So far, the 2020s have been a bold, daring era for filmmaking. The decade has seen a plethora of films unafraid to challenge norms, explore raw emotion, and tackle complex subjects. While cinematography, action sequences, and smart directing usually dominate discussions of modern cinema, it’s often in the quiet — or often explosive — moments of monologue where the soul of a film reveals itself. In these moments, a single actor grips the attention of the audience with nothing but their voice, words, and conviction.
The best monologues breathe life into characters, spark cultural conversations, and leave a lasting impression by stirring something deep within the viewer. From whispered confessions to thunderous calls to actions, these are the 10 greatest monologues of the 2020s, so far.
Carey Mulligan as Cassie Thomas
‘Promising Young Woman’ (2020)
In this thrilling revenge tale, Carey Mulligan gives a powerful performance filled with emotional complexity and biting satire as Cassie Thomas, a 30-year-old medical school dropout haunted by her friend Nina’s sexual assault and subsequent suicide. Driven by the system’s failure to deliver justice, she feigns intoxication at bars and clubs, exposing the predatory behavior of would-be rapists. After a chance encounter with a former classmate, she embarks on a personal quest for vengeance.
A Righteous Fury
After working her way through those who were somehow complicit in Nina’s death, Cassie, posing as a stripper, finally confronts Al (Chris Lowell), the man who raped Nina. As she has him handcuffed to a bed and helpless, her icy gaze and measured tone convey a depth of pain that has hardened into righteous fury. Mulligan’s delivery is a masterclass in controlled intensity, her calmness sharpening the impact of her words, and her personal grief transforming into a powerful statement against injustice when she tells Al that he should be the one with Nina’s name all over him.
Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hampton
‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ (2021)
Judas and the Black Messiah is equal parts biopic, portrait of a power struggle, and a taut thriller. The film fearlessly exposes decades of government lies about the Black Panther Party, countering the official narrative by revealing the extensive counterintelligence efforts and coordinated violence used to suppress the Black power movement. It depicts the infiltration of FBI informant William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) into the party, his manipulation of those who thought him a comrade, and his ultimate betrayal, which led to Fred Hampton’s assassination, the chairman of the Illinois chapter in 1960s Chicago.
A Revolutionary’s Stirring Speech
Daniel Kaluuya’s portrayal of the beloved Black activist and revolutionary socialist reaches its emotional and ideological peak as he addresses a crowd in a defiant, electrifying call to unity and resistance against fascism. Commanding the room, he calls out state-sanctioned violence and systemic oppression. With a voice that conveys urgency and hope, his rallying cry is one that still resonates today, reminding modern audiences of the necessity of collective action. It’s a fiery monologue that is both a political manifesto and a spiritual sermon.
Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tár
‘Tár’ (2022)
Todd Field’s psychological drama became an instant favorite among critics and film festivals. The highly acclaimed film follows the revered but complicated classical composer and conductor Lydia Tár. With a looming book launch and the upcoming recording of a career-defining symphony, Lydia is at her peak. Her success is threatened when accusations of misconduct against her begin to surface, exposing her darkest secrets and leading to her fall from grace.
On Morality and Art
Cate Blanchett is mesmerizing in this character study of a deeply unlikable but endlessly compelling protagonist. Despite delivering more than one monologue, there’s one that stands out against the rest. During a lecture, Lydia challenges a student’s discomfort with separating the art from the artist, turning a discussion into a stunning oratorical display. Blanchett’s delivery is razor-sharp, coolly confident, and slightly menacing. It forces audiences to wrestle with their own biases, not because she’s necessarily right, but because she’s persuasive and dangerously charismatic.
Mia Goth as Pearl Howard
‘Pearl’ (2022)
In the prequel to X, Ti West brings to life one of the greatest villain origin stories of all time, as well as one of the best period horror films. That would not have been possible without Mia Goth’s tour-de-force performance. Set in 1918, the film portrays Pearl as a young woman desperate to escape the isolation and repression of life on her parents’ farm, depicting how her broken dreams drove her to madness.
A Chilling Confession
Horror fans will never forget the chilling eight-minute monologue Goth delivered in an extraordinary continuous take. It’s both an emotional purging of the soul and a confession of crimes. What starts out as a plea to be understood and be seen morphs into a terrifying psychological unmasking, as Pearl reveals her longing for more, her suffocating isolation, her festering envy, and her penchant for violence. Goth masterfully draws viewers in with vulnerability and then gut-punches them with madness and a lust for blood, inspiring both empathy and fear. It’s a raw unraveling that perfectly encapsulates the essence of a character that is all at once tragic and terrifying.
Rebecca Hall as Margaret
‘Resurrection’ (2022)
One of the most underrated horror films of the decade is Andrew Semans’ Resurrection. The ever so talented Rebecca Hall stars as Margaret, a highly successful executive of a biotech company and a fiercely protective single mother to a teenager named Abbie (Grace Kaufman). Margaret’s controlled, carefully constructed life is thrown into a tailspin when her abusive ex, David (Tim Roth), reappears in her life and begins to psychologically torture her like he did when she was younger.
