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15 Famous Movie Sisters

These cinematic sisters leave a mark as strong as a thicker-than-water bond.

Your Sister's Sister
Photo: IFC Films

In Your Sister’s Sister, Lynn Shelton directs Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt as complicated siblings, whose relationship is further tested by Mark Duplass’s grief-stricken houseguest. Both Blunt and DeWitt have played the sister role before, Blunt as recently as 2008, when she starred as Amy Adams’s sis in Sunshine Cleaning. From The Parent Trap to Crimes of the Heart, divine secrets to divine intervention, cinema has given us all manner of sisterhood, with no shortage of tears, laughs, and catfights. Herein are 15 films that stand out most in memory, their ladies leaving a mark as strong as a thicker-than-water bond.


White Christmas

Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen in White Christmas (1954). Capped off by a musical number so iconic it’s even lampooned in its own film, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen’s sisterly link in White Christmas is a perennial favorite, no doubt inspiring countless amateur acts among gal pals. As Betty and Judy, respectively, Clooney and her cohort catch the eyes of song-and-dance men Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, resulting in a patriotic, red-robed quartet, and, most likely, your parents’ entire Christmas soundtrack. (A bit of trivia: While pencil-waisted Vera-Ellen passed away at 60, Clooney, Crosby, and Kaye, all took that magic sleigh ride into the sky at the age of 74.)


Chinatown

Faye Dunaway and Belinda Palmer in Chinatown (1974). Don’t try to act like you saw this one coming. Near the close of Roman Polanksi’s masterpiece Chinatown, Faye Dunaway’s Evelyn Mulwray lets slip a doozy of a secret: That her daughter, Belinda Palmer’s Katherine Cross, is in fact her sister too, spawned as a result of incest with John Huston’s abominable Noah (“She’s my sister and my daughter!” Dunaway unforgettably cries). A pivotal pair in the film’s white-knuckle finale, Evelyn and Katherine see their relationship come to a tragic, screeching halt, leaving viewers wondering if Katherine will ever know the whole truth.


The Virgin Suicides

Kirsten Dunst, Leslie Hayman, A.J. Cook, and Chelse Swain in The Virgin Suicides (1999). Born from the mind of Jeffrey Eugenides, and brought to life by Sofia Coppola, the Lisbon sisters surely comprise one of the saddest broods to hit the screen. Following the death of their sister, Cecilia, surviving siblings Lux (Dunst), Therese (Hayman), Mary (Cook), and Bonnie (Swain) live a life of virginal imprisonment, protected by the mother (Kathleen Turner) whose good intentions arguably lead to her remaining daughters’ mass suicide. Eerily advertised as a film of blissful innocence, The Virgin Suicides is uniquely mysterious, and its story achingly turns Austenian sisterly tradition on its ear.


What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). If you grew up in the 1990s glued to MTV, chances are you caught David LaChappelle’s directorial debut, an MTV Raw commercial that imagines the joint futures of Madonna and Courtney Love, and nastily spoofs Robert Aldrich’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? In the actual scenes of this bleak and campy psycho-thriller, Bette Davis’s Jane still wears baby-doll dresses to remind her of child stardom, while sister Blanche (Joan Crawford), the more successful of the two, sits bound to a wheelchair, helpless against Jane’s torturous caretaking practices. An epic diva pairing that shoots for horror but delivers humor too, Baby Jane is a nightmare of warring, washed-up women.

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Rachel Getting Married

Anne Hathaway and Rosemarie DeWitt in Rachel Getting Married (2008). One of the very best films of 2008, Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married offers the spectacular chemistry of Rosemarie DeWitt and Anne Hathaway, who play the titular bride and her cyclonic, in-recovery sister, respectively. Greatly bolstering the movie’s tender humanism, DeWitt was robbed of a Supporting Actress Oscar nod, while the rightly recognized Hathaway nails the bone-deep flaws of a remorseful addict. It’s safe to say the film is home to some of cinema’s truest sisterly conversations, awkward and beautiful in all their uncompromising messiness.


Little Women

June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret O’Brien, and Janet Leigh in Little Women (1949). Before Winona Ryder, Trini Alvarado, Kirsten Dunst, and Claire Danes played Louisa May Alcott’s immortal March sisters, the roles were filled by Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, Margaret O’Brien, and June Allyson, who stood before Mervyn LeRoy’s camera for this slightly tweaked take on the classic tale. An Oscar winner for art direction, the Civil War-era film sees the tight-knit gals cope with life in the absence of their soldier father, living under their mother’s care in a microcosm of femininity. The drastically different March sisters were reportedly based on Alcott and her own three siblings.


Picnic

Kim Novak and Susan Strasberg in Picnic (1955). In Picnic, Joshua Logan’s rendering of William Inge’s Pulitzer-winning play, Kim Novak plays sister to the younger Susan Strasberg, whose nerdy Millie is often jealous of Novak’s gorgeous Madge. The arrival of ex-footballer Hal Carter (William Holden) upends the sister’s lives, throwing off Madge’s arranged-marriage plans, and even leading to Millie’s whiskey-fueled intoxication. The rare film that’s less about sisterly competition than joined forces, Picnic ends with Millie urging Madge to follow her heart.


