The Bechdel Test is a set of rules concerned with the representation of female characters in film, used as a way to start a conversation about agency or lack thereof among such characters. Film industries have tended to be male-dominated throughout history (things have become a little better in more recent years), with more male directors/writers/actors being contributing factors to the founding of the Bechdel Test.
To pass the test, three criteria need to be met by a film: there have to be two or more named female characters, they have to talk to each other on at least one occasion, and the conversation has to be about something other than a man. It’s a jumping-off point to discussing the role of female characters in movies, and is not a perfect system for deciding whether something is or isn’t imbalanced gender-wise. The following movies all have at least some controversial elements, though each passes the Bechdel Test. These films don’t prove the test is useless, nor is anyone automatically a bad person for liking these films. They’re just interesting to think about alongside the much-discussed and debated Bechdel Test.
10 ‘Death Proof’ (2007)
Quentin Tarantino is a provocative filmmaker, to say the least. He combines ultraviolence with dark comedy and plenty of style, with this earning him both fans and detractors. His movies aren’t easy to pin down in general, especially when it comes to his adoration for old-school, sometimes nasty exploration genres, and his keenness to often have strong female characters.
Death Proof is his most unabashed grindhouse movie throwback, and was one part of a double feature literally called Grindhouse. Much of the movie is spent with two groups of women talking, so it easily passes the test. One half is played straight as a grindhouse film, and the other part subverts certain things and becomes empowering. However, even for an intentional exploitation throwback, the uncertain fate of Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s character feels uneasy and in poor taste.
9 ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’ (2013)
Blue Is the Warmest Color is a movie that’s difficult to grapple with emotionally and ethically, especially after some of the discourse it inspired. On one hand, it’s a brilliantly acted, lengthy, and quite absorbing coming-of-age film about a young woman discovering her sexuality, and both Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux give incredible performances.
But on the other hand, it’s filmed in a way that generated controversy for using what’s sometimes labeled male gaze, and for having a director – Abdellatif Kechiche – who some consider pushed his stars too far. Whether it’s an effective LGBT and/or female-focused film is, at best, contested, even though it easily passes the Bechdel Test.
8 ‘Gone with the Wind’ (1939)
When it comes to movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, few can claim to be either as popular or as controversial as Gone with the Wind. The sweeping Civil War-set romantic drama is about as epic as epic movies get, with it being the highest-grossing movie of all time when adjusted for inflation.
When it comes to the controversy, it’s notably difficult to watch today for how it handles race (to be as brief as possible, because it’s a subject that’s complex, and needs many words to properly unpack). Regarding the Bechdel Test, there are numerous conversations between women, but the film’s handling of romance/gender roles, while not as uncomfortable as the racial content, is more than a bit awkward at times.
7 ‘Last Tango in Paris’ (1972)
Last Tango in Paris represents controversial filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci at his most controversial. This film is all about a young woman and a significantly older man entering into an affair of sorts that’s purely defined by sex, and not intended to be made up of anything else that may make it romantic or emotionally rewarding.
If that intense sort of premise was all there was to it, Last Tango in Paris would likely still be somewhat provocative, but it’s the behind-the-scenes stories that have made it a notorious film. It’s not a nice film, and it’s not supposed to be, but the fact that its lead actress, Maria Schneider, was treated the way she was does make it much more uncomfortable to watch than it’s supposed to be.
6 ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ (2010)
The films in the Twilight series can be fun to watch when enjoyed as works of so-bad-they’re-good cinema, but taking a step back, they can be read as ridiculous and perhaps even problematic. After all, Bella can be a shockingly weak protagonist, with long stretches of story where she’s entirely defined by her position in a love triangle with two (supernaturally associated) men.
The third movie out of five, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, might be the most extreme when it comes to this issue, but still passes the Bechdel Test. Perhaps some consolation is that no one really comes out of this series well-defined or non-problematic, be they male or female; it’s just a hilariously strange, sometimes uncanny, and overall backward world they all inhabit.
5 ‘Sixteen Candles’ (1984)
For the standards of 1980s teen comedies, perhaps Sixteen Candles technically could’ve been worse in the problematic department. After all, this coming-of-age comedy written and directed by John Hughes does give its lead character – played by Molly Ringwald – a decent amount of agency, and the Bechdel Test is passed.
Still, Sixteen Candles can feel jarring when watched today for other reasons, including certain scenes involving certain characters being drunk and others not, a side character feeling like a racial stereotype, and some fairly casual homophobic language. It’s a one step forward, three (or more) steps back kind of situation.
4 ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ (2014)
With an all-star cast that includes Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael Caine, Kingsman: The Secret Service makes for an enjoyable comedic action/spy movie. It is very much a male-centered movie, but includes enough female character interactions to ultimately pass the Bechdel Test.
Still, the name Kingsman does have “man” in it, and this is reflected by some of the film’s humor and scenarios, not always in the best of ways, either. It’s not the most horrendously problematic movie by any means (and wasn’t as controversial as one aspect of its sequel), but it’s still somewhat at odds with other less controversial movies that pass the Bechdel Test.
3 ‘Grease’ (1978)
Grease is a beloved movie musical – perhaps one of the most celebrated of all time – but even its fans know it’s got some problems, especially with its final message. It’s set in high school, and it would make sense for it to be a movie about finding and then being yourself… only the ending doesn’t exactly give that impression.
Some might find Sandy’s transformation empowering, some might find it destroys her character, and others might well choose to interpret the ending as intentionally ridiculous and perhaps satirical of… something. Grease is a classic musical that passes the Bechdel Test and is supposed to be somewhat reflective of any even older time in history, but some parts of it can rub one the wrong way.
2 ‘Love Actually’ (2003)
So, first things first: Love Actually is a fairly fun movie. It’s considered a Christmas classic for good reason, and there are enough charming elements to make it a holiday classic to be watched annually for many. The fact it’s made up of so many stories – some that have aged better than others – does also help, because you can always take the good with the bad.
And there are so many characters – both men and women – that it passes the criteria for the Bechdel Test, even though some of its jokes and stories feel a little mishandled. It’s somewhat contested and controversial, but again, not the worst of its kind or anything by any means, and one’s mileage will vary considerably regarding whether they take offense to certain parts of the film.
1 ‘The Iron Lady’ (2011)
The pantheon of great movie biopics has no room for The Iron Lady. Even if Meryl Streep gives a committed performance, it tackles the life of controversial U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in an odd and debatably mishandled way, and feels icky for not properly touching upon the reasons why certain people didn’t like her very bold policies (particularly regarding how much she detested unions, which feels extra gross considering the news lately).
Some may like Thatcher being given this sort of biopic treatment, but others will find it deeply rubs them the wrong way. In any event, perhaps a more nuanced look at her life would have been the more interesting and/or compelling option, because a complicated historical figure deserves a challenging biopic; not a wishy-washy one like The Iron Lady.
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