part of his chauffeur's blackmail plot. Troubles arise when the two start to fall in love.

Actors : Iya Savvina, Svetlana Nemolyaeva, Liya Akhedzhakova, Valentin Gaft,
Directors : Eldar Ryazanov,

The members of a Soviet cooperative have pooled their money to have a badly needed parking garage built. But it turns out that the garage will have four fewer spaces than planned. In brutal...

Actors : Hugues Quester, Eloïse Bennett, Anne Teyssèdre, Florence Darel,
Directors : Éric Rohmer,

Simple conversations engender complicated human interactions. Jeanne is open and even-tempered, a philosophy teacher at a lycée. Her fiancé is away and she doesn't want to stay at his messy...