Pride & Prejudice

Keira Knightley, Rosamund Pike, Carey Mulligan, Jena Malone, and Talulah Riley in Pride & Prejudice (2005). Sumptuously directed by Joe Wright, who has yet to deliver on the film’s promise, the 2005 version of Pride & Prejudice may just be the definitive take on the tale (with respect to all who bow down to the BBC’s beloved Colin Firth rendition). The movie features what’s surely the most influential batch of sisters in this list: Jane Austen’s Bennet girls, whose finding and securing of husbands is as important as breathing. Every actress but Talulah Riley saw her career soar after donning Jacqueline Durran’s period garb, with Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan rocketing onto the A-List.

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Meet Me in St. Louis

Judy Garland, Lucille Bremer, Margaret O’Brien, and Joan Carroll in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). Yet another tale of four sisters, Vincente Minnelli’s Meet Me in St. Louis features Judy Garland at her glorious peak, boasting stunning shots of the late icon’s near-surreal perfection. Garland is Esther, the second-eldest of the Smith sisters, who also include Rose (Lucille Bremer), Agnes (Joan Carroll), and Tootie (Margaret O’Brien). On the hunt for suitors and literally buttoned up to the neck, the Smith girls are the intersection between the Bennets and the Lisbons, with rosier outcomes than all. Though living in a man’s world, the sisters’ story ends with an indirect feminist slant, as the World’s Fair arrives in town and promises progress.


In Her Shoes

Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette in In Her Shoes (2005). Curtis Hanson’s In Her Shoes isn’t often celebrated, but it’s an underrated gem, notable for both its sisterly ties and its generational wisdom. Cameron Diaz plays the party-girl antecedent to Toni Collette’s responsible “ugly duckling,” who habitually undermines her own happiness by cleaning up her sister’s messes. A reunion with the girls’ estranged grandmother (Shirley MacLaine) forces all to take hard looks in the mirror, a recurring motif of source-material scribe Jennifer Weiner, whose readers connect with her focus on self-image. Diaz and Collette make their characters’ blood ties believable, despite that glaring and pesky lack of resemblance.


Cries & Whispers

Liv Ullmann, Ingrid Thulin, and Harriet Andersson in Cries & Whispers (1972). Ever the faithful Bergman muse, Liv Ullman plays one of three sisters in Cries & Whispers, a film that characteristically explores its maker’s favored topics of mortality and feminine perspectives. Ullman is Maria, who along with sister Karin (Ingrid Thulin) travels home to a 19th century mansion to be at the aid of dying sibling Agnes (Harriet Andersson). The reunion brings about fears and contemplations of death among the healthy pair, not to mention a bit of self-inflicted genital mutilation. A movie of memory and musing, Cries & Whispers unfolds in vivid color, and made its wildly influential director a commercial success.


In America

Emma Bolger and Sarah Bolger in In America (2003). If you want to see exceptional child performances, get yourself in front of a Jim Sheridan movie, stat. From his Brothers remake to this thoughtful immigration tale (co-penned by his own daughters, Naomi and Kirsten), the Irish filmmaker is uncannily gifted at teasing out transcendence from his pint-sized players. In In America, he beautifully directs real-life sisters Sarah and Emma Bolger, who play the precocious daughters of Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton’s transplanted New Yorkers. Bonding with a sick neighbor (Djimon Hounsou) and coping with a brother’s death more healthily than their parents, the girls provide the glue that holds their offbeat circle together.

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The Color Purple

Whoopi Goldberg and Akosua Busia in The Color Purple (1985). Though kept apart through much of the film’s running time, Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) and Nettie Harris (Akosua Busia) have a bond that serves as the overarching thrust of The Color Purple, Steven Spielberg’s sweeping and controversial take on Alice Walker’s landmark work. In youth, Celie and Nettie find solace in their carefree connection to each other, but the invading influence of oppressive men drives them so far apart that, eventually, each is on an opposite end of the world. But hardships prove no match for loyalty, and after a horrorhouse of nasty ordeals, the two are reunited, safe to do their signature hand-clap in peace.


A Streetcar Named Desire

Vivien Leigh and Kim Hunter in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Could two sisters be more different than Stella Kowalski (Kim Hunter) and Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh)? In Elia Kazan’s timeless adaptation of Tennessee William’s play, Leigh is all high-pitched madness as Blanche, a lustful and delusional interloper whose upheaval of her timid sister’s life with husband Stanley (Marlon Brando) yields shocking, satisfying, and catastrophic results. A pretentious broad with a murky past, sexed-up Blanche can’t grasp the dynamic between Stanley and her sister, who accepts a myriad of abuse to maintain a twisted marital dynamic. Are both sisters crazy? There’s never a dull moment on the path to finding out.


Hannah and Her Sisters

Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey, and Dianne Wiest in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Annie Hall may be the popular pick, but plenty of folks will likely tell you that Hannah and Her Sisters is their favorite Woody Allen film, citing the ensemble dramedy for its heart and infectious romantic entanglements. As the central sisters, Barbara Hershey and Allen muses Mia Farrow and Dianne Wiest are extraordinary, the latter picking up the most acclaim for her efforts. Unfolding over two years and covering each sister’s experience, Hannah and Her Sisters sees Hannah’s (Farrow) husband (Michael Caine) sleep with Lee (Hershey), and Hannah’s ex-husband (Allen) eventually marry Holly (Wiest). And you thought your sisters were trouble.

R. Kurt Osenlund

R. Kurt Osenlund is a creative director and account supervisor at Mark Allen & Co. He is the former editor of Out magazine.

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