Bechdel Test Movie List

This movie only has two named female characters, both longsuffering, one-dimensional wives whose only purpose in the story is to fuss over and worry about their husbands. The wives are in separate timelines, so they never meet. Most of the film is a conversation between two men, or a flashback to the story one of them tells, which takes place on a whaling ship with an all-male crew.

To be fair, the test doesn't really apply to the movie. You can still use it, but it does not mean anything. The purpose of the film was to relay the story that lead to the creation of Moby Dick. Most of that story takes place on a whaling ship, a location that was always historically devoid of women. I don't think that this movie is attempting to be sexist, it's just attempting to give an accurate portrayal of the environment present on a whaling ship. In regards to the wives being one-dimensional (a true statement), it's kind of irrelevant. The story is about a whaling ship, and most of the writing budget was put towards the characters who got the most screen-time (i.e. the ones on the whaling ship).

I walked into the theater nervous about how they'd portray women. I was pleased. Yes, the girls do exhibit traditional female roles. But I liked the fact that they were portrayed as strong. Hemsworth's character's wife managed the farm and raised an infant by herself with no clue if her husband would be back. Gleeson's character's wife managed to get him to tell the story, both for the money and for his own peace of mind.