Well, if there is such a thing as “manliness”, then there must be such a thing as “womanliness”, otherwise manliness makes no sense, and is really something else.
My contribution: Jessica Rabbit sings
The entire movie The Ghost & Mrs. Muir. Lucy refusing to be manipulated or bullied by her dead husband’s family, moving with her child to a place everyone thinks she will regret, refusing to be chased off by a ghost, and later forming a lucrative partnership with him to keep her independence, sort-of reluctantly choosing a live man over a spirit, then refusing to be overcome when he turn out to be a cad, and generally keeping her strength and sanity over the course of a long life alone.
Hard to pick single moments out, but the opening scene with her refusal to yeild to her weak, manipulative mother-in-law and bullying sister-in-law trying to force her to stay under their thumbs/protection is a very good one. Shows a variety of women acting in a variety of ways - Lucy strong, mother-in-law weepy and whiny, sister-in-law full of threats and dire pronouncements, and in the wings, Martha and Anna relying on Lucy to stay strong and get them the hell out of this house.
Are you thinking When Harry Met Sally? Cuz that’s what I’m thinking.
Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman.
Extremely womanly out of the suit. Ass kicker in it.
When Nurse “Dish” (Joanne Pfluegg) threw a mercy screw to “Painless” the dentist with sexual ambivalence in the original movie MAS*H.
True human kindness on many levels. But I’m a big softy for that kinda thing.
I came in to say this movie. Although I was thinking very close to the scene you mentioned is a moment when they’re all laughing at Ouiser (Are you high, Clariee??) And they’re laughing and crying and together as women and friends and sisterhood and solidarity that chokes me a up a little to think of. A moment of perfect girlfriendship.
The first thing that came to my mind was the final scene in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYt9AlsgPCo
(Warning: Violence, dubbing.)
Not a movie moment but would make a great one if done properly, at least, I see it in my mind’s eye as a movie moment: Molly Bloom in “Ulysses” saying “Yes!” to a lover, and more generally, to life itself:
Shirley MacLaine going batshit in the hospital because her daughter is in pain and no one is helping her.
Sally Field in Norma Rae.
Agree with all of these.
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir is one of my fav movies. Rex Harrison is THE epitome of masculinity in it, too. They are a great couple in this film.
Are there any young actresses (under 50) with this kind of womanly presence?
I’d say Diane Lane squeaks in.
In Gone with the Wind, where Melanie is on her deathbed speaking to Scarlett:
“Ashley…take care of him…but never…let him know…”