Bechdel Test Movie List

Detective Ramirez calls Jim Gordon's wife and they have a brief conversation about the Gordon family's safety. Ramirez is however under gun point, so one might say she's only relaying a man's words and it's not actually a conversation between two women.

Having one women forced at gun point (by a man) to talk to another women does not really pass the test.

A warning does not denote an actual conversation.

If the Bechdel test is designed to elicit examples of female representation, then this films fails.

Ramirez is under gunpoint, and her actions are entirely dictated by the male puppeteer.

IF Ramirez had a conversation about what it is like being under gunpoint, then it'd pass.

The test is supposed to be about female presence in a movie. If you're only introducing female characters as a token presence, then there's no real need for them to interact. If you treat them as real characters who happen to be female, there's far more chance they'll end up actually talking to each other.

I'd be tempted to give it a pass, the word 'conversation' isn't actually part of the Bechdel test as I've read it. The second rule says they should 'talk to each other', and I think that's for a good reason.

I recall coming away from this thinking it was the most tedious macho masturbation imaginable. But anyway, on the rating itself:

"calls Jim Gordon's wife"

... Who isn't a named character. QED, surely?

"Who isn't a named character."

Her name is Barbara, and yes, they do address her by name in the film itself.

Ah, okies - I can't even remember any women except Rachel being named, and I checked Wikipedia where she was also referred to as Jim Gordon's wife.

Still inclined to agree with the above that it doesn't even get the technical pass it so little deserves because her words and actions are dictated.

Ramirez calls Gordon's wife about Gordon, who is a man. Fails.

Natasha and Rachel talk about Batman. And Batman isn't a man, he's a symbol.

I clicked disagree, I don't think that this movie should pass, though I will say that Bruce's comment above about how the convo about Batman shouldn't count bc he's a symbol, not a man, made me laugh heartily and is technically correct.

I think the fail of the test is the idea that the women HAVE to talk to each other to show presence? there are plenty of named female characters in this film that barely talk about men at all even Rachel only talks about men once in a context that couldn't be applied in the same way to any of the women in the film, I am a great advocate of equality but this test isn't taken on by the industry because it's flawed and seems to condemn the idea that with the world being 50/50 men and women, that sometimes there are situations where a woman is not present just as there are plenty of films out there where men are rarely present and only exist in the script to give romantic interest or perpetuate a handsome unemotional stereotype, this test is a step in the right direction but in the process of trying to create equality it steps too far and quashes natural narrative with PC guidelines

@Liam

The test not only indicates wether women are in the movie, but if they have anything to say that isn't about a man.
And yes, the Bechdel/Wallace test is "flawed", but the fact that so many movies fail it and can't even full fill two of it's criteria, is troubling. Check some stats and you'll see, that only 30% of the speaking roles in Hollywood productions are female.
You argue, that there are situations with more men and others with more women? Than name some movies, who pass the Bechdel and fail the Reverse-Bechdel test (have less than two male speaking roles/have no men talking to each other/talking only about women).
You don't have to "quash natural plots" to have two women talking in them, a natural plot could hardly avoid that, but you see so many sexist plots, that you mistake them for natural ones.

PS: I agree with the rating, it doesn't matter wether Ramirez is forced to talk at gunpoint, because the test doesn't ask for circumstances, but of course women are heavily underrepresented in this movie.

@Ethal.

Whether is spelled with an "h". You have some good points, but a little bit of editing would make you much easier to understand/take seriously.

Also, I feel this movie is a dubious pass at most. And if we are at the point where we are splitting hairs over whether or not it is, it might as well fail because the end result is the same. Female characters are getting little to no interaction with each other.

I think this movie passes, but just barely. Yes, Two-Face is holding a gun at Anna's head and he definitely ordered her to contact Barbara in the first place. However, he doesn't directly feed her words to her, so Anna seems to have enough agency to chose how she will convince Barbara to leave the house. Two-Face's threat is the impetus for the conversation, but these are Anna and Barbara's words nevertheless.