28 years old Saoirse Ronan began receiving Oscar nods at a young age when she began her acting career at the age of 9. Her first Oscar came when she was just 13 years old, and her fourth by the time she was 25. She was nominated for Best Actress in three different Best Picture nominees: “Brooklyn” in 2015, “Lady Bird” in 2017, and “Little Women” in 2019. Even though she has not yet won, there’s still time for her to bring home that small gold award.
Besides her Oscar success, Ronan won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy/Musical Actress for her role in “Lady Bird.” Aside from her SAG nominations for Brooklyn, Lady Bird (actress and ensemble), and The Grand Budapest Hotel, she was nominated for a BAFTA for her performance in 2009’s “The Lovely Bones.”
A wide range of genres and time periods are represented in her film selections, all of which are indicative of women’s experiences. The top Saoirse Ronan films are listed below.
Image Courtesy: Letterboxd
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Lady Bird
Director: Greta Gerwig
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, along with Lucas Hedges, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts,
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Available on: Showtime
Lady Bird was Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut, and it was also Ronan’s first time working with her. Ronan plays a senior in high school in the early 2000s who struggles with college applications and broken relationships.
Ronan once again gives a performance that is both genuine and riveting, earning her an Oscar nomination, while Gerwig makes a name for herself as a promising young filmmaker. The film’s wit, warmth, and poignancy resonated with many viewers and provided an accurate portrayal of adolescence.
Image Courtesy: IndieWire
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Little Women
Director: Greta Gerwig
Cast: Saoirse Ronan along with Florence Pugh, Emma Watson
Genre: Drama, Romance
Available at: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
One of the best-reviewed films of 2019, Ronan’s Little Women, was also nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Ronan is also up for Best Actress. This film, written and directed by Greta Gerwig, is based on the classic novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and follows a group of sisters in the 1800s as they try to forge their own identities in a society that treats them as second-class citizens.
Gerwig’s work was lauded for its cleverness and originality and for how well it adapted the source material. And the brilliant performers who brought both tragedy and comedy to the story.
Image Courtesy: IMDb
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The Grand Budapest Hotel
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Saoirse Ronan along with Mathieu Amalric, Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody
Genre: Adventure, Crime, Comedy
Available at: HBO Max
In The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ronan stepped into the lovely and wacky universe created by Wes Anderson. Ralph Fiennes plays a concierge at a famous European hotel who, along with his loyal bellboy, becomes embroiled in a murder plot involving a precious artwork in this period drama. Ronan is the bellhop’s swoon-worthy love interest.
Critics agreed that it was one of Anderson’s best works, praising the film’s stellar ensemble cast and the comedic turn by Fiennes. It’s a hilarious and heartwarming journey with stunning visuals and memorable characters.
Image Courtesy: IMDb
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Brooklyn
Director: John Crowley
Cast: Saoirse Ronan along with Jim Broadbent, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson
Genre: Drama, Romance
Available at: Amazon Prime
Ronan, being of both American and Irish descent, felt like the perfect person to adapt this story for the big screen. Playing an Irish immigrant who finds new adventure in 1930s Brooklyn. However, she’s having trouble selecting between the two places she’s fallen in love with and which one is truly her home.
The film’s reviews appreciated its lovely period atmosphere and endearing love narrative. In addition, Ronan received Oscar recognition for her outstanding performance, hailed as the film’s driving force.
Image Courtesy: IMDb
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Atonement
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: Saoirse Ronan along with Brenda Blethyn, Keira Knightley, James McAvoy
Genre: Drama, Romance, Mystery
Available at: HBO Max
Ronan’s performance in Atonement was her breakout role, earning her an Oscar nomination. Starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy as aristocratic lovers whose relationship is shattered by a young girl’s deception, this sprawling period drama are based on a novel by Ian McEwan (Ronan).
Even though Ronan is only in the first half of the picture, her performance is so captivating and eerie that she ends up being the film’s standout. Their portrayal of a tragic love tale during World War II was hailed by critics, who also commended the work of the other actors in the film.
