Mother-daughter relationships can be complicated, but it is usually the complexity that makes these relationships so profound, beautiful, and important in the first place. Here are five movies that capture the complexity of mother-daughter relationships.

1. Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) is on the verge of collapse. Her laundromat business is struggling to survive. Her marriage to her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) isn’t faring much better. She has trouble coping with her judgmental father Gong Gong (James Hong). Her relationship with her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) is tumultuous as well. Oh, and Evelyn and Waymond’s business is going through an IRS audit. So, yeah! Things are definitely not going great in Evelyn’s life. 

During their supposed last-chance meeting with their auditor Deirdre, a multiverse rift occurs. Evelyn’s task is to save humanity by entering multiple universes and making the right choice in each one. It is within each universe Evelyn also gets to connect with the other lives she could have led.  

2. The Joy Luck Club (1993)

In The Joy Luck Club, four older Chinese women who live in San Francisco meet regularly to play mahjong, eat, and tell the stories of their lives. When one member of The Joy Luck Club, Suyuan (Kieu Chinh), passes away, it is expected that her daughter June (Ming-Na Wen) will take her place at the mahjong table. 

When June must go to China to deal with matters related to her mother’s passing, the remaining Joy Luck Club members and their daughters, all around the same age, gather the night before June departs. Here, the characters delve into the stories of their lives, reflecting on their pasts and how their histories converge with the present, particularly regarding their mother-daughter relationships. A truly beautiful adaptation of the novel of the same name written by Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club is a must-watch.

3. Lady Bird (2017)

Directed by Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird is the coming-of-age story of 17-year-old Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan). The year is 2002, and it is Lady Bird’s senior year. Lady Bird attends a Catholic high school and is desperate to escape her hometown of Sacramento.

Lady Bird figures her best way out of Northern California is to attend college out of state, despite the searing disapproval of her mother Marion (Laurie Metcalf). Lady Bird is a hilarious, poignant portrait of a young woman on the cusp of becoming who she wants to be, even if that means disappointing her mom.

4. Steel Magnolias (1989)

Steel Magolias is a heartwrenching drama that revolves around the vibrant Truvy’s Beauty Parlor, a beauty salon based in Louisana. There, a high-spirited, multigenerational group of women gather to gossip and share the stories of their lives.

Starring Sally Field as M’Lynn Eatenton, Julia Roberts as M’Lynn’s daughter Shelby, and Dolly Parton as Truvy, Steel Magonlias begins on Shelby’s wedding day. M’Lynn is a worried, slightly overbearing mother but with good intentions. When Shelby announces that she is pregnant the following Christmas, M’Lynn is terrified for her daughter’s health because Shelby has type 1 diabetes. M’Lynn is convinced Shelby’s body own’t be able to handle the stress of pregnancy. 

A year-and-a-half later, the group of women find themselves at Shelby’s son’s first birthday party. It is then revealed that Shelby’s kidneys are beginning to fail as a result of her pregnancy. M’Lynn offers to donate a kidney to her daughter. 

From there, Shelby undergoes surgery to save her life and the rest of the friend group waits to hear if the surgery was successful. Be warned, Steel Magonlias is a tear-jerker. Plenty of tissues are recommended. 

5. Thirteen (2003)

Smart but naive Tracy Freeland (Evan Rachel Wood) is a straight-A student who wants nothing more than to fit in at school, especially given her broken home life and increasing struggles with depression.

Eventually, Tracy ends up befriending the most popular girl in school Evie Zamora (Nikki Reed). With Evie, Tracy becomes a different person and becomes enveloped in Evie’s world of sex, drugs, and petty crime. As Tracy becomes closer and closer with Evie, Tracy’s relationship with her mother Melanie Freeland (Holly Hunter) is pushed to its limits. 

Thirteen is a heartbreaking coming-of-age movie that explores the complexities of growing up, self-image, but mostly about the difficult but strong bond between Tracy and her mom.