Films that do pass the Bechdel test?

[TimeWasting]

Struggling to think of any.

In the loop and career girls just off the top of my head

Beaches
Dirty Dancing

Vera Drake

Vera talks to a number of women about abortion, to her "friend" who sets up her appointments, to a female arresting officer, chit-chat with her employer

A few Mike Leighs would pass - Happy Go Lucky (teaching projects, flamenco dancing, pensions) Another Year (the mum & her son's girlfriend talk about work). I thought Abigail's Party might qualify and then remembered the scene I was thinking of involved Abigail asking a female neighbour whether she liked Demis Roussos!

Ghost World - two young women talk about setting up flat together & enjoy inventing scenarios about unusual people they encounter

Jane Austen Book Club - they talk about each other, they talk about the books, yes they talk about men, but not exclusively.

An Education - just watched this the other day, and the two main females talk about university and 'what it does to a woman's looks'

Girl, Interrupted - Susanna and Lisa talk about all sorts of things. Also, Susanna talks to a female doctor, a nurse and numerous female patients, about herself and her mental health etc.

However, according to the website (fascinating reading for a fan of lists...) Twilight passes; a movie which is undeniably anti-feminist! I'm a little shocked at the number of movies which do not passed, but judging those that did, I can't see that it's good for identifying positive female portrayals, let alone feminist beliefs.

Out of interest, I would like to see this test done from both angles at once - so each film rated as to more than two women talking about something other than a man AND more than two men talking about something other than a woman. I think we could all guess how it would turn out, but am still a little curious as to the extent of the imbalance...

We just watched "Conviction", a movie from last year about Betty Anne Waters, who got a law degree in order to overturn her brother Kenny's conviction for murder--a task that took her 17 years. There's a female lead of course, but what gets this film past the Bechdel test is that the heroine is helped along the way by her law-school friend Abra Rice. Let's assume that talking about Kenny Waters in this context doesn't really count as "talking about a man"! Also the courthouse clerk who finds the vital evidence, the judge who finally sets Kenny free, and the district attorney who (reluctantly) drops the case are all women too.

On the other hand, it's made clear in the movie that although the happy ending was the result of a woman's work, the original frame-up was done by another woman, shown in the film as a police officer but actually the police chief's secretary, who was being allowed to do police work that she wasn't qualified for. And the false evidence that put Kenny in prison came from two ex-girlfriends, neither of whom is eager to help exonerate him years later. But then it's the daughter he had with one of the exes who persuades her mother to change her story.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conviction_(film)

Passing the Bechdel test is no indication that it is a film worth watching.

Sex & the City 2 passes with flying colours. Nuff said.

Agree, it is not really a marker for whether a film carries a good positive, feminist message or not.

As a basic measure of how much women are sidelined/viewed in the media, it is FASCINATING (and a bit depressing). Remember the Bechdel test is reeeeeeally basic

1. It has to have at least two women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

Like, that's got to be super easy to fulfill, right..?

I agree, it's no indication that a film is worth watching, or that it is feminist, but it is an interesting way to take a step back and look at fims from a different angle.

Trying to think of an examlple from each Harry Potter but I don't remember tham all that well, I'm sure we have some Hermione talking to female teachers in the early ones, then maybe Hermione/Luna or Hermione/Ginny, and of course plenty of Bellatrix telling other women that she's going to kill them.

Yes, quite a lot of Mike Leigh's films are very female-centric:

Life Is Sweet
Secrets And Lies

They're both pretty enjoyable movies, too.

Times Square is one I loved when I was a teenager.

Letter To Brezhnev (showing my age, here)

It is depressing that none of my personal fave films pass the Bechdel test, though.

But it's interesting that on the site Alice linked to, there's a discussion about one of the later Harry Potter films that argues it should pass because women talking about characters like Voldemort etc. aren't talking about men, they're talking about the plot. Which is true ... but then (as someone points out on the site), the men must be pretty integral to the plot!

I do think it's fascinating how often films don't pass such a basic test.

It's an interesting site, but what's depressing about the films that do pass is the sound of barrels being scraped (ie, one conversation, woohoo)

I think the Bechdel test is very important because it makes people that burble on about equality being achieved, really think

Just want to mark my place here

Surely Letter to Brezhnev doesn't pass..it's mainly about them meeting men and trying to be with them.

Ah, but Mumbling, there's at least one conversation about stuffing chickens...(!)

Well....mean girls have conversations about make up as well as boys....does that pass out of interest?

Mean girls definitely passes - they have conversations about jeans, about foot-face cream, all sorts.

It does't matter what the film is mainly about or whether it's the most sexist claptrap in the world

1. It has to have at least two women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

Speaking of Mike Leigh, let's not forget Made in Dagenham.

Little Women

Legally Blonde

Also Sense & Sensibility...

God I Love Little Women. And the later ones...which was the one where Jo's professor stands up for God in an intellectual argument where she was begining to doubt her religion?

Aside from the sexism that made it necassary for a man to save her tiny mind from being "raped" by the atheists...it struck me as the most wonderful form of chivalry when I was a tween.

Something so kind about him...or is that an example of the Patricarhy in action?

9 to 5 (love this film) I think they start off talking about work, although later it is mostly about how to get revenge on the male boss etc.

I don't think that "talking about the plot" counts as an excuse for women talking about men - these films shouldn't pass IMO. I mean, they are usually talking about a man for some plotworthy reason, and the rules don't say "not talking about a man as a love interest" or whatever. There are a hell of a lot of things to talk about in the world and lots of them don't involve discussing men.

What about Alice in Wonderland? The Duchess and Alice have quite a chat.

Stewie - have just said this on another thread but half the Disney films pass - they have, shockingly, quite a good success rate for the test.

Agree with Elephants - the problem is not just women talking about men as love interests, but female characters basically only existing and being allowed to speak as a device for telling us more about the Very Important male character, rather than really being proper characters in their own right.