Maria Maggenti (born 1962) is a film director and screenwriter for film and television. She has been the script editor and has written many episodes of the American television series, Without a Trace (2003), but is perhaps best known for her feature film, The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995). Her film Puccini for Beginners was in competition at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2006. She was also an activist with ACT UP for many years. She attended Smith College and majored in Philosophy and Classics.
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Biography from TMDB.
- Washington, USA
- Writer and director, also producer
- 12 on MovieCove · 16 credits in all
What are Maria Maggenti's films like?
Across their 5 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Bonds.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 5
Light 3 · Serious 1 · Dark 1
Grounded 5 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0
Gentle 2 · Charged 3 · Intense 0
Steady 5 · Shifting 0 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 2 · Some laughs 3 · Funny 0
Slow burn 4 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 0
Casual 3 · Engaged 2 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 3 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 1
Resolved 2 · Open-ended 2 · Ambiguous 1
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet3
- Ambiguous1
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Maria Maggenti's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 6 of their 12 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Netflix (2).
Subscription and free streaming for Maria Maggenti's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
16 credits, 12 with a MovieCove page; 2 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Sex/Life(2021)
Midcredits score: 14th percentile of all shows
Motherland: Fort Salem(2020)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all shows
Before I Fall(2017)
Midcredits score: 64th percentile of all films
Supergirl(2015)
Midcredits score: 28th percentile of all shows
UnREAL(2015)
Midcredits score: 76th percentile of all shows
Finding Carter(2014)
Midcredits score: 64th percentile of all shows
Monte Carlo(2011)
Midcredits score: 55th percentile of all films
90210(2008)
Midcredits score: 22nd percentile of all shows
Puccini for Beginners (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2006)
Without a Trace(2002)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all shows
The Love Letter(1999)
Midcredits score: 27th percentile of all films
Family Name(1997)
Midcredits score: 84th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Midcredits score: 75th percentile of all films
Doctors, Liars, and Women: AIDS Activists Say No to Cosmo (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1988)
The Love Monster (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Waiting for War (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 15 titles, 13 of them dated from 1988 to 2021.
Biggest box office
Monte Carlo (2011)
Highest rated
The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995)
Most popular right now
Before I Fall (2017)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Maria Maggenti's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 64th percentile, the median of all 5; across their 5 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 67th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up4
- 50th to 74th4
- 25th to 49th2
- Below 25th2
Shape of the crowd
6 of their 12 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Divisive1
- Crowd Pleaser6
- Mixed5
Reviewers score the dialogue 46/100 and the plot and story 43/100 in their films, across 4 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Maria Maggenti's work okay for kids?
Across a limited sample of up to 3 MovieCove titles with content scores.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted.
Who does Maria Maggenti work with?
People who share at least 2 of Maria Maggenti's MovieCove titles; Tami Reiker shares the most, 2.
- Tami ReikerShared titles: The Love Letter (1999), The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995)See all 2 shared titles with Tami Reiker
