Why wasn’t the test just re-titled: “The Chick Flick Test?” Then we’d be in an endless loop of *Legally Blond *and *Fried Green Tomoatoes *and we wouldn’t have to argue with each other like this.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
Because there are many chick-flics that fail the test, and many non-chick-flics that don’t.
Strangers in Good Company
Does Legally Blonde actually pass? The only conversations I can think of between women are all about men: a) between Elle and Vivian, and I think part of it was about her dog, but it started out talking about their boyfriend, and b) Elle and the woman professor, and that was about the male professor, and c) Elle and the defendant, about the murder of her father, and d) Elle and hairdresser, about men. It’s possible there’s a scene with Elle and the woman professor earlier that passes; I don’t recall and I’m unwilling to go back and watch it.
(I think there’s a possibility it may actually pass reverse Bechdel; I can’t remember if love interest guy and professor guy ever interact… I know they do in the musical, which admittedly also easily passes Bechdel because the Elle/Vivienne scene is changed.)
I came in to say Spirited Away and the Incredibles, which have already been mentioned. (And neither of which are chick flicks!) It’s nice that my favorite movies pass 
Man for All Seasons, my other favorite, doesn’t pass at all.
It is much, much harder for me to come up with movies that don’t pass reverse-Bechdel. Even most of the chick flicks I see tend to have at least two male characters who exchange at least two words.
Elle had quite a few conversations about things other than men with (I can’t remember the character names) the militant feminist chick in her study group and with that fitness guru babe she was defending.
(Truth be told … I love that movie. I’ll watch it whenever it’s on the TeeVee. And I don’t even know why.)
Ah, right! They were in the same sorority, yeah? Forgot about that!
(Have you seen the musical? I have the same attitude towards the musical you have towards the movie: I love it and I don’t even know why, because it’s not at all the kind of thing I usually get excited about. There’s a broadcast-on-TV version up on youtube.)
My favorite movie for what I call “female humor” is** Outrageous Fortune**, with Bette Midler and Shelley Long. They do talk about men, and snark about men, and one of the funniest scenes in the movie is how they realize that the mutilated corpse on the gurney is NOT the guy they’ve both been having a sexual relationship with.
But they talk about other things too, like Shelley Long’s character’s desire to play Hamlet. They work together to find bad guys, all while NOT being WomenWarriors ™ but just by being… clever women. And it’s funny.
Excellent choice too! I haven’t met many other people who have even SEEN this movie, but I think it’s a little gem.
My favorite film passes - Brazil (1985), directed by Terry Gilliam. Thinking about it, it’s a bit of an inversion of what one might expect. Sam is stuck in a dead-end job and dreams nightly of being a hero and saving his dream girl. Then he meets her in real life, and she’s more capable and strong than he is, in many ways.
Pulp Fiction, Scene where Lance’s girlfriend is telling the other girl about her piercings.
Part of the problem is that most of the characters aren’t human. She talks to Salma Hayek’s character but part of the conversation is about how the Muse isn’t female. The human contingent are basically Jay and Silent Bob, Chris Rock’s character (who is dead) and the archbishop.
So what about movies with no female character? Like The Thing 1982 which by plot demands has no female characters?
Thing is I don’t think the film would be changed much if all the characters were female.
What, do you think only chick flicks should have conversations between women that aren’t about men? Besides, they often don’t.
If the film wouldn’t be changed much if all the characters were female, you can’t really say the plot demands that it have no female characters, can you?
I’ve just watched Martha Marcy May Marlene and the sororal relationship, which is the main dialog in the movie, passes the test.
(By the way, can anyone tell me who Marlene is?)
At the time and place it was set it was pretty male dominated, so yea half the crew being female would have been odd. But I do think not having any sexual tension was important, which is what I meant about switching the genders not mattering(yea yea I know;) )
They automatically don’t pass. (There’s actually one female role, the voice of the chess-playing computer (played by Adrienne Barbeau), but she’s not a character.)
Part of the reasoning behind “the Bechdel test” is that there are complaints about the lack of good, solid, serious roles for women in Hollywood. Too many parts are “the girlfriend”, “the mom”, and later on if you’re lucky you might get something interesting if you’re not playing “the grandma” or no longer in films at all when your same-aged male counterparts are the star and paired with leading ladies 30-40 years younger than the guy, who are playing his love interest.
The Bechdel test doesn’t even identify a feminist-leaning/pro-women film. The few things it demands are that two women talk to each other about anything other than a man. Some people add common, also tiny requirements like that the characters have names given in the film (as in the case of the OP) or that the conversation last 30-60 seconds, else two women meeting in passing and the conversation, “Nice shoes!” “Thanks!” would qualify the film.
No. Robin Williams love interest (Lydia! Foooor YOOOOUUUUU, Lydia!) speaks to Jeff Bridges’ girlfriend on at least a couple of occasions.
And as another counterpoint to calling it a “chick flic test”, try to think of any movie at all, even a chick flic, that doesn’t pass the reverse test (that is, two male characters who talk to each other about something other than a woman). Sure, such movies exist, but they’re incredibly rare.
On the list I linked to in the OP, they list movies that pass the test, but also movies that only pass part of the test. My Cousin Vinny doesn’t pass the full test.
From here, where they give further details on the “Bechdel rating”:
American Beauty. I believe it passes the test as Carolyn and Jane talk about how ugly Jane is looking on one particular morning.
Jane and Angela talk about modelling.