Image Courtesy: IMDb
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The Lovely Bones
Director: Peter Jackson
Cast: Saoirse Ronan along with Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Fantasy
Available on: Netflix
The Lovely Bones addresses a widespread concern in contemporary American culture: what to do when a child goes missing. From Alice Sebold’s 2002 novel of the same name comes this 2016 film. High school student Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is brutally raped and killed by her next-door neighbor (Stanley Tucci). The afterlife’s purgatory becomes her prison. She is stuck watching her loved ones cope with their loss in the afterlife since she has vanished without a trace.
The movie’s basic premise is redeemed by the excellent acting of Tucci and Ronan. Still, the film is somewhat frustrating because of its focus on exposition and lack of substantive action.
Image Courtesy: Irish Examiner
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The French Dispatch
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Saoirse Ronan along with Tilda Swinton, Benicio Del Toro, Adrien Brody
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Available at: HBO Max
The French Dispatch is a trifle of a movie since it follows three separate stories. The movie’s framing technique centers on the death of the magazine’s editor and his wish that only one issue of The French Dispatch is printed. The film’s story is based on the final four articles published in a very successful French magazine.
The French Dispatch features one of Anderson’s largest ensemble casts, with a slew of A-listers giving their best to bring this zany narrative to life. The dialogue is acerbic, as is usual for Anderson, the production values are high, and the weighty themes are presented with Anderson’s signature lightness of touch. Although Ronan’s character barely appears in a handful of moments, she manages to leave quite an impression.
Image Courtesy: Variety
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Ammonite
Director: Francis Lee
Cast: Saoirse Ronan along with Gemma Jones, Kate Winslet
Genre: Drama, Biography, History
Available at: Kanopy and Hulu
In Ammonite, Saoirse Ronan and Kate Winslet play a real-life couple whose sexual orientation is a mystery. It is unclear whether or not these historical figures were lesbians. Winslet plays paleontologist Mary Anning, who worked in the 1840s. She is in Dorset taking care of her sick mother when she meets Charlotte Murchison (Ronan), a geologist, and they fall in love fiercely.
Instead of turning the picture into a history lecture, Francis Lee has crafted a movie that yearns for and lusts after relationships between women outside their professional roles. From the outside, Anning appears to be a simpleton, but the presence of Murchison challenges her simplistic understanding of love. Ronan works wonderfully with Winslet, creating chemistry and tension that builds and builds as the plot proceeds.
Image Courtesy: The Film Stage
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Byzantium
Director: Neil Jordan
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, along with Stars Gemma Arterton, Sam Riley
Genre: Drama, Horror, Fantasy
Available at: Amazon Prime
The daughter, Eleanor Webb (Ronan), and the mother, Clara (Gemma Arterton), are renegade vampires on the run from the Brethren, an organization of male vampires who are lethal to anybody who crosses them. Clara and Eleanor are hiding out in the hotel Byzantium. At the same time, they figure out the intricacies of eternal life and keep an eye out for threats.
Director Neil Jordan creates an atmospheric and gothic family saga while providing a stylish update on the vampire genre. The film’s strongest qualities are its haunting soundtrack and its nuanced acting. Byzantium is the perfect blend of terror and heart because of the relationship between Ronan and Arterton, which grounds the film’s magical components.
Image Courtesy: IMDb
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Hanna
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: Saoirse Ronan along with Vicky Krieps, Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Available at: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
Ronan has often been typecast as an actor who favors period dramas, but her performance in Hanna proved that her range is much wider. She got to play an action hero by taking on the role of a girl whose father nurtured her in isolation to become a perfect assassin so that she could exact vengeance on the people responsible for her mother’s death.
Ronan strikes a wonderful balance between a ruthless murderer and a naive kid experiencing the world for the first time, making for a refreshingly original take on the assassin film. This is an intense and intricate thriller, and the action moments are among the best parts.
