Bechdel Test Movie List

/bech·del test/ n.
1. It has to have at least two [named] women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

[[3]] Noah (2014) [imdb]

This movie passed 3 of 3 tests. It was entered by J on 2014-04-01 03:38:30.

Reviews

Comments

J said:
This one scraps by. Ila and Naameh talk about Ila's female children and other matters. The overriding conflict is what Noah will choose to do with those children. But they don't always talk about it directly.
Message posted on 2014-04-01 03:38:30
John Eddels disagreed with the rating and said:
While the movie arguably passes the test, women are reduced to their biological functions. Ila and Naameh talk about Ila's babies and indirectly talk about Noah. The conversation still revolves around a male character.
Message posted on 2014-04-11 08:33:37
Anna said:
It think the movie passes. Not only would I count the conversation after the birth, but I think you could plausibly include the interaction when the family find Ila injured in the quarry and Naameh tends to the wound and reassures her. Yes, Naameh does introduce her son to Ila during this interchange, but the main thrust of the conversation is about medical assistance.
Incidentally, on the Captain America: Winter Soldier thread, there is an question of whether the female characters talking about the caliber of bullet that has hit one of the male characters counts as a pass of the third part of the test. Comparing the two, I think it is unfair for CA:WS to fail the third test and Noah to pass as is currently showing in the rating system.
Message posted on 2014-04-12 17:26:28
Sarah said:
I wouldn't say this is a clear pass. It's the first film I watched after hearing about the Bechdel test. Whilst I know the "named" female character is an addition to the test, I came away from the film not being able to recall Naameh's name! And I felt that as the only two real conversations Ila and Naameh had were about childbirth (as opposed to being about men) this illustrates the same point about the way women are portrayed in Hollywood that the test highlights.
Message posted on 2014-05-06 12:49:45
Rosie said:
Watched this this afternoon with three friends. It is a definite pass- Ila and Naameh had three conversations and talked in one about healing, in one about escaping and in one about the babies. I wasn't impressed with how Ila's barrenness is dealt with. Ila says that "sham needs a woman, a real woman" and that God wouldn't want a barren girl on the arc. She sees her only worth and value as (not) being able to have children, and doesn't believe that she deserves love. How was this resolved? By healing her. While this then became an important plot point, it would have been good if she could have decided that she did have worth outside of her uterus, because she was a good person, and that she did deserve to live (this would have made the conflict with Noah about saving the people more interesting), and then got with Sham before discovering what the Grandfather had done. The female infanticide point was very poignant, and the plot with the babies was interesting. Arguably not pro-choice - Ila says at the end that sparing the babies was Noah's choice- but the bit at the end with Noah blessing the baby girls like they were sons and saying it's their job to make the world was excellent. A pass, and a strongish one, with two women heavily involved in the plot, but the way in which Ila's barrenness was dealt with was extremely poor.
Message posted on 2014-08-13 17:50:27
A disagreed with the rating and said:
I definitely disagree that Noah even comes close to treating women as holistic people. Women are portrayed as objects - carriers for babies. I mean, literally, that's Ila's only purpose. Not to mention, the younger boy literally goes to the village to snatch a wife - not to find a woman to befriend, or date, or you know, TALK to. A wife to curtain his pubescent angst. I was sad to see Emma Watson reduced to a baby carrier, and sad that other posters have considered Noah a passing film because her character has one conversation that isn't about her man - a conversation about her barrenness and about his children.
Message posted on 2014-09-18 05:25:31

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