Bechdel Test Movie List

The main character and her interactions with female friends and family members make up the bulk of the movie.

This film would actually almost fail a gender-reversed Bechdel Test. There are only about four male characters who speak at all.

I've always thought the Bechdel Test neeed a fourth clause: the women need to talk about something other than sex.

It would knock a lot movies off the list, sude, but what would be left would be movies that actually tried to treat women as *people* with lives outside of both men AND sex.

(Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to knock expressions of female sexuality OR lesbians. However, don't you think women are used TOO OFTEN as mouthpieces delivering lines intended to arouse men? If you see a woman on screen, shots/dialogue crafted to elicit a sexual response are guaranteed.)

Anyway. My long and rambling post is only to make this point: Volver is one of the few movies that really does treat women as human beings and whole people, rather than supporting characters in the lives of men or shorthand for sex.

Nandini, I think your comment underscores the fact that this test can't be described as feminist. It's just a benchmarking measure for female presence in movies. And you aptly bring up the fact that even that presence doesn't necessarily make a movie girl-affirmative.