Q 01/05

Under the Bechdel test, two women in a film must talk to each other about something other than what?

A) A wedding

B) A man

C) A child

D) A diet

Answer · why

B) A man

A man is the one topic that does not count, and a single short exchange about anything else is enough for a film to pass.

Q 02/05

In the 1985 comic strip that introduced the Bechdel test, which film is the last one a character was able to see?

A) The Thing

B) Brazil

C) Alien

D) Gremlins

Answer · why

C) Alien

Alien is the strip's punchline: a character says it was the last film she could see, because its two women talk to each other about the monster.

Q 03/05

Which country's cinemas began giving films an A rating in 2013 if they passed the Bechdel test?

A) Norway

B) Denmark

C) Iceland

D) Sweden

Answer · why

D) Sweden

Sweden saw four cinemas launch the scheme, among them Bio Rio in Stockholm, and a cable channel soon planned a whole Sunday of films that pass.

Q 04/05

Comic writer Kelly Sue DeConnick's test asks whether a female character could be swapped for which household object?

A) A lamp

B) A vase

C) A mirror

D) A rug

Answer · why

A) A lamp

A lamp is the measure in her 'sexy lamp test': if the story still works with the object in the woman's place, the script needs a rewrite. DeConnick la...

Q 05/05

Which space survival film fails the Bechdel test even though its lead actress carries nearly every scene?

A) Arrival

B) Contact

C) Gravity

D) Interstellar

Answer · why

C) Gravity

Gravity has only two main characters, and the other is played by George Clooney, so Sandra Bullock's astronaut has no second woman to talk to.