The reel story: why female characters only ever talk about men

Why are so few women in films talking to women about something other than men? Nicola Depuis says too many men are writing the screenplays.

THINK of the last three movies you watched. Chances are they wouldn’t pass the Bechdel Test. Created by American cartoonist Alison Bechdel in 1985, the simple requirements of this test are that the film has to have at least two women in it, who talk to each other, about something other than a man.

Now surely, you’re thinking, this is such a simple ask that it has to take place in most movies, right? Unfortunately, you’d be mistaken. Out of a list of films recently screening at the Gate cinema in Cork, only two pass the test, The Other Woman and Rio 2, while Bad Neighbours, Brick Mansions, Frank, Plastic, Sabotage, and Tarzan 2 fail miserably.