Saoirse is mostly noted for her roles in period dramas since adolescence. Ronan made her acting debut in 2003 with the Irish medical drama series The Clinic. Her film debut was however in the romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman in the year 2007. Saoirse’s breakthrough role came with the part of a teenager in Atonement in the year 2007. For this movie, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Ronan then starred in roles of a murdered girl seeking closure in The Lovely Bones and an assassin in Hanna. Her biggest role came with the supporting character of a baker in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Saoirse received critical acclaim for playing an Irish immigrant in 1950s New York in Brooklyn, after which she played a high school senior in Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird. As of today, Saoirse is best known for playing Jo March in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. Saoirse was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for all three above mentioned performances and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for Lady Bird. Here are her ten best-rated movies according to Rotten Tomatoes.
On Chesil Beach (67%)
On Chesil Beach is a 2017 British drama film. The movie is directed by Dominic Cooke and it makes for his feature directorial debut. On Chesil Beach is written by Ian McEwan, and is adapted from his own 2007 Booker Prize-nominated novella of the same name. On Chesil Beach stars Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle in the lead roles. The story is of virgin newlyweds, Florence and Edward, and their first bad attempt at having sex! This first experience and their varied responses lead to the failure to have lifelong consequences for both. Saoirse Ronan plays Florence Ponting in the movie. FYI, Carey Mulligan was in talks to star as Florence Ponting. But the role went to Saoirse.
The Seagull (68%)
The Seagull is a 2018 American historical drama film. The movie is directed by Michael Mayer and is based on a screenplay by Stephen Karam, which in turn is based on the 1896 play of the same name by Anton Chekhov. The Seagull stars Annette Bening, Saoirse Ronan, Corey Stoll, Elisabeth Moss, Mare Winningham, Jon Tenney, Glenn Fleshler, Michael Zegen, Billy Howle and Brian Dennehy. Saoirse Ronan stars as Nina Zarechnay in The Seagull. The tale is set in Russia in the early 1900s. It is about an aging actress named Irina Arkadina who visits her brother Pjotr Nikolayevich Sori in the summer. Nina is a free and innocent girl on a neighboring estate.
Hanna (71%)
Hanna is a 2011 action thriller film. The film stars Saoirse Ronan as the title character named Hanna. She is a girl raised in the wilderness of northern Finland by her father, an ex-CIA operative (played by Eric Bana). She is trained by her father to be an assassin. She knows hand-to-hand combat and target shooting. Cate Blanchett plays a senior CIA agent, Marissa Wiegler who tries to track down and eliminate the girl and her father. But Erik has trained Hanna with the life long mission that she will kill Marissa. The soundtrack for Hanna was written by The Chemical Brothers. The film was met with positive response from most critics. Cate and Saoirse particularly shined in the movie.
The Way Back (74%)
The Way Back is a 2010 American survival film. The movie is directed by Peter Weir and is adapted from a screenplay by Weir and Keith Clarke. The Way Back is inspired by The Long Walk. It is the memoir by a former Polish prisoner of war Sławomir Rawicz, who says he escaped from a Soviet Gulag and walked 4,000 miles (6,400 km) to freedom in World War II. The Way Back stars Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, and Saoirse Ronan in the lead roles. The supporting cast consists of Alexandru Potocean, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Gustaf Skarsgård, Dragoș Bucur, and Mark Strong. Saoirse Ronan starred as Irena Zielińska, an orphaned teenage Polish girl who is also trying to escape from the Soviet Union Gulag. The Way Back received an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup.
Atonement (83%)
Atonement is a 2007 romantic war drama film. The movie is directed by Joe Wright. It stars James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Vanessa Redgrave. You wouldn’t recognize Saoirse in this one! Atonement is based on Ian McEwan’s 2001 novel of the same name. It chronicles the tale of crime and its consequences over the course of six decades, beginning right from the 1930s. Saoirse Ronan stars as Briony Tallis, a 13-year-old, the younger Tallis sister and an aspiring novelist. Keira Knightley plays Cecilia Tallis, the elder of the two Tallis sisters. James McAvoy stars as Robbie Turner, who is the son of the Tallis family housekeeper with a Cambridge education, thanks to the courtesy of his mother’s employer.
Loving Vincent (85%)
Loving Vincent is a 2017 experimental animated biographical drama film. The movie that is about the life of the painter Vincent van Gogh mostly deals with the circumstances of his death. Loving Vincent is the first fully painted animated feature film. It is written and directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, is a Polish-UK co-production. In addition, it was funded by the Polish Film Institute, and partially through a Kickstarter campaign. In the year 2008, Loving Vincent was conceived as a seven-minute short movie. Saoirse Ronan plays Marguerite Gachet in the movie. Robert Gulaczyk plays Vincent van Gogh.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (91%)
The Grand Budapest Hotel is a 2014 comedy-drama film. The movie is written and directed by Wes Anderson. The themes of The Grand Budapest Hotel are many. It explores the many themes of tragedy, war, fascism, nostalgia, friendship, and loyalty. Ralph Fiennes leads a seventeen-actor ensemble cast in the movie. He plays Monsieur Gustave H., famed concierge of a mountainside resort in the Republic of Zubrowka. Saoirse Ronan plays Agatha, an apprentice baker, and Zero’s lover. Tony Revolori plays Zero Moustafa, who is the newly hired bellhop mentored by Gustave. The story begins when Gustave is framed for the murder of a wealthy dowager (played by Tilda Swinton). His recently befriended protégé Zero is played by Tony Revolori. The Grand Budapest Hotel led the 87th Academy Awards with nine nominations. It won four Oscars, all in all.
Little Women (95%)
Little Women is a 2019 American coming-of-age period drama film. This one is Ronan’s latest and the best role so far! Little Women is written and directed by Greta Gerwig. This one becomes the seventh film adaptation of the 1868 novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott. Greta’s Little Women chronicles the lives of the March sisters–Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth–in Concord, Massachusetts during the 19th century. Saoirse Ronan leads the cast. It stars Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, James Norton, Louis Garrel, and Chris Cooper. Little Women earned Best Actress nomination for Ronan at the Academy Awards. The film received a total of six Academy Award nominations.
Brooklyn (97%)
Brooklyn is a 2015 romantic historical drama film. The movie is directed by John Crowley and written by Nick Hornby. It is based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Colm Tóibín. Brooklyn stars Saoirse Ronan in the lead role. Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, and Julie Walters star in supporting roles. The story is set in 1951 and it follows Eilis Lacey, a young Irish woman who emigrates to Brooklyn to find employment. This woman is Saoirse Ronan as Eilis. As Eilis marries an Italian plumber named Tony, she is forced to choose between her home town of Enniscorthy and her life in Brooklyn.
Lady Bird (99%)
Lady Bird is a 2017 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film. This movie is the first joint project by Greta and Saoirse. It marks her solo directorial debut. Lady Bird stars an ensemble cast that includes Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Lois Smith. The events are based in Sacramento, California, in the timeline of the fall of 2002 and the summer of 2003. Lady Bird is a coming-of-age story of a high school senior, Lady Bird, and her tough relationship with her mother.
