When Saoirse Ronan debuted on the Irish television drama The Clinic at age nine, it seemed obvious that this little girl was full of talent. Four years later, she had her first film appearance in I Could Never Be Your Woman, but another film that came out in the same year became her breakthrough role: Atonement. Paired opposite Keira Knightley, who was fresh off of her Pride and Prejudice run, Ronan gave an outstanding performance that earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was thirteen years old then, making her the seventh-youngest nominee in that specific category.
Ever since, Ronan has continued to appear in numerous films, many of which are period pieces. After Atonement, she received leading roles in films like Hanna and The Lovely Bones, but when Ronan was twenty-one, she began to prove her talent as a leading lady. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Brooklyn, making her the eighth-youngest-ever nominee in the category. This is a nomination she would receive again for her roles in Little Women and Lady Bird. Her choice of movies has proven to be eclectic, representative of feminine experiences, and diverse in its period. With her latest film, Foe, currently showing in theaters, now seems like a good time to take a look at the best Saoirse Ronan movies, ranked.
Updated on October 6th, 2023, by Callum Jones: This article has been updated with additional content to keep the discussion fresh and relevant with even more information and new entries.
13 The Seagull (2018)
An adaptation of Anton Checkov’s play of the same name, 2018’s The Seagull saw Ronan act alongside an ensemble cast of famous faces, with Annette Benning, Elisabeth Moss, Corey Stoll, and Brian Dennehy all playing main roles. Set in Russia at the start of the twentieth century, the story follows an aging actress named Irina (Benning) who, along with her successful novelist lover Boris (Stoll), visits the home of her elderly brother.
Ronan plays Nina, a naive young actress who becomes caught in a love triangle when she develops feelings for Boris, despite being in a relationship with Irina’s son, Konstantin (Billy Howle). The Seagull is a rather underwhelming and far too safe adaptation of the famous play which, despite the main theme being artistic conflict, has very little to say. It is redeemed by a stellar cast, with Ronan especially delivering a particularly captivating performance.
12 Mary Queen of Scots (2018)
When Mary, Queen of Scots came out in 2018, it was met with skepticism. The film spins history in a feminist retelling, one marred by historical inaccuracies to ramp up the drama and tension. Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan star as Queen Elizabeth I (Robbie) and Mary Stuart (Ronan) tangled in a notable conflict of English history: the fight over who is the rightful heir to the English throne.
The two queens are known to have never met in real life, but in the film, they meet repeatedly and are depicted as having something akin to a weak friendship at first. With Robbie and Ronan in the leading roles, their performances were solid. However, they couldn’t save a lackluster script that tries to be something it isn’t. As history dictated this event to be rather mundane, there wasn’t much to salvage it to make it more interesting.
11 The Lovely Bones (2009)
The Lovely Bones captures a fear that permeates American society: what happens when a young child goes missing? The movie adapts a 2002 book with the same name by author Alice Sebold. Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is only a freshman in high school when she is raped and murdered by her neighbor (Stanley Tucci).
She then is trapped in purgatory. Unable to move on to heaven, she watches as her family and loved ones deal with the grief of her disappearance and death. There isn’t much that can be done with this script, either. The premise is simple, one redeemed by outstanding performances by Tucci and Ronan, although unsatisfying at times due to the exposition and lack of anything really happening.
10 How I Live Now (2013)
Romantic drama How I Live Now tells the story of a young American girl who is sent to live with her aunt and cousins in the English countryside. Set against the backdrop of a future nuclear war, the film sees Ronan playing Daisy, a determined but maladjusted teenager who falls in love with her cousin, Eddie (George McKay).
When the outbreak of war sees them separated, the family try everything they can to be reunited. Based on Meg Rosoff’s novel of the same name, the film is full of great ideas that don’t all necessarily work in a pleasing way. However, with great visuals and a strong lead performance by Ronan, How I Live Now is a perfectly fine entry in the Irish actress’s extensive filmography.
9 On Chesil Beach (2017)
Throughout her career, Ronan has found herself appearing in a number of romances, including 2017’s On Chesil Beach. The film, which is based on Ian McEwan’s Booker Prize-winning novella of the same name, tells the simple story of Florence and Edward (Ronan and Billy Howle, respectively).
They are a newly married couple whose honeymoon goes awry when Florence reveals that she cannot consummate the marriage due to trauma caused by her abusive father. Set over the course of 45 years, the film explores the impact this event has on both of their lives. With themes of sexuality, innocence, and trust, On Chesil Beach is a tender look at sexual expectation, though its thin plot can feel a little bit stretched across its 110-minute runtime.
8 Ammonite (2020)
Ammonite thrusts the duo of Saoirse Ronan and Kate Winslet into an LGBTQ+ period drama that is about real-life people whose sexualities are unknown—it is unconfirmed if these characters were lesbians in reality. Mary Anning (Winslet) is a paleontologist active during the 1840s. While in Dorset caring for her ill mother, she meets Charlotte Murchison (Ronan), a geologist, and a passionate love ensues between the two.
