Certain Women
Across three quietly intersecting Montana stories, women seek connection and recognition amid work, marriage, and rural isolation.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- melancholic
- quiet
- intimate
- quiet evening
- reflective weekend
What critics said
Critics broadly acclaimed Kelly Reichardt’s restrained, slow-burning ensemble drama for its precise observation, melancholy atmosphere, and especially Lily Gladstone’s performance.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film follows Laura, Gina, Elizabeth, and the rancher across three connected Montana narratives.
Reichardt builds the characters’ loneliness and attachments through restrained conversations, silences, and mundane routines.
The wide distances, ranch work, small-town institutions, and four-hour commute shape the characters’ relationships and choices.
The lawyer, wife, teacher, and ranch hand repeatedly confront social structures that overlook or misread their needs and capabilities.
Films like Certain Women, and why
Old Joy
quietly observed rural drama centered on loneliness, emotional distance, and women navigating constrained lives
Wendy and Lucy
measured American independent drama using regional landscapes, understated conflict, and intimate character observation
The Last Picture Show
intersecting relationship drama with melancholic tone, restrained performances, and attention to ordinary social tensions
The Souvenir
female-centered ensemble drama shaped by isolation, withheld emotion, and carefully observed everyday encounters
Movie Details
- Director
- Kelly Reichardt
- Release Date
- 2016-09-25
- Runtime
- 107 min
- Rating
- 6.0 / 10 (395)
Cast
- Laura Dern
- Kristen Stewart
- Michelle Williams
- Lily Gladstone
- James Le Gros
- Jared Harris
- René Auberjonois
- John Getz
- Sara Rodier
- Ashlie Atkinson
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+, Sundance Now, MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Certain Women about?
- Across three quietly intersecting Montana stories, women seek connection and recognition amid work, marriage, and rural isolation.
- What is Certain Women like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Certain Women as slow, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Certain Women violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Certain Women as mild.
- What did critics think of Certain Women?
- Critics broadly acclaimed Kelly Reichardt’s restrained, slow-burning ensemble drama for its precise observation, melancholy atmosphere, and especially Lily Gladstone’s performance.
- Which films are like Certain Women?
- Films with a similar feel include Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, The Last Picture Show, and The Souvenir.
- How long is Certain Women?
- Certain Women runs 107 minutes.
- Where can I watch Certain Women?
- In United States, Certain Women streams on fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+, Sundance Now, MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel.
