Going from memory, but don’t Silkwood and Agnes of God fail the Reverse Bechdel Test?
I’m pretty sure Black Swan fails the reverse test.
Pretty sure these fail the reverse test but I could be wrong:
All About Eve
The Neon Demon
Under the Skin
Moana
Frozen
It’s Such a Beautiful Day (maybe a gimmick)
Maleficent
My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)
I’m much less confident about these but from my rusty memory seem like good candidates:
May
Melancholia
Dancer in the Dark
The Ring (American)
Inside Out
Kill Bill
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Silent Hill
Ghostbusters (2016)
Wonder Woman (2009)
There are so many anime series that fail a reverse Bechdel Test because they focus solely on the female character to the exclusion of everyone else. In Puella Magi Madoka Magica the only named male character I can think of is Madoka’s father and I don’t think he talks to any other male in the entire 12 episode series.
Just watched Ingrid Goes West last night.
Aubrey Plaza (Ingrid) stalks Ashley Olsen (Taylor) online then attempts to meet her IRL.
There are 3 notable male characters: Dan* (Ingrid’s neighbor/landlord), Ezra (Taylor’s husband) and Nicky (Taylor’s brother).
Almost all of the 3 male’s interactions are brief with one exception. Two of them get into a rather heated dispute, shall we say. But there is not much real talking during the event and the cause/topic of the event revolves around the two main women.
It’s an okay movie but not worth going to any trouble to see. It’s not a Safety Not Guaranteed or a Wind River.
- Played by Ice Cube’s son O’Shea Jackson Jr. I am impressed by this guy.
Depends if you count Sven the reindeer as a male character
Actually, pretty sure Frozen passes on quite a few scenes.
I think Rabbit Proof Fence fails the Ledhceb. It’s a while since I’ve seen it, so not sure though.
I think several of the Ghibli movies would fail. And a few other Disney/Pixar.
There are quite a few that come to mind that I think would fail (or at least come really close) but can’t say for sure just based on my memories of them. The mention of How to Make an American Quilt makes me think of Girl, Interrupted and Mermaids. The mention of Black Swan makes me think of other Natalie Portman movies that might possibly fail, including Where the Heart Is, Anywhere But Here, and Free Zone. Other possibilities include Bring it On, In the Land of Women, and Girl Asleep. And what about Labyrinth? How much time does David Bowie spend talking to Hoggle and how much of it isn’t about Jennifer Connelly? And what about some Alice in Wonderland versions and movies of the same general theme, such as Coraline and Mirrormask?
IIRC, Polanski’s Deat and the Maiden with Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley might fail. The film is a 3 hander with Weaver as the victim of torture at the hands of Kingsley many years earlier, and her husband who inadvertently invites Kingsley over for dinner, wants to believe his wife but isn’t sure. Very intense and interior. I can’t recall any chats between the men that did not at least obliquely involve the Weaver character.
IIRC, The Joy Luck Club would fail, as all the relationships followed are woman-woman or woman-man (and even then, the wife-husband relationships are framed in terms of the mother-daughter ones). I don’t think there are any scenes of males characters interacting.
Ghostbusters (2016) definitely passes the looser version of the test without the name and duration requirements. There’s a scene where two male cops are talking to each other about laundry, then the (possessed) Chris Hemsworth character shows up and they have a brief exchange. But the cops are unnamed so this wouldn’t pass the stricter version of the test. I’m pretty sure the Chris Hemsworth and Bill Murray characters (both named) also exchange lines, but IIRC that’s only a few seconds and so wouldn’t pass the stricter test either.
The Zach Woods and Ed Begley Jr. characters both have names and are in a scene together, but I can’t remember if they speak to each other or just to the female Ghostbusters.
There are a lot of male characters in Wonder Woman, and I’m pretty sure they have conversations about the war, etc., that aren’t about WW. I don’t know how long any of them last, though. The IMDb quote section has this brief exchange between three named men:
which is enough to pass the looser test but not the stricter test unless the full conversation was considerably longer.
I made a mistake. Instead of It’s Such a Beautiful Day I meant to say The World of Tomorrow.
I was referring to the animated Wonder Woman movie, hence the (2009). I was wrong on that, though, because Hades and Ares have a long conversation about halfway through.
Sorry, I obviously skimmed over the year! :o
Unless you’re actually watching a movie with the Bechdel test (or reverse test) in mind, it’s easy to forget scenes that would cause a movie to pass. As I mentioned upthread (several years ago!), even though Sister Act is set largely in a convent and the main character is a woman, there’s still at least one scene where two named men have a conversation that’s not about a woman. Since this scene isn’t crucial to the plot, it wouldn’t necessarily stick in one’s mind afterward.
A guess that I didn’t see listed yet: Now and Then
It’s been forever since I saw it, so I can’t say for sure, but it’s a candidate.
Just watched The Edge of Seventeen. Very solidly failed the reverse Bechdel. (Also failed the reverse cowgirl, FWIW)
I recently watched Miele (Honey)(2013) by Valeria Golino and I don’t believe there’s even one word exchanged between two men throughout the entire movie.
Nine and A Half Weeks fails the reverse Bechdel test.
The Fly fails the reverse Bechdel test.
What about The Help with Emma Stone?
Now I have to watch Salmonberries again, to see if it passes the RBT. Got to be a close call.
As someone noted earlier, The Women had no male characters whatsoever.
Lamia, doesn’t the most important conversation in Sister Act pass the reverse test? The reason they’re in the convent is because they’re in Witness Protection, because they witnessed a conversation between a couple of mobsters.