The 15 Best-Written Female Characters In Cinema

Thelma Dickinson – Thelma And Louise (1991)

Much has been written about the film Thelma And Louise since it arrived in cinemas in 1991 in a hail of accolades and critical acclaim. Written by Callie Khouri, the film charts the ill-fated road trip of two best friends who are, essentially, escaping from unsatisfactory lives. The two leads in the film – Thelma, played by Geena Davis, and Louise, played by Susan Sarandon – are both icons of feminist cinema, and anchor a story the like of which is rare, even a quarter of a century later. However, of the two, it is the character of Thelma that warrants a place on this list.

Thelma is an energetic young woman who has been effectively infantilised by her controlling and abusive husband, Darryl (Christopher McDonald). Filled with the desire to escape, she persuades her best friend to accompany her on a two-day road trip, and the pair set off in Louise’s car. While taking a break at a roadhouse, Thelma dances with a man who later tries to rape her in the parking lot, prompting Louise to defend her friend by fatally shooting the attacker (Timothy Carhart). Their roadtrip then becomes a flight from justice, during which they encounter a number of male characters with a variety of intentions.

As the net closes in around them, Thelma and Louise find themselves trapped at the edge of the Grand Canyon. Behind them lie their lives – once featuring the prison of a misogynist world, and now featuring the prospect of a different kind of incarceration. Before them lies a vast, empty abyss, with the promise of freedom. Thelma suggests that they “keep going” – which is the perfect coda to her character.

It is Thelma that suggests the roadtrip in the first place – to escape her marriage for a weekend – and it is Thelma who suggests how it ends. In between, she seeks to experience the world in ways that she is prevented from experiencing it on a daily basis – she wants to go dancing, she wants to drive with the top down without being answerable to anybody, and she wants to feel autonomous. En route, she finds that these experiences can be accompanied by violence and betrayal, but crucially, while we learn that Louise has previously been traumatised by past events that have made her cautious and more cynical, Thelma refuses to allow those negativities to taint her enjoyment of her freedom – even to the extent of driving off a cliff with her friend.