What is the highest rated movie that passes the Bechdel test?

The Coffee Shop
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If you don’t know, to pass the Bechdel test, a movie must fit the 3 qualifiers:

  • Have at least two female characters with names
  • They must talk to each other
  • The conversation must be something other than talking about a man

So, for example, 12 Angry Men fails the test because it is literally a movie with no women. A few good men fails the test because Demi Moore never has a conversation with any other women (Aunt Jenny has a brief conversation with Tom Cruise). Braveheart fails the test because though it has a few women in the movie, the two french women have several conversations, but they are all about William Wallace.

I used the IMDB top 250 list and was surprised at how many of the highest rated movies fail this test. I’ll provide my answer for what I think it is in the next post. Feel free to look at the list and decide for yourself.

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My answer:

The 49th highest rated film, Alien.

Ripley and Lambert argue about how to deal with the xenomorph.

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The Devil Wears Prada

Don’t know where it ranks, but good cast.

Fried Green Tomatoes (one of my wife’s favorites) has to be way up there

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How about “Thelma and Louise”???

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Crouching Tiger

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I think Henry Hill’s wife Karen talks with the babysitter/drug mule Lois for a couple of lines in Goodfellas

And she also talks with Morrie’s wife when she shows them that hideous sliding fake rock wall that conceals the home bar…but can’t remember if Morrie’s wife has a name in the film

Either way, those are like a line or two at best, not deep conversations

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I’m going with a movie I never heard of before seeing the top 250 list. #31 Spirited Away. The thumbnail looks like a girl so I clicked on it and the main character is a 10 year old girl.

I think the next after that is Alien. Then Dune Part 2, then Infinity War.

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You also have Natasha, Captain Marvel and the Red Witch that might talk to another named woman.

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The Wizard of Oz

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I think it’s also important to know a little more about Alison Bechdel

I read Fun Home when I saw it on the Library shelf during Pride Month, then read Secrets of Superhuman Strength immediately after it was released

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I’m thinking Gamora and Mantis might’ve had a conversation, but that was probably about Quill, so it fails on that one

I’m thinking of Kill Bill; Beatrice had plenty of dialogue with the other Vipers, and it wasn’t always about Bill

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Wanda and Agatha in WandaVision?

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Not a movie.

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And Hero.

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You could use Steel Magnolias there, too

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Thelma and Louise?

I’m making certain assumptions here.

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Mean Girls

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White Chicks counts, right?

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Depends on where you live.

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Was there a site that did the work analyzing the movies for the test ? I can’t imagine you watched all 250 movies and analyzed each of them recently.

Also I feel like there is so much variance in what constitutes a top movie. Plus classics in certain genres aren’t always considered for top of the list.

Debbie does Dallas?

Pretty Woman
Christmas Vacation
Vegas Vacation
Death Becomes Her
Frozen? Do animateds count?