Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
| 2019 | Little Women (2019) | Aunt March |
| 2019 | The Laundromat (2019) | Ellen Martin |
| 2018 | Mary Poppins Returns (2018) | Topsy |
| 2018 | Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again | Donna |
| 2017 | The Post | Katharine Graham |
| 2016 | Florence Foster Jenkins | Florence Foster Jenkins |
| 2015 | Suffragette | Emmeline Pankhurst |
| 2015 | Shout Gladi Gladi | Narrator |
| 2015 | Ricki and the Flash | Ricki Rendazzo |
| 2014 | Into the Woods | The Witch |
| 2014 | The Giver | Chief Elder |
| 2014 | The Homesman | Altha Carter |
| 2013 | August: Osage County | Violet Weston |
| 2013 | Girl Rising | Narrator |
| 2012 | Hope Springs | Kay |
| 2012 | To the Arctic | Narrator |
| 2011 | A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle For A Living Planet | Narrator |
| 2011 | The Iron Lady | Margaret Thatcher |
| 2009 | It's Complicated | Jane |
| 2009 | Fantastic Mr. Fox | Mrs. Fox |
| 2009 | Julie & Julia | Julia Child |
| 2008 | Doubt | Sister Aloysius Beauvier |
| 2008 | Mamma Mia! (2008) | Donna |
| 2007 | Dark Matter | Joanna Silver |
| 2007 | Lions for Lambs | Janine Roth |
| 2007 | Rendition | Corrinne Whitman |
| 2007 | Evening | Lila Ross |
| 2006 | The Ant Bully | Queen |
| 2006 | The Devil Wears Prada | Miranda Priestly |
| 2006 | A Prairie Home Companion | Yolanda Johnson |
| 2005 | Prime | Lisa Metzger |
| 2004 | Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events | Aunt Josephine |
| 2004 | The Manchurian Candidate | Eleanor Prentiss Shaw |
| 2003 | Angels in America | Hannah Pitt |
| 2003 | Angels in America | Ethel Rosenberg |
| 2003 | Angels in America | Rabbi Isador Chemelwitz |
| 2002 | The Hours | Clarissa Vaughn |
| 2002 | Adaptation | Susan Orlean |
| 2001 | A.I.: Artificial Intelligence | Blue Mecha |
| 1999 | Music of the Heart | Roberta Tsavaras |
| 1998 | Dancing at Lughnasa | Kate Mundy |
| 1998 | One True Thing | Kate Gulden |
| 1996 | Marvin's Room | Lee |
| 1995 | The Bridges of Madison County | Francesca Johnson |
| 1993 | The House of the Spirits | Clara |
| 1992 | Death Becomes Her | Madeline Ashton |
| 1991 | Defending Your Life | Julia |
| 1990 | Postcards From the Edge | Suzanne Vale |
| 1988 | A Cry In The Dark | Lindy Chamberlain |
| 1987 | Ironweed | Helen Archer |
| 1986 | Heartburn | Rachel |
| 1985 | Out of Africa | Karen Blixen-Finecke |
| 1985 | Plenty | Susan Traherne |
| 1984 | Velveteen Rabbit (1984) | Narrator |
| 1983 | Silkwood | Karen Silkwood |
| 1982 | Sophie's Choice | Sophie Zawistowska |
| 1982 | Still of the Night | Brooke Reynolds |
| 1982 | Alice at the Palace | Alice |
| 1981 | The French Lieutenant's Woman | Sarah Woodruff/Anna |
| 1979 | The Seduction of Joe Tynan | Karen Traynor |
| 1979 | Kramer vs. Kramer | Joanna Kramer |
| 1979 | Manhattan (1979) | Jill |
| 1978 | The Deer Hunter | Linda |
| 1978 | Holocaust | Inga Weiss |
| 1978 | Uncommon Women... and Others | |
| 1977 | Julia (1977) | Anne Marie |