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]] The Years Between (1946) [imdb]

This movie passed 3 of 3 tests. It was entered by ShawmK on 2018-08-03 10:53:09.

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ShawmK said:
If there were any justice in the world, this film would be remembered as one of the great feminist masterpieces of all time.

Valerie Hobson plays the devoted wife of a noted member of Parliament (Michael Redgrave). He goes off to fight in the war, and she receives notice that he has been killed in action. After initially going to pieces (she had no identity other than "wife") she is persuaded by friends to get on with the rest of her life by running for his vacant Parliamentary seat.(The upper middle class really are different; the rest of us would probably have gone to work in a shop or a factory or something.)

Once elected, she discovers that she's rather good at it, and her life is thoroughly transformed. Then things get really complicated.

The film is bursting with strong, well-written female characters who talk to each other throughout, about all sorts of things (including, but by no means limited to, men). It's very much about women who take control of their own lives and do not allow themselves to be defined by their men. And of course about the inevitable difficulties once those men start to return, expecting everything to be exactly the same as it was before (not to give away the second half of the film).

Apart from everything else, the film is beautifully written (by Muriel & Sidney Box, from a stage play by Daphne Du Maurier) and wonderfully acted by all concerned.

This not only passes the Bechdel Test with flying colours, it's a magnificent film.
Message posted on 2018-08-03 10:53:09

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