5 Films About Femininity, Which Also Pass the Bechdel Test.
Tags: Feminism, Society, Culture, Film, Representation

5 Films About Femininity, Which Also Pass the Bechdel Test.

It can be customary that women on screen are represented as an IMAGE of femininity, these 5 films, however, delve deep into the female psyche.

Image by Nikola Pešková from Pixabay

It’s such an obvious opening point that women make up 49% of the world population and yet, women's representation on-screen traditionally hasn’t been optimal: Women are commonly cast as a romantic interest for a male lead or lean heavily into the sexual dynamics of the Maddona/Whore complex. It is rare to explore women as complete human beings with deep emotions and motivations other than the pursuit of men. This can make watching films as a woman a bit difficult.

Bustle asserts that Hollywood’s representation issues have not improved in the last decade noting that women had fewer speaking roles in 2018 than 10 years prior.

A well-known test to put films under for this type of scrutiny is the “Bechdel test”(or according to Bechdel herself — “The Bechdel-Wallace test”). This test comprises 3 requirements to pass:

Does the film have at least 2 female characters? Do these female characters speak to each other about ANYTHING other than Men? Are the female characters named? (This one can be waived sometimes as you will see below).

So, let me do a little bit of the work for you and share my 5 favourite films about women: their emotions, motivations, troubles and relationships. I’ll try to keep the spoilers light, just enough to give you a flavour and the themes to watch for, but leave plenty of things for you to find yourself. So, let’s dive right in!

Mother!

Poster illustration by James Jean and Paramount Pictures

So this film from 2017 by Darren Aronofsky(of Requiem of a Dream fame) stars Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem in a visual and sensory rollercoaster(watch the trailer here but don’t be fooled, it is not a horror film about a home invasion). The plot seems oddly familiar(and rightly so, its a much-told story you might’ve heard elsewhere). There is ALOT of symbolism and allegory for viewers to unpack here. As you may expect from Aronofsky, blood serves its purpose in the storytelling: if you are squeamish, this one might be a good miss.

In terms of the Bechdel-Wallace test: there are 3 female characters, they do speak about things apart from men but there is a bit of a caveat, they are unnamed. The only saving grace for this one is that none of the characters in the film are named, only signified.

Viewers who identify as women may find themselves empathising with JLaw’s character as we see her cast as the muse for her poet of a partner. We follow her while she thanklessly builds/decorates a gorgeous home, breathes life into it, cooks, cleans and hosts guests of dubious character. You may also feel a deep anger welling up to see how her space is shared not by her own choice but the choice of the man in her life. How her polite instructions fall on deaf ears, only heard when she finally cracks it. There is an undercurrent of sexual tension, about how young she is, how old he is, how she must “keep it interesting in the bedroom, otherwise, you know what will happen…” and somehow all this being her fault. The role of motherhood, the sleeplessness. The abandonment. The list goes on…

Firstly, This film showed on screen a stylised and exaggerated version of my own life, it echoed themes I express here in my exploration of feminine aggression. I particularly enjoyed how none of the characters are likeable, how they feed into each other’s negative parts repeating cycles of behaviour.

Annihilation

Poster Credit Paramount Pictures and Netflix

This 2018 Sci-fi film has that rare treat of an exploration troop of all women soldiers and scientists. This movie is based upon a trilogy of books: The Southern Reach Trilogy, which I also enjoyed. Both book and movie are unlike anything I’ve come across before, pulling so many threads and characters together to tell a fragmented story in a soulful way.

The characters are played by a slew of talented actresses: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny and Tessa Thompson; This film easily clears the test as all the main characters are women, not only named but are fully-fledged characters on their right with development arcs all their own. The plot revolves around a geographical area(Area X), bounded by “the Shimmer”: a gorgeous veil many explorers have gone through never to return — except for one person — the husband of Natalie Portman's character.

Is the Shimmer something alien? A destructive force? Or a creative one? What motivates these women to walk into something that no one has come back from unchanged? The film explores some heavy themes like the guilt of infidelity, redemption, assimilation and the loss of identity.

This is one movie I watched equal parts for the story as for the gorgeous visualisation of things I’ve never thought about before. Watch the trailer if you’d like to see more into the visual attraction here.

Always Shine

Poster design by Jump Cut, Brandon Shaefer and Oscilloscope Laboratories

This 2016 film directed by Sophia Takal(female directors are few and far between and she is amazing!)revolves around two female friends(frenemies?) who are actresses. These characters are played by the extremely talented Mackenzie Davis and Caitlin Fitzgerald. The two actresses(in character) haven’t seen each other in a while, they decide to go away for a “girls’ weekend” to Ben Sur.

The cinematography(watch the trailer here)intersperses dramatic action with sprawling still shots of landscapes, this gives viewers moments to let the feelings fester, thoughts grow and allow the slow creep of anticipation to build into a fever pitch.

This movie dives the emotional depths of female friendships, how success and competition is perceived through a feminine lens and the idea of performative feminity versus true talent. The film asks us: Will you be soft, passive and sexually available to attain “feminine success”? Or, do you rebel, be hard, unrelenting and lose out as you are a “difficult woman”? Watch as these two friends spiral slowly but surely into violence.

When I watched this film, it dredged up a lot of memories: catty remarks I’ve made and others directed at me, being scared of confrontation looking to passive-aggressive digs instead, the self-effacement… The best thing to take away from this film is that it is our actions that define us, not so much what we think.

Arrival

Poster Designed by BLT Communications, LLC, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures and Roadshow Films Entertainment.

This 2016 Sci-fi movie about language(communication), compassion and wisdom directed by Denis Villeneuve stars Amy Adams as the main(by far) protagonist. She plays the character of a super talented linguist who is called in to decipher the visual language of aliens as humans make first contact. Usual hijinks ensue: the boys in charge want to blow stuff up, but, our heroine of smarts comes back with understanding, patience and the emotional depth rising above the fear of the unknown.

Without giving away any plot points, I will say that the Bechdel-Wallace test shows its limitations as the film barely scrapes a pass: Our female protagonist only speaks to men or her daughter(who you could argue is not a woman). However, there is no doubt to me that in terms of representation Arrival does a great job: We see the character of Louise Banks fighting hard to retain her femininity while showcasing an alternate way to be brave outside a male narrative.

Really good CGI work and non-humanoid aliens also have my approval: check them out here if you’d like to see the trailer.

Melancholia

Poster Design by GRAVILLIS and MAGNOLIA Pictures

To watch this 2011 film you have to de-couple the director, Lars von Trier and his possible mental health issues and controversy from the art — he is well ripe for cancel culture and that’s the consequences of his own actions. The film opens with an 8-minute prelude set to Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde. I mean, it can’t get any more emotional than this. The plot then revolves around two sisters(played by Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg): one who suffers from depression and the other who is high functioning. The film begins with the wedding of one sister, hosted by the other and we watch while everything just goes off the rails.

All the while, there is a planet that has never been seen before on a collision course with Earth, the name of the planet: Melancholia. As the apocalypse progresses, they play impossible golf, bring down lightning and generally find a way to get through the end of the world.

The sensitive treatment of these two sisters, their relationship, depression and eventual role-reversal left me with many questions to ask myself. Having a sister myself, I could empathise with both sides of that relationship, this film helped me repair my relationship with my sister.

So there you have it, folks, 5 films where women are front and centre of the story, treated like real-live human beings: Not just making an appearance in the film for the service of men. Let me know if you enjoyed any of these and what other films you think I may like to watch!