Rather than turning the film into a history lesson, director Francis Lee has created a piece that longs and lusts for connections between women outside of the work that they’re known for. In Anning’s case, she externally seems simple-minded, but the arrival of Murchison complicates her narrow vision of what passion means to her. Ronan is the perfect compliment to Winslet, creating chemistry and tension that slowly unwinds and unfolds as the story progresses.
7 See How They Run (2022)
Often dismissed as a British version of Knives Out, the 2022 mystery comedy See How They Run is an underrated gem that has just as much charm as the Rian Johnson hit. Set in 1953 London, the story revolves around the murder of a sleazy American film director during the 100th performance of the Agatha Christie play, The Mousetrap.
It is up to the grumpy alcoholic detective, Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell), and his plucky but naive young assistant, Constable Stalker (Ronan) to solve the case before the killer strikes again. See How They Run is a fun film that takes great joy in both paying homage to and deconstructing the tropes of the mystery genre. Filled with great gags and quirky characters, it acts as a great showcase for Ronan’s rarely-seen comedic talents.
6 Loving Vincent (2017)
2017’s Loving Vincent is a visual masterpiece. Depicting the circumstances surrounding the death of Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh, the film’s animation style mirrors the artist’s own work, with each of it’s 65,000 frames created by artists using oil paints on canvas.
Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, but it’s also brilliantly scripted and expertly performed by a voice cast of superb acting talent including Douglas Booth, Helen McCrory, Jerome Flynn, Chris O’Dowd, and Jochun ten Haaf as Vincent himself. Meanwhile, Saoirse Ronan plays Marguerite Gachet, a young woman who had a close friendship with Van Gogh before he died. Like her co-stars, Ronan delivers a nuanced and touching performance that helps to make Loving Vincent a truly special film.
5 The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Before appearing in The French Dispatch, Ronan made her debut in a Wes Anderson film in his 2014 movie The Grand Budapest Hotel. The year is 1985, and author Zero (Tony Revolori), a self-made man, tells his story at the dinner table.
He was once a lobby boy at the Grand Budapest Hotel when the head concierge (Ralph Fiennes) inherited a priceless painting. Naturally, this leads to chaos in a true, highly-visual, Anderson style. Ronan plays Agatha, the love interest of Zero. She’s an apprentice baker who helps the concierge and Zero evade the police while being hunted for the painting.
4 Atonement (2007)
Saoirse Ronan found her breakout role in Atonement, although she is outshone by the romantic elements of the drama. She plays Briony Tallis, the younger sister of Cecilia (Keira Knightley). Briony aspires to be a writer but is naïve about the world and how it works. When she sees the romantic tension and lust between her sister and the housekeeper’s son (James McAvoy), she misinterprets it because of the filtered way she sees the world, thus creating a predicament that can end poorly.
Ronan was the only actor from the film nominated for an Academy Award for her performance, which is a testament to how well she portrayed Briony. Briony isn’t supposed to be likable. She represents the annoying younger sister who messes everything up, except in this case there are more dire circumstances because of her actions.
3 Brooklyn (2015)
Ronan is no stranger to the plot of Brooklyn, which is probably why she’s so good at it. She stars as Eilis Lacey, an Irish immigrant who has just stepped off the boat from Ireland into New York City. Eilis seeks out a new life, one where she can find prosperity, but she desperately misses home and the life she left behind.
Brooklyn is a movie that teaches us to not look into the past and dwell upon what we once had but instead look to the future and find joy in new situations and people. It is both lighthearted and serious, offering a glimpse into what everyday life is actually like. Life as an immigrant isn’t easy, especially when it coincides with one’s coming-of-age.
2 Little Women (2019)
Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of Little Women seeks to adapt a classic and update it for modern audiences. Little Women is a story about girlhood, but it also dares to expose feminism for what it is: having the power to choose the destiny one wants. Ronan plays Jo March, a young woman who wants to be a writer at a time when it seems like not many women were writers.
Viewers see the tenderness of her interactions with her sisters, played by Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, and Eliza Scanlen, then cheer and moan when she turns down her smitten suitor (Timothee Chalamet). It’s a classic story of girlhood, one where each sister grows up to become something different but still represents the feminine experience as a whole.
1 Lady Bird (2017)
Christine MacPherson (Saoirse Ronan) doesn’t want to be Christine anymore. She is Lady Bird. She is the epitome of sophistication, dresses like a 2002 art student on a budget, and desperately searches for more cultured things to do. But Lady Bird is also lost, just a girl with a strained relationship with her mother trying to navigate the world.
And that’s what makes this film so special; viewers follow her journey while learning to see both sides of the situation. Ronan and Laurie Metcalf, who plays her mother, give spectacular performances worthy of their Oscar nominations. Lady Birdis an intimate snapshot of girlhood that seems to come from the soul. There’s something in the movie for everyone, whether they’ve lived through a similar experience or not.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