The Trauma Dump
As the film progresses, it goes to unimaginably dark and disturbing places. One of its most memorable moments is a seven-minute, one-take monologue delivered by Hall as Margaret recounts the horrors of her past to a young intern. What begins as an awkward conversation unravels into an exorcism of grooming, psychological control, abuse, and unspeakable trauma. Her words are gripping and harrowing, and told with such clarity and specificity that you cannot look away. Even beneath all that emotional weight, she never flinches or breaks, capturing how trauma often presents not as chaos, but as composed implosion.
Ke Huy Quan as Waymond Wang
‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (2022)
In Everything Everywhere All at Once, a middle-aged Chinese immigrant named Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh), who runs a laundromat with her husband, Waymond, suddenly discovers that she’s connected to countless versions of herself across infinite realities. In order to prevent a nihilistic force, Jobu Tupaki, from destroying the multiverse with a black hole-like “Everything Bagel,” Evelyn must connect with her other selves from parallel lives.
The Importance of Kindness
In an epic film filled with multiverse chaos, martial arts, and cosmic bagels, one of the most powerful moments comes not from the action or spectacle, but from heartfelt sincerity. As Evelyn prepares to abandon it all and enter the Bagel, Ke Huy Quan delivers a touching monologue as Waymond, touching on kindness and hope, and redefining strength as compassion. Understated, yet flowing with emotion, his words are deeply moving, emphasizing the film’s core message about love, connection, and tenderness.
Viola Davis as General Nanisca
‘The Woman King’ (2022)
Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood from a screenplay by Dana Stevens, The Woman King is an action-filled historical epic centered around the Agojie, an all-female warrior unit that guarded the West African Kingdom of Dahomey during the 17th to 19th centuries. Set in the 1820s, it stars Viola Davis as General Nanisca as she prepares the next generation of soldiers to battle a foreign enemy determined to destroy their way of life.
A General’s Inspiring Speech
Davis channels all the gravitas and power of a fierce and revered leader in a rousing speech that captures the spirit and courage of resilience. Standing before her troops, she speaks not just of battle, but of reclaiming power and dignity in the face of evil and oppression. As she speaks, her warriors chant, infusing the scene with even more force and collective courage. It’s not just a call to arms, but a call to self-reclamation.
Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman
‘The Batman’ (2022)
In 2022, Matt Reeves brought a unique vision of Batman to the screen, delivering a film noir rooted in corruption, grief, and identity. The Batman presents the Caped Crusader’s story through a grittier, darker lens, with Robert Pattinson playing the haunted and brooding Dark Knight to perfection. The vigilante begins the film by embodying vengeance, a force he believes to be synonymous with justice. He clings to it like a mantra, but by the final act, that identity is shattered and rebuilt.
From Vengeance to Hope
As Gotham begins to recover from the destruction and chaos unleashed by the Riddler, Batman delivers a voiceover that is stark in contrast to the one from the beginning of the film. Through hard-won clarity, he reflects on the fact that vengeance is not enough — that the city needs someone to inspire a new beginning, not just inflict punishment. His words, quiet and meditative, express how real heroism brings about change through hope. It’s a powerful moment that marks an evolution for the character, redefining Batman for a new generation.
America Ferrera as Gloria
‘Barbie’ (2023)
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie stars Margot Robbie as the iconic titular doll who lives in Barbie Land with other Barbies, where every day they wake up is the absolute best day of their lives. The Kens in Barbie Land define a good day by whether a Barbie noticed them or they made one happy. From the president to CEOs to Nobel Prize winners to Congress, in Barbie Land, Barbies rule the world. Believing their female-run land has inspired real change in the human world, Robbie’s Barbie is in for a rude awakening when she travels there and discovers the horrors of patriarchy, which begin to bleed into Barbie Land.
A Reckoning With Society’s Expectations of Women
America Ferrera plays Gloria, a Mattel employee who helps Barbie get back to Barbie Land. Standing in a room full of Barbies in crisis, her character gives an impassioned speech on how “it is literally impossible to be a woman.” In it, she expresses the immense pressure placed on women in a patriarchal society, delving into the pressures of conforming to unrealistic standards of beauty, success, and behavior. Her words roar with decades of suppressed frustration, serving as both a critique of patriarchy and a catharsis for every woman who has felt the immense weight of societal expectations and contradictions.
Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter
‘Nosferatu’ (2024)
Robert Eggers richly reimagines F.W. Murnau’s unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, subverting the 1922 classic by focusing on Ellen’s agency. The finished product is one of the greatest Gothic horror films of all time, and one of the most visually stunning. Bill Skarsgård is unrecognizable as a revolting Count Orlok, having not only completely transformed his appearance, but his voice, to the stuff of nightmares. The cast also includes Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, and Simon McBurney.
A Dream of Death
Lily-Rose Depp gives the performance of a lifetime playing the haunted heroine. Near the opening, her character delivers a monologue to her husband describing a dream she had of death in a kind of vulnerable exorcism. It’s a chillingly poetic recollection that sets the tone for what’s to come, hinting at something dark and ancient stirring in the shadows. Her voice is soft, almost disembodied, like a memory breaking through the surface. But as she goes further, she vibrates with fear, blurring the lines between nightmare and premonition. Not only is it a memorable and atmospheric introduction, but it instantly paints a picture of Ellen’s internal world.